Georgia: 365 days without a visa, a record for French nationals

Georgia allows nationals of many countries, including France, to stay for 365 days¹ without a visa, simply on presentation of a valid passport.

This duration is unmatched. Other visa-exemption regimes are counted in weeks or months, and the most generous nomad visas top out at one or two years, at the cost of income requirements.

It therefore allows something few destinations offer: genuinely testing a move over a full annual cycle, without starting any procedure or incurring any expense.

This is a considerable advantage, because most expatriation disappointments come to light in the low season, after several months — that is, after the point at which a residence permit has been paid for.

It also has an immediate economic consequence: the entry cost of a trial is zero. Whereas testing Thailand, Indonesia or the Emirates requires a visa, fees and often a financial commitment, Georgia asks for nothing more than a plane ticket.

A visa-free stay is neither a residence permit nor tax residency. These are three distinct notions, governed by different rules and different authorities.

Georgian tax residency is acquired beyond 183 days² of presence in a year. A stay of a full year therefore triggers it, regardless of the absence of a visa.

Nor does it give the right to work for a Georgian employer, or to register automatically as self-employed: small business status requires registration with the tax authorities.

Nor does it allow you to enter into certain long-term contracts or to access services that require a local identification number.

Finally, the rule is unilateral: it results from a Georgian decision, which can be revoked, and not from a bilateral agreement. Its exceptional duration is therefore also its fragility.

One practical consequence should be anticipated: without a residence permit or a local identification number, opening a Georgian bank account is possible but subject to enhanced checks, and some banks refuse it to people with no demonstrable connection to the country.

This difficulty has grown with compliance obligations, and it particularly affects nationals of countries whose financial flows receive special scrutiny. It should be checked before moving, not once there.

Small business status taxes turnover at 1%³ below an annual ceiling of up to GEL 500,000⁴, or about about €170,000⁵, and at 3%⁶ above it.

The levy applies to receipts, not to profit: a high-margin activity is strongly favoured, a low-margin activity penalised.

Under the standard rules, personal income is taxed at 20%⁷ and dividends at 5%⁸.

For a company, Georgia applies a tax deferral comparable to the Estonian model: 0%⁹ on undistributed profit, 15%¹⁰ on distributed profit.

Finally, the regime carries no social security cover: pension, health and protection cover must be funded separately, and their cost significantly narrows the apparent gap with a European regime.

1. Live through a full annual cycle, winter included, before making any decision.
2. Count your days: the threshold of 183 days² triggers Georgian tax residency.
3. Check with your own clients that invoicing from Georgia does not raise any compliance issue.
4. Test the actual connectivity, healthcare and schooling on offer, not those described online.
5. Deal with your departure from France according to its own criteria before considering yourself gone.

Finally, the political and regional context is a factor in its own right. Georgia has experienced sustained internal tensions, and its geographical position is a risk parameter that tax comparisons ignore. A trial year is precisely the opportunity to assess it on the ground rather than from afar.