Quick answer
Citizens of the 90 countries on the Georgian government's visa-free list, which includes every EU state, the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Israel and the Gulf states, can stay one full year with no visa, no registration and no fee, and since 1 January 2026 every tourist must carry health and accident insurance of at least 30,000 GEL. Eleven more passports get 30 to 90 days under bilateral agreements, and holders of valid US, EU, UK, Gulf and similar visas or residence permits get 90 days in any 180. Everyone else needs a visa, from evisa.gov.ge ($20 plus 2%) for 32 passports or from an embassy for the rest; our entry checker gives the answer for yours.
- Visa-free countries
- 90
- Maximum stay
- 1 year
- Insurance minimum
- 30,000 GEL
- E-visa fee
- $20 + 2%
We have been through Georgian passport control more times than we can count, and it is still one of the least eventful borders anywhere. That has not changed. What has changed since this guide was first written is everything around it: insurance became compulsory in January 2026, overstay fines were multiplied in October 2025, and a new labour migration law in March 2026 rewrote the rules for foreigners who work here. Everything below was checked on 8 September 2026 against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' consular portal (geoconsul.gov.ge), the government ordinance that carries the visa-free list (last amended 24 February 2026), the e-visa portal, the Public Service Development Agency's fee tables and the Interior Ministry's published penalties. USD figures use the National Bank of Georgia rate on 8 September 2026 (1 USD = 2.61 GEL).
Who gets a year visa-free
The list is set by a government ordinance, No. 255, last amended on 24 February 2026. When we asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' visa information service about every passport on 8 October 2026, it gave the one-year answer for 90 countries plus the British overseas territories and Crown Dependencies. Citizens of every one of them may enter and stay in Georgia without a visa for one full year, counted from the day of entry. The list covers all EU and EFTA states, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Israel, the six Gulf states, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, most of the CIS, Jordan, Lebanon, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, South Africa, Botswana and Mauritius, among others. EU citizens may enter on a national identity card instead of a passport. The ministry's own answers for all 193 passports it lists are in our entry checker, with the documents to carry; for anything unusual, use the visa information service on geoconsul.gov.ge rather than a third-party site.
| Passport | Stay without a visa |
|---|---|
| The 90 listed countries | One full year from entry. No registration, no fee. Includes the EU, UK, US, Canada, Australia, NZ, Japan, South Korea, Israel, the Gulf states, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, most of Latin America, South Africa |
| Holders of visas or residence permits of the EU, Schengen and EFTA states, UK, US, Canada, Australia, NZ, Japan, South Korea, Israel or the Gulf states | 90 days in any 180-day period, whatever your own passport. The visa or permit must be valid on the day you cross, and for 17 nationalities a Gulf visa or permit counts only if it is multiple-entry with at least a year left |
| Chile, Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, North Macedonia, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis | 90 days in any 180 under bilateral agreements; Uruguay 90 days |
| China (including Hong Kong and Macao) | 30 days per visit and 90 days in any 180 under the bilateral agreement signed in April 2024 |
| Iran | 45 days under the 2011 bilateral agreement |
| Everyone else | A visa before travel: an e-visa from evisa.gov.ge for 32 passports on 8 October 2026, otherwise from a Georgian embassy or consulate |
Insurance is mandatory since 2026
Under the Law of Georgia on Tourism, every tourist entering Georgia from 1 January 2026 must hold health and accident insurance covering the full stay, arrival and departure days included. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sets out the conditions: a minimum sum insured of 30,000 GEL (about $11,500), a policy from a Georgian or foreign insurer, in Georgian or English, on paper or on a phone, naming the parties, the territory covered, the dates, the risks, the limit and the premium. Exempt are diplomatic and service passport holders, accredited staff of embassies and international organisations, people covered by international agreements, and drivers in international freight and passenger transport. Everyone else, including long-stay visa-free visitors, needs it; the insurance guide goes through policy wording that meets the rule.
