Georgia visa free 365 days gets repeated like a constitutional guarantee. It is not one. It is a single government ordinance, amendable at a cabinet meeting, and since March 2026 it no longer covers the thing most people moved here to do. Here is where the year is actually written, who it applies to, and the point at which it stops being enough.
Where the year is actually written
The default rule for visa-exempt foreigners is not a year. It is 90 days.
Article 10(2) of the Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons says an alien who does not need a short-term visa shall enter and stay in Georgia for a maximum of 90 calendar days in any 180-day period. Same arithmetic as Schengen, and it is the baseline.
Article 10(3) is the exception everyone quotes without knowing its name. It lets the Government name, by ordinance, the countries whose citizens may stay for a period different from paragraph 2, "namely, for one full year".
That ordinance is Ordinance N255 of 5 June 2015. Its annex is the list, and the attached note grants those citizens entry and stay without a visa for one full year.
So the 365 days is secondary legislation sitting on a 90-day statute. Read it that way and the rest follows.
Who is on the list
The annex runs to more than 90 countries: the EU and EEA states, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, South Africa and the Gulf states.
It does not cover everyone. India and China are not on it, and much of South and Southeast Asia sits outside it.
The annex has been amended repeatedly since 2015, including during 2026, so a list copied into a travel blog is evidence of nothing.
Before you book, open the consolidated version of Ordinance N255 on matsne.gov.ge and find your own passport in the annex. It takes two minutes and it is the only version that binds a border officer.
The four ways into Georgia, compared
There are four routes in, and which one you qualify for decides everything else.
| Route | Legal basis | Permitted stay | Who it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa-free for one year | Ordinance N255, made under Article 10(3) | One full year | Citizens of the 90-plus listed countries |
| Visa-free, standard | Article 10(2) of the Aliens Law | 90 days in any 180-day period | Visa-exempt nationals not named in Ordinance N255 |
| Third-country visa or permit holder | Separate ordinance on visa and permit holders | 90 days in any 180-day period | Nationals who need a Georgian visa but hold a valid visa or permit from a listed state |
| E-visa or consular visa | Visa legislation and the state portal | As issued on the visa | Everyone else |
The third row is the one nobody writes about. A separate ordinance covering visa and residence permit holders lets holders of a valid visa or residence permit from around 50 jurisdictions, including all EU states, the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, Israel and the Gulf, enter without a Georgian visa for 90 days in any 180. The document has to be valid on the day you cross.
If none of the three apply, the official e-visa portal is the route. Sites charging a markup for the same form are not agents of the Georgian state.
The "365 days in any 540 days" claim
You will see this figure repeated across expat sites. It does not appear in Ordinance N255.
The only rolling window in the legislation is the 90 days in 180 in Article 10(2), and Article 10(3) exists precisely to replace that formula with a flat year for listed nationals. On the text, the year attaches to the stay, and leaving and returning starts a fresh permission.
What the text does not do is turn re-entry into a right. Article 11 of the Aliens Law lists the grounds for refusing entry: insufficient funds, missing insurance, unpaid fines, doubt about whether you will leave lawfully, and a catch-all for other cases provided for by Georgian legislation. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has publicly relied on that catch-all.
A same-day hop to Armenia and back is not illegal. It is also not a plan. A passport showing four years of one-day exits invites exactly the question you do not want asked.
What the visa-free year does not include
Legal presence and legal activity are two different permissions, and Georgia separated them formally in 2026.
| What you want to do | Covered by the visa-free year? | What it actually needs |
|---|---|---|
| Tourism, family visits, flat hunting | Yes | Passport only |
| Renting an apartment long term | Yes | Passport and a lease |
| Owning shares in a Georgian company | Yes | Company registration, no permit |
| Buying non-agricultural property | Yes | Notarised sale and registration |
| Working for a Georgian employer | No, since 1 March 2026 | Right to labour activity plus a work residence permit or D1 visa |
| Self-employment or trading here | No, since 1 March 2026 | Right to labour activity |
| Holding a Georgian ID card | No | Residence permit |
| Counting years toward naturalisation | No | Lawful residence under a permit |
| Becoming a Georgian tax resident | Not automatically | 183 days of presence, or the HNWI route |
Owning a company and working in it are now separate questions. You can still register a Georgian company as a visitor, but the labour permission is a different file at a different agency.
Visa-free entry no longer carries the right to work. Since 1 March 2026 most foreign nationals need a separate right to labour activity before taking paid employment or running a business here, and the fine falls on the worker, the self-employed person and the employer alike. If you have been trading on a visa-free stamp, get the position checked in writing now rather than at renewal.
The 2026 reform that changed the answer
The Law of Georgia on Labour Migration was rewritten and, together with Government Resolution N70 of February 2026, introduced a formal right to labour activity granted through the State Employment Support Agency, with effect from 1 March 2026.
Two groups are caught. Labour immigrants employed by a Georgian employer need authorisation tied to that employer and position. Self-employed foreigners trading or contracting here need authorisation tied to a field of activity.
Transitional dates apply. Labour immigrants already registered with an active status in the ministry's database were given until 1 January 2027 to obtain the right to work and the matching permit. Those dates have moved once already, so confirm them rather than diarising a figure from an article.
