Moving the money for a Georgian purchase

The property is the easy half

Buying Georgian property as a foreign national is not a complicated process. Title is recorded quickly at the Public Service Hall and there is little restriction on foreign ownership. What stalls deals is almost always the same thing: moving the money.

We say that first because most buyers discover it last — after choosing a property, after agreeing a price, and just as the seller is waiting to be paid. If the transfer route is not settled before you sign, you have put yourself in the position of deciding under time pressure, which is where the worst financial decisions get made.

What is not possible

Start with what cannot be done rather than what can. A direct wire from a bank account in Iran to a bank account in Georgia is not possible. Iranian banks have no access to the international correspondent network, and the Georgian bank at the other end will not accept the incoming payment even if it wants to.

This is not a paperwork problem that a better branch or more persistence will solve, and nobody can "sort it out" for you. If someone says they will make a direct transfer, they are describing some other route — and you are entitled to ask exactly what that route is, who is involved in it, and what documentation reaches you from it.

Sending from somewhere other than Iran changes this constraint but not the question behind it: whatever route the funds take, a Georgian bank still decides whether to accept them, on the basis set out in the next section.

We prescribe no transfer method on this page. Currency routes are governed by rules that change in both countries and belong with your own financial and legal advisers. What we do want to be clear is that the transfer route is part of your deal, and like the price and the floor area it should be settled and in writing before you commit to anything.

What the Georgian bank asks

Opening an account at a Georgian bank as a non-resident is a decision, not a right; the bank may decline without giving a reason. What shapes that decision is your answer to one question: where did this money come from?

A verbal answer is not enough. The bank wants documents — the sale contract for a previous property, business financial statements, an inheritance deed, whatever evidences the origin of the sum. Files usually stall not because the money is suspect but because the buyer has no paperwork for something they are personally quite certain about.

Practical advice: assemble your source-of-funds documents before you start, not when the bank asks for them. Official translation and certification of those same documents takes time of its own, and it is routinely left out of a deal's schedule.

The half everyone forgets: the money has to come back out

The whole conversation is usually about getting money into Georgia. But one day you will collect rent, and one day you may sell, and that money needs a route back.

The better documented the way in, the simpler the way out. A sum that entered the banking system with evidence behind it, and is reflected in the registered contract for the property, can be explained at the point of sale. A sum whose path left no paper trail becomes a problem on the day you want to take it out — and on that day, unlike today, you can no longer change the route.

This is why the figure recorded in the contract and on the title matters. Registering a number lower than what was actually paid — sometimes suggested as a way to reduce costs — turns the difference into money you hold no evidence for, and, as the residency guide notes, it can push the property's official valuation below the residency threshold.

The costs: what actually comes off the top

There are no figures on this page; rates and charges move, and a stale number is worse than none. The list of costs, though, is stable, and you can demand it.

The largest cost is usually not the one labelled a fee. The currency conversion spread — the gap between the rate you are given and that day's reference rate — is bigger than every named charge combined in most deals, and it appears on no invoice as a cost. So ask what rate is being applied, not only what the fee is.

The rest of the list: transfer charges and any intermediaries along the route, registration and notary costs, agent commission, official translation and certification of documents, bank account maintenance, and, if you let the property, tax registration and letting management fees.

One request covers this whole section: ask for the complete list of costs in dollars, in writing, stating who pays each one, before the first payment. Any cost that appears after that list is a cost you should ask to have explained.

Timelines: what actually governs them

"How long does it take?" has no single answer, because three independent clocks are running and the longest of them is not predictable.

First, getting the funds to Georgia. Second, the bank's compliance and source-of-funds review of a non-resident inbound payment — this is case by case, depends on the quality of your documents, and in practice is what sets the overall schedule. Third, registration of title at the Public Service Hall, which is the fastest part of the whole business, and usually the part advertised as "how quickly you can buy in Georgia".

The common mistake is a contractual payment deadline written on the assumption that all three stages run at their fastest. If you accept a deadline, tie it to an event you control, and allow a realistic gap for the second stage. A late-payment penalty triggered by a bank review is an entirely avoidable cost.

Red flags

The most important one, and the only one that should stop a deal on its own: paying before official registration. Money handed over before your ownership — or a formally registered pre-sale contract — is recorded at the Public Service Hall is money with no legal handle on it. "Reserve it today or you will lose it" is a sales technique, not a market condition.

The rest of the list: being asked to pay into a personal account rather than the seller's or developer's registered account; anyone who says "we will handle the transfer" without explaining the route or the documentation; an exchange rate "locked" only verbally; a price quoted only in toman; a Georgian-language document you have seen no independent translation of; a suggestion that the title record a figure lower than what you actually paid; and any promise presenting residency as a guaranteed part of a payment plan.

This list includes us, and we write that deliberately. If we ask you to pay before official registration, if we do not make the transfer route clear to you, if we do not give you the costs in writing, or if we tell you residency is guaranteed, react exactly as you would to any other seller. A business that will not hold itself to these standards has no business writing them down.