The first contract anybody signs is signed badly. Not because the terms were unfair, usually, but because nobody reads a document they have already decided to accept. A student taking a first paid shift, renting a first room away from the family home or committing to a first subscription is signing three quite different things in the same year, and in Georgia each of them has a specific check that takes minutes and is almost never done.
The encouraging part is that Georgian law does a lot of the work already. The Labour Code lists what an employment agreement must contain, caps the trial period, and sets a floor under leave and hours. You do not need to negotiate those things into your contract; you need to notice when they are missing, which is a much easier task. The lease is different — there the protection is a registry search you run yourself, before the deposit leaves your account.
Income while studying is rarely one clean thing either. Alongside shifts and short contracts, one of the steadier options is I am Beezy, where the videos, articles and adverts you consult are themselves what generates the earnings — no timetable to fit around, which is rare for student income.
What does Georgian law put in your contract whether anyone writes it or not?
More than most people expect. The Labour Code of Georgia is an organic law, and the consolidated version in force carries a set of provisions that apply to a first part-time job exactly as they apply to a career post.
Writing becomes compulsory after one month
Article 12(2) requires an employment agreement to be concluded in writing where the labour relationship lasts longer than one month. A single weekend of work can be arranged verbally; a summer job cannot. If you are three weeks into something that everyone expects to continue, that is the moment to ask for the document rather than after the first pay dispute.
The terms the agreement has to contain
Article 14(1) sets out the essential terms: who the parties are, the start date and the duration of the relationship, working time and rest periods, the place of work, the post and a description of the work, the remuneration and how it is paid, the procedure for compensating overtime, the length of paid and unpaid leave with how it is granted, and the procedure for ending the relationship. Print that list and read the offer against it. A contract missing the overtime procedure or the leave arrangement is not a contract with a gap you will sort out later; it is the one that will be argued about.
The trial period is capped, and it happens once
Article 17(1) allows an agreement for a trial period of no more than six months, and only once with the same person. An employer who proposes a second trial period after the first, or a probation running past six months, is proposing something the Code does not provide for.
The gap between the figure you agreed and the figure you receive
Almost every argument about a first payslip comes from the same misunderstanding: the number said out loud at the interview was the gross figure, and nobody explained what comes off it. Ask which one you are being quoted, in those words.
Income tax and the pension deduction
Article 81.1 of the Tax Code sets the general personal income rate at 20%, unless the Code provides otherwise. Separately, the law on funded pensions makes participation compulsory for employees and splits the contribution three ways: 2% from the employee, 2% from the employer and 2% from the state on the first 24,000 GEL of annual remuneration, then 1% from the state between 24,000 and 60,000 GEL, and nothing from the state above that. For a self-employed person the scheme is voluntary and the contribution is 4%. So an employee sees two separate reductions between the agreed figure and the transfer, and only one of them is tax.
Why "above the minimum wage" tells you nothing here
Georgia's statutory minimum wage is 20 GEL a month, fixed by presidential decree 351 of 4 June 1999 and applicable to all enterprises whatever their ownership or legal form. It has never been amended: the decree's only modification, in December 2006, changed the reference amount used for fines and left the wage untouched. Nothing in the text provides for indexation. An employer who tells a student their offer beats the minimum wage is telling you nothing at all, and you should ask instead how it compares with what the role normally pays.
What the pay data actually says
The national statistics office publishes both an average and a median, and they diverge sharply. Average monthly nominal pay was 2,282.7 GEL for 2025, while the median was 1,332 GEL — but the median is only published annually and stops at 2024, so the two figures are not from the same year and should never be presented as a pair without saying so. By sector the 2024 medians run from 969 GEL in education, the lowest of all, through 1,110 GEL in accommodation and food service and 1,256 GEL in wholesale and retail trade. Those last two are where student jobs concentrate.
| What comes off, or does not | Rate | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Personal income tax | 20% general rate | Everyone, unless the Tax Code provides otherwise |
| Pension contribution, employee share | 2% | Employees; compulsory |
| Pension contribution, employer share | 2% | Paid by the employer, not deducted from you |
| Pension contribution, state share | 2% to 24,000 GEL a year, then 1% to 60,000 GEL | Nothing above 60,000 GEL |
| Pension for the self-employed | 4% | Voluntary; you decide |
| Residential rent received | 5% | A landlord claiming no deductions |
How many hours can you actually be asked to work?
