Service of Process 

Process must be served personally upon the defendant. In order to be valid, personal service upon a defendant must be made by 1) delivering a copy of the summons attached to a copy of the complaint to the defendant personally, or 2) by leaving copies at his or her dwelling house or usual place of abode with some person of suitable age and discretion residing therein, even though notice of such is not received by the defendant. However, for service made outside the state upon a Georgia resident, the service must be in person to the person served.

If the defendant is a nonresident but found sojourning within the state, he may be personally served with process […]. Generally, however, a nonresident is immune from service 1) while in attendance upon a court where he is a suitor or witness or 2) in going to or returning from the court; but this general rule would not apply if the person is in the state for some other purposes, or if the proceeding is not a "new" action.