Quick answer
Every tourist entering Georgia since 1 January 2026 must hold health and accident insurance for the whole stay with a sum insured of at least 30,000 GEL (about $11,500), in English or Georgian, on paper or on a phone, naming Georgia, the dates, the risks, the limit and the premium. Border officers can ask for it; in practice many arrivals in 2026 were not asked, some were, and airlines have checked at the gate. A compliant policy costs from about 4 GEL a day from a Georgian insurer or $62.72 per four weeks on SafetyWing, the one we use.
- Required since
- 1 Jan 2026
- Minimum cover
- 30,000 GEL
- Format
- PDF or paper
- Emergency number
- 112
Everything below was checked on 15 September 2026 and again on 4 October 2026 against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' consular portal (geoconsul.gov.ge, its Entering Georgia page, whose wording had not changed between the two reads), SafetyWing's pricing page, a Georgian insurer's public price list, and the 2026 border reports collected by two travel and insurance guides updated in May and July 2026. Dollar figures use the National Bank of Georgia rate published for 3 October 2026, 2.60 GEL to the dollar.
Georgia's travel insurance requirements since January 2026
The requirement sits in the Law of Georgia on Tourism and the consular portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sets out how it works. From 1 January 2026, anyone entering Georgia as a tourist must hold a valid health and accident insurance policy and be able to present it, on paper or on a screen, in Georgian or English. The policy may come from a Georgian or a foreign insurer, must cover the whole period of stay including the days of arrival and departure, and must carry a sum insured of no less than 30,000 GEL. The portal's wording is on its Entering Georgia page, under the visa categories, and it is the text an officer will apply.
The rule is separate from the visa rules. Being on the visa-free list, which gives citizens of 90 countries a full year in Georgia, does not remove it; our entry checker shows the rule and the documents for your passport, and the visa and entry guide covers who gets in on a stamp and for how long.
What the policy must show
The consular portal lists seven items the policy must contain. If your certificate is missing one, the document is harder to defend at the desk, so check it against this table before you fly.
| Item | On the certificate |
|---|---|
| Parties to the contract | Your name as the insured and the insurer's name. |
| Covered territory | Georgia by name, or a region wording that plainly includes it. "Worldwide excluding USA" is fine; "Europe" is the one that causes arguments, since insurers disagree about whether Georgia is in it. |
| Subject matter | Health and accident cover, not a baggage-only or cancellation-only product. |
| Start and end dates | Running from your arrival day to your departure day at the latest. |
| Insured risks | What is covered: emergency treatment, hospital stay, accident, evacuation. |
| Sum insured | A limit of at least 30,000 GEL, in any currency, printed on the page. |
| Premium | What you paid, where and on what terms. This is the item most foreign certificates leave off; ask the insurer for the full policy schedule rather than the welcome email. |
Who is exempt
The portal exempts five groups: holders of diplomatic and special visas; holders of diplomatic, official, service and special passports; accredited staff of embassies, consulates and international organisations, and their accredited family members; people whose entry is governed by an international treaty Georgia has signed; and drivers in international freight and passenger transport. Nobody else is, including long-stay visa-free visitors, remote workers and people who own property here. If you think you fall under a treaty, confirm it with your own foreign ministry before you rely on it.
How the check works in practice
The rule gives Border Police officers the right to ask; it does not say every arrival will be asked, and in 2026 they have not been. The reports gathered by the travel guide wander-lush.org (updated May 2026) and a Georgian insurer's guide (July 2026) agree on the pattern: some arrivals at Tbilisi Airport were asked to show a policy and many were not, travellers crossing from Armenia by land mostly were not, and enforcement varies by entry point and by officer. The check that has caught more people is the airline's: several carriers have asked for proof of insurance at check-in or at the gate before boarding a flight to Georgia, and a passenger who cannot show it can be refused boarding.
| Scenario | What happens |
|---|---|
| Not asked | The common case in 2026. The officer stamps the passport; you carry on. You still have the policy for the trip itself, which is the point. |
| Asked, and ready | You open the PDF or hand over the page, the officer reads the dates and the limit, ten seconds, done. |
| Asked, and not ready | Searching an inbox on airport Wi-Fi with a queue behind you. Worst case, a policy in the wrong language or with the wrong dates, and a longer conversation about whether you may enter. |
The practical move is to have three things on the phone before landing: the policy PDF, a screenshot of the page that shows your name, the dates, Georgia and the limit, and the insurer's emergency number. Ten minutes at home; nothing to do at the border.
