What is the 183-day rule?
+
Spend more than 183 days in Georgia and do any paid employment, and you become liable to Georgian income tax automatically. It is not a visa matter and it is not optional. For anyone using the one-year entry as a working base, this — not immigration — is the rule that changes their situation.
So the immigration year and the tax year are different things?
+
Exactly, and conflating them is the common mistake. Immigration gives you twelve months. Tax attaches at 183 days if you are earning. A traveller can be entirely lawful on the first count and quietly non-compliant on the second, which is a bad combination in a country that is otherwise so accommodating.
What about work permits?
+
A work permit is issued for one year, and only for a specific job with a specific employer. The rules changed on 1 March 2026, so anything written before that date should be treated with caution. A permit tied to one employer is a real constraint rather than a formality.
Which authority decides at the border?
+
The Georgian border police under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, at Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi airports and at the land crossings. The checks are quick by regional standards, which suits a country whose entry policy is among the most open in the world.
Which routes are the ordinary departures?
+
Istanbul, Dubai, Warsaw, Kyiv, Yerevan and Baku carry most of it, with Istanbul the shortest and most frequent. The land routes to Armenia and Azerbaijan are ordinary and busy, and Turkish Airlines and the low-cost carriers do most of the rest.
Are there rules about what I can bring?
+
Georgia applies strict rules on goods taken into and out of the country, and they are enforced at the land crossings as much as at the airports. It is one of the few areas where an otherwise relaxed border becomes exacting, and declaring is always cheaper than being found.
What about the breakaway regions?
+
Abkhazia and South Ossetia are outside the control of the Georgian government, and entering them other than through Georgian-controlled crossings has legal consequences under Georgian law. This is a subject to research at source before travelling anywhere near it, not one to generalise about.
Does leaving and returning reset the year?
+
The visa-free period is generous enough that this rarely arises, and a fresh entry is a fresh decision in Georgia as everywhere else. The more relevant clock for a long stay is the 183-day tax threshold, which counts days in the country rather than entries.
Is there a departure formality?
+
Nothing beyond the ordinary exit check. There is no exit tax and no form. What matters at the end of a long Georgian stay is usually the tax question rather than the immigration one — the border will wave you through in either case.
How does the insurance requirement work in practice?
+
It is a condition of the stay rather than a document routinely demanded at the counter, and it has to cover the whole period including the arrival and departure days. For a stay measured in months, an annual policy is the sensible instrument rather than a trip policy extended repeatedly.
What should be ready before I fly?
+
A passport that outlasts your intended stay, insurance of at least 30,000 lari covering the full period including both travel days, and a departure date you can show. Three items, and the insurance figure is the one with an actual number attached to it.
