🇬🇪 Georgia Digital Nomad Visa: Ended, but Your Dream of 365 Days Visa-Free Lives On!

What happened to the Georgia digital nomad visa

Dreaming of a fresh start with a Georgia digital nomad visa? Don’t let an outdated guide turn that excitement into disappointment. You’ll still see "Remotely from Georgia" promoted, but this pandemic-era program has been dead for years. Discover the real route in 2026, and what changed in March 2026. Want to imagine your life in Tbilisi, and understand what it costs? Explore our Georgia country profile.

In summer 2020, with its borders closed, Georgia created "Remotely from Georgia" to welcome remote workers. It offered a way in, but came with conditions: an application form, proof of at least US$2,000 a month in income and mandatory quarantine at your own cost. The detail you can’t afford to miss? It was an entry permit, never a visa or a residence permit.

Once regular entry reopened from spring 2021, the program lost its purpose, and the application process disappeared. We found no formal repeal notice in official Georgian sources; consistent secondary sources and the missing application route show that it simply lapsed. Protect your fresh-start plans from confusing claims of "no proof of income". They mix up two different things: the dead program required income proof; visa-free entry does not, because it involves no application at all.

Your freedom starts here: up to 365 days visa-free

Imagine a full year without the visa application headache. Georgia does not need a nomad visa because its regular entry rules are more generous than almost any nomad program: nationals of more than 90 countries may enter visa-free and stay a full year at a time. No application, no fee, no income proof, no appointment. Before you start picturing your new life, check whether your passport is on Georgia's visa-free list.

Re-enter, and the clock restarts. This has worked in practice for years, but protect your plans: it is tolerated, not a legal right. If Georgia is your long-term dream, aim for a residence permit.

Do not let one new border rule derail your arrival: since 1 January 2026, Georgia requires travel health and accident insurance with cover of at least GEL 30,000 for your entire stay, shown on paper or digitally, in Georgian or English. Airlines sometimes check the policy at check-in, and media report refusals or fines at the border. A local policy meets the formality but covers little. For protection beyond the paperwork, our overview of health insurance for digital nomads explains what a nomad policy really needs to do.

The turning point: work permits since March 2026

For years, starting your next chapter felt simple: enter Georgia, register online as an individual entrepreneur and get to work. Those days are over. Under amendments to Georgia's labor migration law adopted on 26 June 2025 and a government decree of 20 February 2026, foreigners have needed a work permit since 1 March 2026. Your ambition deserves a solid foundation: before taking paid employment, becoming self-employed or carrying on business in Georgia, you need an officially granted right to do so. The competent authority is the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs; the government's migration commission publishes information at migration.commission.ge.

Protect the future you are building. Here is what matters next (details marked "secondary sources" come from law firm and press analyses, not the legal text):

• Self-employed and individual entrepreneurs: this step is in your hands. You must apply online through the ministry's labor migration portal. Employees are registered by their Georgian employer, who must first advertise the job locally for 10 working days (secondary sources).
• The authority decides within 30 calendar days. Put the cost in your plan now: GEL 200 for the standard procedure or GEL 400 for the fast track, with a decision within 10 working days (secondary sources).
• Your work authorization comes first. Only then can you apply for the residence permit or D1 immigration visa built on it. This two-stage process is the core of the reform, so get the order right.
• Transition periods you cannot afford to miss: self-employed people already working in Georgia on 1 March 2026 had until 1 May 2026; employees with active status in the labor migration database have a transition period until 1 January 2027 (sources describe the scope differently).
• Do not let mistakes become expensive setbacks: GEL 2,000 for a first offense, GEL 4,000 for a second, then GEL 12,000, with possible effects on residence extensions (secondary sources).
• You may be exempt: exempt groups include holders of permanent and investment residence permits, diplomats, recognized refugees and accredited journalists.

Still dreaming of the famous Georgian structure, an individual entrepreneur with small business status? It still works. But it is expressly covered. Registering as one means doing business in Georgia, so you need the permit. Your plans do not have to stop here. Move forward with your eyes open: there is now an application, a review, a fee and deadlines.