Cover worth having beyond the minimum
Meeting the legal minimum gets you through the airport. It does not decide whether the policy is any use when something goes wrong, and in Georgia the expensive scenarios are not in the cities. A consultation at a good private clinic in Tbilisi or Batumi is under 100 GEL and diagnostics are cheap by Western standards, so the medical bill for a stomach bug or a sprained ankle is small. The bills that hurt are a helicopter or a long road evacuation from a mountain valley, a multi-day hospital stay after a road accident, and a flight home with medical escort.
| Cover | Why it matters here |
|---|---|
| Emergency treatment and hospital stay | Required by the rule and the core of any policy. Private hospitals in Tbilisi treat foreigners routinely and invoice up front. |
| Medical evacuation and repatriation | The one to check twice if you are hiking or skiing. Svaneti, Tusheti, Khevsureti and Kazbegi are hours from a trauma hospital; getting out is the cost, not the treatment. |
| Activities | Standard policies often exclude trekking above a set altitude, skiing off-piste, paragliding and horse riding. Georgia's best days involve at least one of them. SafetyWing covers on-piste skiing and a long list of leisure sports as standard and sells an adventure-sports add-on; read the activity list of whatever you buy. |
| Motor accidents | Check that injuries in a rental car are covered when you are the driver; some policies exclude them, and a rental's own insurance covers the car, not you. See our car rental guide. |
| Cancellation and baggage | Optional. Georgia is a cheap country to be stuck in and lost-luggage payouts are small; buy them if your flights were expensive, not because the rule requires them. |
What it costs
A compliant policy is cheap next to what it covers. Two examples read on 15 September 2026 and re-read on 4 October, one foreign subscription and one Georgian product, both with the 30,000 GEL line covered; neither price had moved.
What compliant cover costs, October 2026
| Policy | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SafetyWing Essential | $62.72/4 weeks | Ages 18 to 39, travel medical cover up to 364 days at a time, $250,000 overall limit, evacuation up to $100,000, bought before or after departure; other age bands are priced on its calculator |
| SafetyWing Complete | $177.50/month | Full health insurance, renewable indefinitely, routine and emergency care, for people moving to Georgia rather than visiting |
| GeoCover (Wizer, Georgia) | 3.95 GEL/day | Georgian product sold online with a 30,000 GEL limit, marketed for the entry rule: 36 GEL for 10 days, 45 GEL for 7 days with a data SIM, 98 GEL a month, 229 for three months, 379 GEL a year; active-travel cover 17.50 GEL a day extra. We have not used it; it shows what a local policy costs |
| Private clinic visit, Tbilisi | under 100 GEL | For scale: what you would pay out of pocket for a doctor at a good private clinic, per wander-lush.org, May 2026 |
Prices checked 4 October 2026. Ranges reflect season and operator.
The cheapest quote is not automatically the worst, but if one is far below the rest, read its exclusions line by line: low outpatient limits, no evacuation, an age cap, or "Europe" wording that a Georgian officer may not read as Georgia.
What it costs for 7, 14 and 30 days
The question we get most is the total for a trip of a given length, so here it is, worked from the two price lists above. GeoCover's totals are its own package prices where it sells one and its 3.95 GEL daily rate multiplied out where it does not. SafetyWing prices Essential per four weeks and lets you set exact dates on its calculator, so for 7 and 14 days the table shows the four-week price as the ceiling; your quote for shorter dates will be lower, and we would rather you read it on the calculator than take a figure we worked out. The dollar column is at 2.60 GEL.
| Trip | GeoCover, then SafetyWing Essential |
|---|---|
| 7 days | GeoCover about 28 GEL at the daily rate, or 45 GEL with the 7-day data SIM bundle (about $11 to 17). SafetyWing up to $62.72; set your dates on the calculator for the exact figure. |
| 10 days | GeoCover 36 GEL package (about $14). SafetyWing up to $62.72. |
| 14 days | GeoCover about 55 GEL at the daily rate (about $21). SafetyWing up to $62.72. |
| 30 days | GeoCover 98 GEL package (about $38). SafetyWing $62.72 for the first four weeks, about $67 for 30 days. |
| 90 days | GeoCover 229 GEL package (about $88). SafetyWing about $188 for three four-week periods, before the 10 percent discount it shows for a 364-day plan. |
| A year | GeoCover 379 GEL package (about $146). SafetyWing Essential covers up to 364 days at a time; the Complete plan at $177.50 a month is the product for a move rather than a trip. |
Two readings of that table. For a short holiday the local policy is a fraction of the price and meets the letter of the rule, and the gap is the cover behind the certificate: 30,000 GEL against $250,000, and no evacuation line we could find on the GeoCover page. For a month or more the two converge, and the one with the evacuation limit, the English-language claims line and the activity list is worth the difference if your trip has mountains in it.
