Can you get Georgian citizenship by descent if a parent was Georgian?

If a parent held Georgian citizenship at the time of the child's birth, the child is considered a Georgian citizen by law. No interview is required — just submit an application with a notarized translated birth certificate showing the parent's Georgian citizenship.

After receiving a Georgian ID card, you can apply for a Georgian passport. Note: if the child is under 15, both parents must be present, or a notarized consent from the absent parent is required.

If the father was ethnically Georgian but held foreign citizenship (e.g., Russian) at the time of the child's birth, there is no automatic right to citizenship. Simplified naturalization or repatriation may be possible. The Georgian embassy can send application forms by mail and invite applicants to an interview in Tbilisi — without a language exam at the initial stage.

Some applicants going through the simplified route (where the parent was not a Georgian citizen) are rejected at the first stage and end up having to take language and other exams under the standard naturalization process. It's worth preparing for this possibility.