What happens at the border
Georgia asks for very little. There is no arrival card, no fingerprinting, no proof of funds, no onward ticket rule and no hotel booking check, though the airline you fly with may want an onward ticket before it lets you board. The officer takes your passport, may ask how long you are staying, stamps it and hands it back. At Tbilisi Airport the queue from the plane to the baggage hall is usually 5 to 15 minutes; Kutaisi and Batumi airports are smaller and faster. Keep the insurance policy where you can open it, because the Border Police can ask for it.
| Document | Needed |
|---|---|
| Passport | Yes, valid for the whole stay; EU citizens may use a national ID card. Airlines and neighbouring countries may want six months' validity even though Georgia's rule is simply that it is valid |
| Insurance policy | Yes since 1 January 2026, at least 30,000 GEL, in English or Georgian, printed or on your phone |
| Visa or e-visa | Only if your passport is not on the visa-free list and you hold no qualifying foreign visa or permit |
| Return ticket, hotel booking, proof of funds | Not asked of visa-free passports in our experience. Travellers entering on a visa or on another country's visa should be able to show the trip's purpose, a booking and enough money if the Border Police ask, the ministry says. Have a booking on your phone anyway in case an airline asks |
| Arrival form, registration | None. There is no registration with police or immigration during a visa-free stay |
Having the right passport does not guarantee entry: the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens lists grounds on which the Border Police may refuse, and refusals do happen, mostly to people with long histories of back-to-back stays and to travellers who cannot explain where they are going. Answer plainly, have the address of your first night, and do not argue with the booth.
E-visa for everyone else
If your passport is not on the visa-free list and you hold no qualifying foreign visa, apply for a short-term C category e-visa at evisa.gov.ge, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' own portal, from outside Georgia. The portal's fee is $20 plus a 2% service charge, paid by card within five hours of confirming your email address, and its FAQ says a decision takes no less than five working days, so apply well ahead. Depending on the passport the e-visa is single entry for 30 days within 120, or multiple entry for 90 days within 180. Not every visa passport qualifies: on 8 October 2026 the portal issued to 32 of them, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam among them, and not to Pakistan, Nigeria or Bangladesh, whose citizens apply at an embassy; the entry checker lists them all. The application needs a passport scan, a photo and your travel details; no embassy visit. For work, study or family stays you need an immigration (D category) visa through the e-application system and a consular office, which takes up to 30 calendar days.
How the year works
The visa-free year runs from the day you enter. You can leave and come back as often as you like inside it, and when it is used up you must leave; on re-entry the Border Police will normally stamp a fresh year. Georgia has no minimum time away and no annual cap written into the ordinance, which is why long-stayers have done a same-day trip to Armenia and back for years. The border crossings guide explains the run to Sadakhlo in practice. The honest caveat is that re-entry is at the officer's discretion, and someone on their fourth consecutive year of tourism draws more questions than a first-timer. If you are living here, a residence permit is the fix.
Overstaying is now expensive
Since 1 October 2025 the Code of Administrative Offences fines an overstay of up to three months 1,000 GEL (about $380), up to a year 2,000 GEL, and over a year 3,000 GEL, each with an entry ban that relocation firms report as six months, two years and three years respectively; anyone who invites or uses the services of a foreigner in breach of the rules is fined 2,000 GEL. Before that date the fines were 180 and 360 GEL. From the same date the Interior Ministry keeps a database of everyone who is or has been in the country illegally, so an overstay follows you into later residence applications. Count your days on the police.ge calculator, not from memory.
Working, tax and the 2026 labour law
Being allowed to stay is not the same as being allowed to work, and this is where 2026 changed the most. Amendments to the Law on Labour Migration in force since 1 March 2026 mean a foreigner employed or self-employed in Georgia needs a right to labour activity from the State Employment Support Agency, issued electronically for one specific employer and position for one year (the employer pays) or, for the self-employed, for a stated field of activity. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' own note on the change says the requirement applies to labour or entrepreneurial activity in Georgia "including remotely". Georgian law firms writing in spring 2026 read the implementing rules as exempting people who work for foreign companies on activity outside Georgia, and permanent and investment residence holders are exempt by law. Working without the right costs 2,000 GEL for a first offence, doubling on repetition. Self-employed foreigners already active on 1 March 2026 had until 1 May 2026 to comply, and anyone registered in the ministry's labour migration database by 1 March has until 1 January 2027 to obtain both the right and a residence permit. The rules are new and being interpreted, so if you plan to work from Georgia for more than a holiday, read labourmigration.moh.gov.ge and get local advice before assuming the old "remote work is fine" line still holds.