The best and cheapest travel insurance for Georgia, ranked
Ranked by the question the reader is actually asking. We have used only one of these, so the ranking is about fit and the printed numbers, not about claims experience.
| If you want | Buy | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The cheapest compliant certificate | GeoCover or another Georgian online policy at about 4 GEL a day | Prints the 30,000 GEL limit, the dates and the premium exactly as the rule lists them, issued as a PDF the moment you pay. Fine for a city break; thin for anything beyond a clinic visit. |
| The best cover for a normal holiday | Your existing annual multi-trip policy or employer health plan | Usually far above the minimum and already paid for. The work is getting a certificate that names Georgia, shows the limit and is in English; a welcome email will not do. |
| The best policy for hiking, skiing or a long stay | SafetyWing Essential, the one we carry | $62.72 per four weeks for ages 18 to 39, $250,000 limit, evacuation up to $100,000, on-piste skiing and a long sports list as standard, can be bought after you have left home, renewable month by month for a visa-free stay. |
| A policy for a move to Georgia | SafetyWing Complete or a Georgian health insurer once you are resident | Complete is full health insurance at $177.50 a month with routine care; for a resident on a local salary a Georgian insurer's plan is cheaper, but that is beyond a travel guide. |
| A policy that works arriving from the Gulf, Europe or anywhere else | Any of the above | The rule is the same for every nationality and every entry point. A policy from an insurer in the UAE, Qatar, India or Germany qualifies on the same terms as a Georgian one: Georgia named, dates, risks, the limit and the premium on the certificate, in English or Georgian. |
How to choose a policy
- 1
Compliance first
Georgia named in the territory, dates from arrival to departure, a limit of 30,000 GEL or more printed on the certificate, English or Georgian, and the seven items from the table above. Ask the insurer for the full schedule if the welcome email is all you have.
- 2
Then the medical limits
Emergency treatment, hospital stay and evacuation, with a limit that would pay for a flight home with a nurse. The Georgian minimum is a floor, not a target.
- 3
Then your activities
Trekking, skiing, paragliding, horses, a rental car. If it is not in the covered list, it is excluded, however obvious it seems.
- 4
Then the claims process
A 24-hour line, a WhatsApp or chat channel, and a clear rule on whether you must call before treatment. Save the number in the phone, not in an email.
If you are building a long itinerary through several regions, choose the policy that is easiest to use under stress over the one that wins a comparison table by a few dollars.
If something goes wrong in Georgia
The emergency number is 112 for ambulance, police and fire everywhere in the country, run by the Interior Ministry's public safety centre. For anything serious, call 112 first and the insurer second. For anything that can wait an hour, go to a private clinic in Tbilisi, Batumi or Kutaisi: they are modern, used to foreigners, and paid at the desk, so the sequence is treat, pay, keep every receipt and the written diagnosis, then claim. Most policies want to be told before non-urgent treatment and some steer you to their own network, so read that clause on the plane.
In the mountains the order changes. Signal is patchy, the nearest hospital may be three hours by road, and the insurer's evacuation clause is what decides whether you wait for a car or a helicopter. Tell someone your route, carry the insurer's number on paper, and keep a battery bank charged. We have not claimed on our own policy, so we describe the process from the insurers' terms, not from experience.
Setup by type of trip
| Trip | What to buy and what to watch |
|---|---|
| City break, 3 to 7 days | Any compliant medical and accident policy with an English certificate and exact dates. Watch for low outpatient limits and a certificate that omits the premium line. |
| Road trip | Higher medical limits and a reliable assistance line. Watch for the assumption that the rental's insurance covers your injuries; it covers the car. |
| Hiking, skiing, riding | Evacuation and your activities named in the policy. Watch for altitude caps and off-piste exclusions. |
| Slow travel, 1 to 12 months | A subscription that renews without a gap, or one long policy. Watch for date gaps between policies; the certificate you show at entry must run to your planned departure. |
| Family | One policy naming every traveller, children included. Watch for per-person limits below 30,000 GEL when a family limit is shared. |
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Buying after landing | You can be asked before you have Wi-Fi or a working card. Buy before departure; SafetyWing and the Georgian insurers issue the PDF as soon as you pay, so do it at home. |
| Dates that stop short | The policy must cover the departure day. Match the flight, not the hotel booking. |
| "Europe" as the territory | Ask for a certificate that names Georgia or says worldwide. |
| A certificate in your own language only | Request the English version. German, French or Russian alone does not meet the rule. |
| A one-line confirmation email | Get the full schedule showing the limit and the premium. The rule lists both. |
| Nothing saved offline | PDF on the phone, screenshot of the key page, insurer's number in contacts. |
| Standard cover for a trekking trip | Add evacuation and the activity, or pick a policy that includes them. |
Insurance is one part of the arrival checklist, not the whole of it. Pair this guide with is Georgia safe and our things to know before you go.
Frequently asked questions
Is travel insurance mandatory for Georgia in 2026?
Can I use the insurance I already have at home?
Do border officers actually ask for it?
Does a digital copy count?
I am staying six months visa-free. Does one short policy do?
What is the cheapest travel insurance for Georgia that meets the rule?
How much travel insurance do I need for Georgia?
What if I arrive without it?
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