Staffing agency license in Georgia: what actually applies

Georgia does not currently license private employment agencies or staffing firms at the state level. The Georgia Department of Labor's own rules confirm this directly: its Private Employment Agency Act rules, Georgia Administrative Code Chapter 300-4, still exist as a chapter title, but the specific subject that covered licenses and fees, Subject 300-4-6, is marked repealed, as is the subject covering agreements and payments, 300-4-1. If you are told Georgia requires an employment agency license and bond, ask for the current rule number, because the ones that used to say so have been withdrawn.

This page walks through what the old Georgia rules covered, what is actually repealed versus what may still be on the books, and what still governs a recruiting or staffing desk operating in Georgia. It complements employment agency license requirements, which covers states where licensing is still active.

What the Private Employment Agency Act rules covered

Georgia's Private Employment Agency Act rules, administered by the Georgia Department of Labor under authority including O.C.G.A. § 34-8-70, were organized as Georgia Administrative Code Chapter 300-4, with six subjects: agreements and payments, records, employer and applicant obligations, advertising, gifts to influence, and licenses and fees. Together they once formed a conduct code for agencies operating in the state, backed by a licensing and fee requirement in the last subject.

What is actually repealed

Checking the current status of each rule on the Secretary of State's own site shows the licensing mechanism is gone: all three rules under Subject 300-4-6, Licenses and Fees (300-4-6-.01 through 300-4-6-.03), are marked Repealed. The three rules under Subject 300-4-1, Agreements and Payments, are also marked Repealed. Without an active licensing or fee-filing rule, Georgia has no mechanism to license a general employment agency, set a fee schedule, or require a bond, whatever any other subject under Chapter 300-4 might still say about records or advertising conduct. Confirm the current status of any remaining subject directly with the Georgia Department of Labor before relying on this page for anything beyond the licensing question, since rule status can change and a chapter title staying on the books does not guarantee every rule under it is still active.

Who this affects

Because there is no state license to obtain, this reaches every model the old rules would have covered, and it applies the same way whether your firm is headquartered in Georgia or is an out-of-state agency opening a desk in Atlanta, Savannah or Augusta. Nothing about the repeal is limited to small firms or to a particular placement volume; there is simply no Georgia Department of Labor licensing gate for any size of general employment agency to clear before placing candidates.

• Direct-hire and retained search, whether the fee is billed to the employer or the candidate.
• Contract and temporary staffing, where the firm employs the workers it assigns.
• Career counseling and job listing services, which the old rules would have swept in alongside general placement work.

None of these categories currently need a Georgia Department of Labor license or bond to operate.

What still applies without a license

• Business registration. Registering with the Georgia Secretary of State to do business in the state, and any local occupation tax certificate a city or county requires, is unaffected by the repeal.
• Consumer protection and contract law. Fee agreements with clients, and with candidates if you charge them, are ordinary Georgia contracts, subject to the state's Fair Business Practices Act where it applies, rather than to a placement-specific fee schedule.
• Wage payment law. A staffing firm that directly employs and pays the workers it assigns is subject to Georgia wage payment law and unemployment insurance contributions regardless of any agency-licensing question.
• E-Verify. Georgia requires private employers with more than a small headcount threshold, and all public employers and their contractors, to use E-Verify; that obligation runs through Georgia's separate E-Verify statute and is unaffected by the repealed agency rules. See E-Verify requirements by state.
• Federal law. Title VII's definition of employment agency and FCRA background-check rules apply regardless of Georgia's state licensing status.

Nurse and home care staffing has its own license

Georgia licenses non-medical home care separately from anything in the Private Employment Agency Act rules. The Private Home Care Program, run by the Georgia Department of Community Health's Healthcare Facility Regulation Division, requires a Private Home Care Provider License under Georgia Rules Chapter 111-8-65 for agencies that provide personal care, respite, companion or homemaker services to clients in their homes. As of September 2026, the initial application carries a $350 fee and processing runs roughly 60 to 90 days. A firm that places caregivers or home health aides into private residences should apply this license track, not the repealed Private Employment Agency Act rules, and should not assume that Georgia's general "no license" answer for staffing extends to home care placement.

Chicago-style local rules do not apply here

Unlike Illinois, where Chicago layers a city day-labor agency license on top of state registration, Georgia's larger cities do not run a comparable agency-specific licensing program as of September 2026. Atlanta and other Georgia cities can still require a general business occupation tax certificate to operate inside city limits, which is not specific to staffing or recruiting. Confirm with your specific city's licensing or revenue office rather than assuming the state's repeal means no local paperwork anywhere.

Fees you can charge candidates

With the fee-schedule rule repealed, Georgia does not currently cap what a general employment agency may charge a job seeker or require the fee schedule to be filed with the state, the way Illinois or Washington still do under their active statutes. Ordinary Georgia contract and consumer protection law still applies to any fee agreement you write with a candidate, so review it on that basis rather than assuming the absence of a licensing rule means the absence of any constraint. Employer-side fee terms are covered in how to negotiate recruitment fees.

A checklist before you treat Georgia as unlicensed

GEORGIA STATUS CHECK — [date] — owner: [name]

Confirm the repeal still stands:
  [ ] Checked rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/300-4-6 for current status (should show Repealed)
  [ ] Checked rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/300-4-1 for current status (should show Repealed)
  [ ] Called or emailed Georgia Department of Labor if unsure
  [ ] Dated the confirmation and filed it

Our model:
  [ ] Direct hire / retained search
  [ ] Contract or temp staffing, we employ the worker
  [ ] Home care / caregiver placement (needs DCH Private Home Care Provider License)
  [ ] Charge fees to candidates

Still to check separately:
  City/county occupation tax certificate          [ ]
  Georgia Secretary of State business registration [ ]
  E-Verify status (employer size and public-contract exposure)  [ ]
  DCH Private Home Care Provider License, if placing caregivers  [ ]

Next review: [date, at least annually]

Keep the dated confirmation from the Department of Labor with your compliance file. It is the answer to give a client or auditor who expects to see a Georgia agency license number on a submittal and instead needs the short explanation that the licensing rule was repealed.

Why this trips up multi-state desks

A firm that already runs licensed desks in New York or New Jersey and opens in Georgia tends to build a single compliance checklist around "apply for the state license, post the bond, file the fee schedule," then hits a dead end when Georgia has no equivalent form to submit. The instinct to keep looking for one is reasonable, since a rule chapter still titled "Private Employment Agency Act" reads like it should have an active licensing requirement attached. The safer habit is the opposite of assuming either extreme: do not assume Georgia licenses agencies just because the rule chapter's title suggests it, and do not assume Georgia has no rules at all just because the licensing subject is repealed. Confirm the specific subject you care about, in writing, before you build a multi-state checklist that either over- or under-states what Georgia expects from a new desk.