Tax. You become a Georgian tax resident after 183 days in any continuous 12 months. Georgia taxes individuals on Georgian-source income only (articles 82 and 104 of the Tax Code), so a resident's foreign salary is generally not taxed here, though it must be declared. People who invoice clients register as an Individual Entrepreneur at a Public Service Hall and apply to the Revenue Service for small business status, which taxes turnover at 1% up to 500,000 GEL a year and 3% on the excess, declared monthly on rs.ge. Registration alone does not grant the 1% rate; the status is a separate application, and since March 2026 it does not replace the right to labour activity.
Residence permits
The Public Service Development Agency (sda.gov.ge) issues residence permits at three speeds: 300 GEL for a decision in 30 days, 450 GEL in 20 days, 600 GEL in 10 days, plus 60 to 150 GEL for the card depending on how fast you want it. The grounds that matter to most foreigners:
| Permit | Who it is for |
|---|---|
| Work | A labour immigrant registered with the ministry and holding the right to labour activity, or a self-employed foreigner with the same. The usual route for people with a Georgian business or job |
| Short-term (property) | Owners of Georgian property worth at least $150,000 by an accredited valuation; the threshold rose from $100,000 in March 2026 |
| Investment | An investment of at least $300,000 in Georgia |
| IT | New in 2025: IT specialists and entrepreneurs with at least two years' experience and $25,000 a year in income; issued for three years, fee 500 to 1,000 GEL |
| Study, family, spouse | Students at accredited institutions, family members of permit holders, spouses of Georgian citizens |
| Permanent | After six years on temporary permits (spouses of Georgian citizens have their own route); indefinite, no more renewals, and exempt from the labour-activity rule |
Under the 2025 amendments an appeal against a refused permit or a deportation order no longer suspends the decision, and the agency now collects finger and palm prints. Citizenship is a separate and much longer process; most long-term foreigners stop at permanent residence.
Arriving by land
Everything above applies at road borders too, with the same stamp and the same insurance check. Armenia at Sadakhlo and Turkey at Sarpi are straightforward, Russia at Dariali is open but slow, and Azerbaijan's land borders have been closed to travellers since 2020 and remain so under a decree running to 2 January 2027 (extended on 17 September 2026), so a Baku leg means a flight. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are not entry points: the Law on Occupied Territories allows entry only from the Zugdidi and Gori sides, and entering from Russia is a criminal offence. The border crossings guide has every crossing with hours, fares and queues.
Common mistakes
- Flying without insurance. It is a legal requirement since 1 January 2026, and a policy bought on your phone in the arrivals queue is cutting it fine.
- Miscounting the year. It runs from the entry date, not the calendar year. The fines and bans since October 2025 are not symbolic.
- Assuming visa-free means work-free. Since March 2026 employment and self-employment in Georgia need a right to labour activity; the position of remote workers for foreign firms is being interpreted, so check.
- Buying the e-visa from the wrong site. The portal charges $20 plus 2%. Anyone charging $80 is reselling it.
- Planning Azerbaijan overland. Closed to entry by land; fly.
- Treating the old 100,000 dollar property permit as current. The threshold is $150,000 since March 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How long can I stay in Georgia without a visa?
Do I need travel insurance to enter Georgia in 2026?
Can I enter Georgia with a US or Schengen visa if my passport needs a visa?
How much does the Georgian e-visa cost?
What is the fine for overstaying in Georgia?
Can I work remotely from Georgia on a visa-free stay?
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