No Digital Nomad Visa — the Honest Statutory Picture
A dedicated digital nomad visa does not exist in Georgian legislation. No such category appears in the Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons, and the pandemic-era “Remotely from Georgia” entry arrangement is not the instrument nomads rely on today. What Georgia actually offers is a combination of general instruments: a 1-year visa-free regime for citizens of 95+ countries, an immigration visa ground for foreigners of independent profession (freelancers), a special temporary residence permit for the information-technology sector, and the individual-entrepreneur route with 1% small-business taxation. On this page we map those routes exactly as the statutes define them — including where the law simply has nothing to offer, so that no one builds a relocation plan around a visa that does not exist.
In practice, a nomad rarely needs a lawyer to enter Georgia; the real work begins with long-term legalisation, taxation and family status. That is why the sections below cover not only the entry routes but also the 2026 work-right regime with its remote-work exception, the tax mechanics that draw remote earners to Georgia in the first place, and the family-reunification step that follows a first residence permit.
The Route Map — Four Lawful Ways to Stay and Work
Four routes cover practically every nomad situation, and the first question to ask is what your work actually touches: only foreign clients, or Georgia as well. First, citizens of 95+ countries may stay in Georgia visa-free for up to 1 year, and a foreigner whose labour is carried out fully remotely — where the activity does not require entry into Georgia in order to be performed — falls under the remote-work exception written directly into the Law of Georgia on Labour Migration: such work creates no work-right obligation whatsoever. Second, a nomad who prefers an immigration-visa basis uses the D2 category, which covers foreigners carrying out independent professional (freelance) activity, alongside those active in science, education, culture and sport. Third, IT professionals may apply for the special temporary residence permit for a person employed in the field of information technologies, in force since 1 September 2025. Fourth, the classical route: register as an individual entrepreneur, obtain small-business status and build a work residence permit on that foundation.
- Visa-free 1 year plus fully remote work for foreign clients — no Georgian work right required;
- D2 immigration visa on the independent-profession ground — an immigration status for freelancers;
- IT-sector residence permit — at least 2 years of IT experience and at least 25 000 USD in annual income, with family members covered;
- Individual entrepreneur with small-business status — the 1% tax route to a work residence permit.
The routes are not rivals but rungs of one ladder: many nomads begin visa-free, register an individual entrepreneur once local banking and taxation become necessary, and only then choose between the general work permit and the IT permit as their long-term residence basis. The decisive factors are the form of your activity, the share of Georgian-source income and, for the IT permit, whether your professional profile fits the categories the law names.
The 2026 Work-Right Regime — When It Touches Nomads and When It Does Not
Remunerated work in Georgia is governed, as refined by the amendments effective in 2026 — the most recent of them on 15 April 2026 — by the right to labour activity: only a foreigner holding a work residence permit, a D1 category immigration visa and/or another residence permit issued together with the right to labour activity may perform remunerated labour or entrepreneurial activity and derive economic benefit from it. For nomads the decisive test is whether the work requires entry into Georgia. Fully remote work that does not require entry is expressly exempt from the regime; but the moment the activity becomes local — a Georgian employer, Georgian clients, services delivered inside the country — the work right becomes mandatory. The application is filed with the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs: through the local employer for employed immigrants, or personally by the self-employed foreigner. After the full documentation is submitted the examination may not exceed 30 calendar days, and the service fee is capped at 500 GEL.
Two further rules matter for planning. Working without the right carries a fine of 2 000 GEL — imposed separately on the local employer (for each immigrant), on the immigrant and on the self-employed foreigner — and a repeated violation doubles the fine. And once the right is obtained, the follow-up deadlines are strict: no later than 30 calendar days to apply for a D1 category immigration visa if you are outside Georgia, or no later than 10 calendar days to apply for a work residence permit or the IT-sector residence permit if you are already in the country. A refusal may be appealed in court within 1 month of notification. The full chain — mandatory contract terms, refusal and termination grounds, re-application limits, employer obligations — is analysed on our dedicated page “Work Permit and Work Right in Georgia (D1) — 2026”.