The gray zone: don’t gamble on remote work without Georgian registration

Working from Tbilisi for clients abroad, with no Georgian company, clients or registration? Don’t let uncertainty put your peace of mind on the line: the new law does not clearly regulate that case. Georgian lawyers mostly read the reform as targeting the local labor market, not guests working only for foreign clients. But there is no express exemption, and, after only a few months, no settled practice you can confidently rely on.

Staying a few months with no Georgian ties? As things stand, you’re in a gray area the authorities tolerate. But if you stay a year, keep a Georgian bank account, take on local clients or want the 1% status, don’t leave your next move to guesswork: take the formal route. Where is the line drawn? Your economic ties to the country, not a number of days.

Staying longer: residence permits

What if Georgia wasn’t just your escape, but the place you finally belonged? If your passport is visa-exempt, you usually do not need the D1 immigration visa from a consulate. Apply for residence permits inside Georgia, at the House of Justice, for one to three years each, renewable, and start building a life you love.

Ready to stop counting down visa-free stays? Four doors could open your next chapter in 2026:

• Work residence permit: make the work you do today the foundation of your life here tomorrow. Turn your employment or business activity into a path to staying. Since March 2026 it requires the work authorization described above. Secondary sources name five times the Georgian subsistence minimum per month as the income floor.
• IT residence permit: keep the career you’ve built. Create the life you’ve imagined. Available since 1 September 2025 for IT professionals, including employees of foreign companies and freelancers, with at least two years of IT experience and annual income from US$25,000. Granted for three years, renewable, family included; currently the cleanest route for employed remote developers.
• Property route: imagine unlocking your own front door, and a future here. This one-year permit renews while you own residential property. The threshold rose on 1 March 2026 from US$100,000 to US$150,000 in market value; several properties can be combined, and owners registered before the cut-off keep the old threshold (secondary sources).
• Investment residence permit: turn your commitment into deeper roots with investment from US$300,000. Granted first for five years, then a permanent permit if the property is held or the company reaches the statutory minimum turnover. Holders are exempt from the new work permit requirement.

Dreaming of calling Georgia home for good? On the normal route, current sources mostly say ten years of uninterrupted residence on temporary permits; older sources still say six, as the requirement rose from six to ten years in 2021 (secondary sources, not consistent). Your future deserves careful planning: visa-free days do not count toward any of these periods.

Taxes in three paragraphs

You work hard for your money. Imagine the relief of keeping more of it. Georgia taxes individuals on a territorial basis: foreign income of Georgian tax residents is generally untaxed, while Georgian-source income is taxed at 20%. The standout opportunity? The individual entrepreneur with small business status: 1% tax on turnover up to GEL 500,000 a year, 3% above that. It covers active business income, not securities or investment income. Standard consulting work is excluded, and your contract must not disguise employment. Since March 2026, the status applies from the day you apply, not the following month. Less waiting. More momentum towards the life you’re working for.

But don’t let a tax advantage put your hard-won freedom at risk: the 1% status is a way of being taxed, not a substitute for residence. Keep a home or other ties in your home country, and its rules may keep you taxable there. That exciting advantage could become a painful risk. And if you are a US citizen, you remain subject to US income tax on your worldwide income wherever you live (IRS).

Georgia still offers nomads a compelling opportunity, but your next chapter deserves clear-eyed planning. In 2025 and 2026, the country visibly tightened its approach: insurance at the border, work permits for the self-employed, a higher property threshold and stricter bank checks. Enforcement against remote workers with no local ties is still an open question. Craving something more informal? Explore neighboring Armenia, or discover more possibilities for your next move in our overview of all digital nomad visas.

Frequently asked questions

Does Georgia have a digital nomad visa?

No, but your dream of living in Georgia may still be within reach. The pandemic-era "Remotely from Georgia" permit has not been offered for years. Instead, nationals of more than 90 countries can enjoy the freedom to stay up to 365 days visa-free per stay.

Do I need a work permit to work remotely from Georgia?

Dreaming of making Georgia your remote-work home? Don’t let uncertainty derail your plans: Since 1 March 2026 anyone employed, self-employed or doing business in Georgia needs a work permit, including individual entrepreneurs. Remote work purely for foreign clients without Georgian registration is not clearly regulated.

Does the time I spend visa-free count toward permanent residence?

No, don’t let precious time slip away. Only time on residence permits counts toward permanent residence, and according to most current sources, the normal route takes about ten years.