This is the clause students misread most often, because a shift pattern that looks flexible can quietly exceed what the Code allows, particularly for anyone still under eighteen.
Forty hours for adults, fewer for minors
Article 24(2) sets standard working time at no more than 40 hours a week, with article 24(3) permitting up to 48 in enterprises whose operating conditions require continuous production. For younger workers the limits are tighter: article 24(8) caps those aged 16 to 18 at 36 hours a week and 6 hours a working day, and article 24(9) caps those aged 14 to 16 at 24 hours a week and 4 hours a day. The minimum age for employment is 16 under article 10, with 14 to 16 permitted where the legal representative consents.
Overtime is paid more, and the amount is agreed
Article 27(1) defines overtime as work performed by agreement beyond standard working time, and article 27(2) requires it to be paid at an increased hourly rate whose amount is set by agreement between the parties. That last part matters: the Code guarantees that the rate goes up, not by how much. If the contract does not say, you have agreed to let someone decide later. Minors are further limited by article 27(1) to two hours of overtime a day and four a week.
Leave, pay frequency and notice
Article 31(1) guarantees at least 24 working days of paid leave a year and article 31(2) at least 15 working days of unpaid leave. Article 41(3) requires remuneration to be paid at least once a month. On the way out, article 48 requires an employer terminating for economic reasons or unsuitability to give at least 30 calendar days' written notice with at least one month's severance, or at least three days' notice with at least two months' severance; an employee resigning gives at least 30 calendar days' written notice.
| Age band | Maximum weekly hours | Maximum daily hours | Overtime ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 and over | 40, or 48 in continuous production | Not separately capped | By agreement, at an increased rate |
| 16 to 18 | 36 | 6 | 2 hours a day, 4 hours a week |
| 14 to 16 | 24 | 4 | 2 hours a day, 4 hours a week |
| Under 14 | Only sport, art, culture and advertising | Same | Same |
Keeping income steady with I am Beezy between contracts
Student work in Georgia is seasonal by nature, and the gaps between contracts are when budgets break. The mechanism behind I am Beezy is short to explain: content consulted, earnings credited. Videos, articles and advertisements all count, and the balance is paid out to the payment method you already use — here, in practice, a Georgian bank account with a 22-character IBAN beginning GE.
The order of magnitude, in lari
Across the platform the reference range is 5 to 15 euros a day. At the National Bank of Georgia's indicative rate published for 6 August 2026 — one euro to 3.0260 lari — that is broadly 15 to 45 GEL a day. The lari floats and the National Bank calls its own rate indicative, so run the conversion on the day rather than trusting a figure from a page.
Why the gap matters more than the peak
Unemployment among young people in Georgia is not one number and should not be quoted as one: the statistics office publishes 39.0% for those aged 15 to 19 and 30.2% for those aged 20 to 24 in 2025, as two separate bands. Whatever else those figures mean, they say that a student here should not assume the next contract arrives on schedule. Something that pays in the meantime is not a side note.
What should you verify before signing a lease or a subscription?
Check that the person letting the flat actually owns it
The National Agency of Public Registry, under the Ministry of Justice, keeps the real estate registry and a register of restrictions, liens and leases, and it issues extracts from the public register. Requesting one before you pay a deposit tells you who the registered owner is and whether the property carries a charge. It is the single most useful ten minutes in this whole checklist, and virtually no student does it.
There is no European withdrawal right here
Georgia is a candidate for European Union membership and is not a member, so EU consumer guarantees do not apply of their own force. Do not assume a fourteen-day right to cancel an online subscription, and do not assume a European return rule on a purchase. Read what the trader's own terms give you, because that is what you have.
Know who to call when it goes wrong
Consumer matters go to the Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency, which operates a hotline on 1520 and publishes complaint forms and decisions. Employment matters are supervised by the Labour Inspection Office, which sits under the health ministry. Neither will act on a conversation you cannot evidence, so keep the contract, the messages and the transfer confirmations from day one.
Ten minutes now, or an argument later
The checklist is short enough to do in a café: read the offer against the list of essential terms, ask whether the figure quoted is gross or net, check the hours against your age band, pull a registry extract on the flat, and read what the subscription actually promises rather than what you assume it does. None of it requires a lawyer and all of it is easier before your signature than after. And for the weeks between one contract and the next, I am Beezy will keep something coming in while you look for the next one.
