Georgia has long been a magnet for people who can work from anywhere. The climate is mild, the sea and the mountains are both within easy reach, and everyday life costs noticeably less than in most European capitals. Add reliable internet, well-designed banking apps and public services that get things done quickly with minimal paperwork, and the appeal is easy to see.
When remote workers start looking into Georgia, the first thing many of them search for is a digital nomad visa. Plenty of countries offer one these days, usually for a year with the option to renew, so it seems natural to assume Georgia does too. Let's see whether that's true, and what options are open to anyone who wants to live and work in Georgia legally.
Does Georgia have a digital nomad visa?
No. Georgian law has no separate visa for remote workers, and long-term residence is granted on the category D grounds set out in immigration law. Much of the confusion comes from Remotely from Georgia, a programme launched in 2020 during the pandemic. It is no longer relevant, but information about it still circulates online.
For a long time, Georgia simply had no need for a dedicated visa. Citizens of more than 90 countries, including the US, the UK, EU member states and Russia, can enter without a visa and stay for up to 365 days in a row.
What a nomad visa gives you, and how to replace it in Georgia
A digital nomad visa does four jobs: it lets you live in the country, allows you to work remotely, gives you a residence card for banks and landlords, and makes your tax position clear.
In Georgia, the first two need no special paperwork. Visa-free entry covers your right to stay, and since spring 2026 anyone who works fully remotely and only for foreign clients, including through a Georgian individual entrepreneur (IE), no longer needs a work permit.
The exemption has its limits. Being paid from abroad isn't enough on its own: the work has to relate to your client's business outside Georgia. If you take a job with a Georgian company or start working with local clients, you'll need a work permit and a suitable immigration status. Working without a permit carries a fine of 2,000 lari, and since 1 September 2026 it can also lead to deportation.
What visa-free status won't give you is a residence card, and once the year is up you'll have to leave the country or apply for a residence permit.
The digital nomad equivalent: the IT residence permit
The closest thing Georgia has to a classic nomad visa is the residence permit for IT professionals, available since 1 September 2025. It is open to employed IT specialists, individual entrepreneurs with small business status working in IT and executives of international IT companies, as well as their family members.
The first IT permit is issued for three years straight away and can be renewed for the same period, up to 12 years in total. You'll need at least two years of IT experience and an annual income of $25,000 or more, which works out at roughly $2,083 a month. Compare that with Spain, where a nomad visa requires at least €2,849 a month, or Portugal at €3,680, and the Georgian threshold looks well within reach for a mid-level developer.
The catch lies elsewhere. Permit holders must spend at least 183 days in Georgia in any 12-month period, or the permit is cancelled. If your plan was winters in Asia and summers in Europe, this route probably isn't for you.
Proving your income has its own subtleties. The migration service looks at 12 months of bank statements, which must show at least two incoming payments at least a month apart. The payment references should make it clear that the money was paid for IT services, so something vague like "payment under contract" may raise questions.
What if you don't work in IT?
Designers, marketers, translators and other freelancers face a longer route. First you register as an individual entrepreneur and apply for small business status, which means paying 1% tax on turnover as long as your annual revenue stays under 500,000 lari.
The next step, the work permit, is less daunting than it looks. You fill in an application online, and then someone from the State Employment Support Agency holds a video call with you to ask about your experience and plans. A decision comes within 30 days, or within 10 working days if you pay double the fee.
You might reasonably ask why a freelancer who works only for foreign clients, and legally doesn't need a permit, should bother. They can indeed work without one, but a work residence permit is generally not granted without it, and getting official confirmation that you're exempt is extremely difficult at the moment. There's a travel restriction too: a permit issued while you're in Georgia can be cancelled if you spend more than six months abroad.
The residence permit itself depends on turnover: at least 50,000 lari must have passed through your IE over the past 12 months. If your IE is less than three months old and this is your first application, turnover isn't checked, but the card is issued for only six months, so you'll need to hit the numbers before renewal. Spouses and children can join you through a family reunification permit.
Nomad visa vs Georgian alternatives at a glance
Here are the key parameters side by side.
| Parameter | Typical nomad visa | IT residence permit | IE + work residence permit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration | 1 year, renewable | 3 years, up to 12 in total | up to 1 year, then renewal |
| Income threshold | $3,000 to $4,500 a month in Europe | $25,000 a year | turnover of 50,000 lari a year |
| Time in the country | varies by country | 183+ days a year | absence over 6 months is risky |
| Family | allowed in many countries | covered alongside the applicant | via family reunification |
| Best for | high-earning remote workers | IT specialists based in Georgia | freelancers in other fields |
Paid in crypto? How to cash out your salary legally in Georgia
Plenty of remote workers are paid in USDT. Once you've moved, the question becomes how to turn that crypto into lari or dollars in a Georgian bank account without the bank freezing it. The safest way is to go through a licensed crypto exchange. GeCrypto has been operating in Georgia since 2022 and holds a VASP licence from the National Bank of Georgia (registration number 0018-9404), which you can check in the NBG register. A salary paid in USDT, BTC or ETH can be collected as US dollar cash at our office in central Tbilisi, or sent as a transfer in lari, dollars or euros to your account at Bank of Georgia, TBC or another bank.
Every transaction comes with documents, so the origin of your money is always clear. We offer reduced rates for large and regular exchanges, which helps when your salary arrives every month. Companies paying remote teams in crypto get a dedicated account manager.
If you're applying for the IT residence permit, there's one more thing to keep in mind. The exchange receipt shows where the money came from, but the migration service also wants to know what you were paid for. That's what your client contract and invoices are for, with development, testing or other IT services named explicitly, so keep them in the same folder as your receipts.
When it comes to tax, a lot depends on how you work. For an IE with small business status, the rate is simple: 1% of turnover. For people employed by foreign companies, the picture is different. Practising advisers take the view that work physically performed in Georgia is subject to 20% income tax, declared in an annual return. It's worth running your setup past a tax specialist before you commit.
The bottom line
Georgia has no special visa for digital nomads, but there's no reason to wait for one before you move. As long as all your clients are abroad, a visa-free year gives you time to settle in. Use that year to prepare an IT residence permit application if you work in tech, or to register as an IE and build up turnover for a work residence permit if you don't. And route your crypto salary through a licensed exchange from the very first month: by the time you apply, you'll have a ready-made income history, which your bank and the migration service will both ask for sooner or later.