Georgia Visa-Free Stay (12-month & 90/180-day rule)

Key parameters
Limit	12 months
Period / Window	Per visit
Counting	Any part of a day
Alternative	90 days / Rolling 180 days
Additional requirements	Approval for any paid work

This applies to citizens of the countries named on the government's visa-free list, and to holders of a United Nations Laissez-Passer, who get the same 12 months.

The 12 months are an exception rather than the norm. A traveler who needs no short-term visa is otherwise limited to 90 calendar days in any 180-day period, and the list exists to give the nationalities on it a longer period instead. The list is a live document, amended repeatedly since it was first approved, so check your own nationality against the current version before booking.

Staying beyond the 12 months means moving onto something else — a residence permit, or an immigration visa applied for while you are still lawfully in the country.

• Paid work now needs its own approval. Since 1 March 2026, foreign nationals without a permanent residence permit who work for a Georgian employer, take a remote job with one, or are self-employed in Georgia need a right to work approved by the State Employment Support Agency. Working without it can be fined.
• An unpaid fine blocks your return. Entry can be refused to anyone banned from Georgia or who has not paid a fine imposed for an unlawful stay, so an old penalty follows you to the border.
• Entry is never automatic. Officers can refuse someone lacking the documents required for entry, or without health and accident insurance or sufficient funds for the stay and the journey home. A presence judged a threat to public order is a further ground.
• The list changes by ordinance. Countries have been added and removed since the list was approved, and an amendment takes effect on publication rather than on any notice period.
• EU identity cards are accepted, but only for EU citizens. The card has to carry the name, surname, date of birth and photograph. Everyone else needs a travel document.

Overstaying is an administrative offense, and the penalties were raised sharply on 1 October 2025 so that a fine now comes with an entry ban attached. An overstay of less than 3 months carries a fine and a 6-month ban, one running up to 12 months a higher fine and a 2-year ban, and anything past 12 months the highest fine and a 3-year ban. Breaching the transit rules carries its own separate fine. Professional advice is strongly recommended in situations like this.

A long stay inside the 12 months

You fly into Tbilisi in April on a passport from a listed country and are admitted visa-free. Your permitted stay runs a full 12 months from that entry date, so a 10-month trip needs nothing further.

Planning past the 12 months

You arrive in September and want to stay indefinitely. Because the 12 months run from your entry date, the residence permit application has to be made before it expires, while you are still lawfully in the country.

Working during the visa-free stay

You take a job with a Tbilisi company while staying visa-free. The stay itself is lawful, but the work is not until the employer has the right-to-work approval, and going without it exposes both of you to a fine.

• Legislative Herald of Georgia — Ordinance No 255 on the list of countries whose citizens may enter Georgia without a visa
• Legislative Herald of Georgia — Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia — Entering Georgia
• US Embassy in Georgia — New work permit rules for foreign nationals in Georgia