Remote work performed in Georgia for a foreign employer is the genuinely unsettled case. The reform was built around local employment and local self-employment, and it does not squarely address a salaried employee of an overseas company sitting in a Tbilisi flat. Get a written view.
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Overstaying costs more than it used to
Penalties for unlawful stay were raised with effect from 1 October 2025, and re-entry bans now attach alongside the fine. The longer the overstay, the larger both get.
We are not printing the tiers, because the published summaries disagree on the ban lengths and the Administrative Offences Code is amended constantly. Confirm current figures before assuming an overstay is a cheap mistake. Article 47 of the Aliens Law is blunt about the rest: an alien staying unlawfully must leave immediately.
When to stop relying on the year
The year is a good runway. It is a bad destination. Three triggers should move you onto a permit.
You intend to work or trade here. That is now a permit question, and the work residence permit requirements are the place to start.
You want the year to count for something. Naturalisation is assessed on lawful residence, and our explainer on Georgian residence permit routes sets out which categories exist and what each evidences.
You are approaching a deadline you did not know about. Applications are measured against the expiry of your lawful stay, not your travel plans. For an immigration visa applied for inside Georgia, the Aliens Law requires the application at least 45 days before that stay ends.
Take your entry date, add a year, then subtract the application lead time and a buffer for gathering documents. That earlier date, not the anniversary of your arrival, is your real deadline.
Refusals happen, and they are survivable if you leave time. Our guide to residence permit renewals and refusals covers what a rejection means and how long the appeal window runs. Where the stakes are high, immigration lawyers in Tbilisi cost less at the first application than at the appeal.
One last separation. Crossing 183 days makes you a Georgian tax resident under the 183-day tax residency rule whether or not you hold a permit, so the visa-free year can quietly create a filing obligation. Raise it early with tax advisors in Tbilisi, and if a company is part of the plan, the company registration firms in Tbilisi we rank will tell you which structures survive the new labour rules.
Key takeaways
- The 365 days comes from Ordinance N255, made under Article 10(3) of the Aliens Law. The statutory default for everyone else is 90 days in any 180.
- The annex lists more than 90 countries and is amended regularly. Check the consolidated version for your own passport before booking.
- Nationals not on that list may still enter visa-free for 90 days in 180 if they hold a valid visa or residence permit from a listed jurisdiction.
- The widely quoted "365 days in any 540 days" formula is not in the ordinance. Re-entry is permitted but never guaranteed.
- Since 1 March 2026 the visa-free year does not carry the right to work. Employment and self-employment need a separate right to labour activity.
- Overstay penalties rose on 1 October 2025 and now carry re-entry bans, and visa-free presence builds no residence history and no path to citizenship.
FAQ
How long can I stay in Georgia without a visa?
Citizens of the countries listed in the annex to Ordinance N255 may enter and stay for one full year without a visa. Everyone else who is visa-exempt gets 90 calendar days in any 180-day period under Article 10(2) of the Aliens Law. Which one applies depends on your nationality, not your purpose of travel.
Does leaving and re-entering reset the 365 days?
On the text of the ordinance the one-year permission attaches to the stay, so a new entry starts a new permission, and there is no minimum time you must spend outside. Re-entry is not a right, though: Article 11 lets officers refuse entry on several grounds, including a catch-all. Repeated same-day exits attract attention.
Is the "365 days in any 540 days" rule real?
No. That formula does not appear in Ordinance N255 or in the Aliens Law. The only rolling window in the legislation is the 90 days in any 180-day period that applies to visa-exempt nationals who are not on the one-year list. Treat the 540 figure as folklore until someone shows you the article number.
Can I work in Georgia on the visa-free year?
Not since 1 March 2026. Employment with a Georgian employer and self-employment in Georgia now require a separate right to labour activity granted through the State Employment Support Agency, plus the matching residence permit or D1 visa. Fines apply to the individual and the employer. Remote work for a foreign employer is unsettled and should be checked individually.
Does the visa-free year count toward Georgian citizenship?
No. Naturalisation is assessed on lawful residence held under a permit, and visa-free presence is not residence for that purpose. Years spent here on entry stamps build nothing on the citizenship timeline. If citizenship is the goal, move onto a residence permit early rather than late.
Do I need travel insurance to enter Georgia?
Article 11 of the Aliens Law lists the absence of health insurance among the grounds on which entry may be refused, so officers are entitled to ask. Checks are inconsistent, which is a reason to carry cover, not to skip it. Confirm the current requirement before you fly.
What happens if I overstay in Georgia?
Unlawful stay is an administrative offence, and the penalties were increased with effect from 1 October 2025 to include re-entry bans as well as fines that scale with the length of the overstay. The Aliens Law also obliges anyone staying unlawfully to leave immediately. Published summaries of the amounts differ, so verify against the Administrative Offences Code.
Am I a Georgian tax resident if I stay the full year?
Almost certainly, yes. Tax residency turns on 183 days of actual presence in any continuous 12-month period ending in the tax year, which a full visa-free year comfortably exceeds. A visitor with no permit can still be a tax resident with filing obligations.
Can I apply for a residence permit while I am here visa-free?
Yes, and that is the normal route. What catches people is timing: applications are measured against the expiry of your lawful stay, and for an immigration visa applied for inside Georgia the Aliens Law sets the deadline at 45 days before that expiry. Start early, because translations and apostilles are the slow part.