Flying to Georgia? You Now Need Insurance at the Border

Georgia has quietly changed the rules of arrival. Since 1 January 2026, every visitor — including remote workers entering on the long visa-free stay — must land with travel health insurance covering the whole trip, worth at least GEL 30,000 (about US$11,500). No policy, no smooth entry. For online earners who treat Georgia as a base, this is the kind of boring administrative detail that can ruin a very real travel plan.

What the new rule actually requires

The requirement comes from the Law of Georgia on Tourism, via Government Decree No. 602 of December 2025. The essentials: a health and accident insurance policy that covers your entire stay, for a minimum of GEL 30,000, bought from either a Georgian or a foreign insurer. You must be able to show the policy — printed or on your phone — in Georgian or English if border staff ask when you land. Only a few narrow groups, such as diplomats, are exempt. A remote worker arriving on the visa-free stay is not.

This applies regardless of how you enter. If you are planning a working trip to Tbilisi or Batumi on the strength of Georgia's 365-day visa-free entry for citizens of 95+ countries, the insurance rule still applies to you.

The old 'Remotely from Georgia' scheme is effectively dead

If you search for Georgia's digital nomad visa, you will still find the 'Work Remotely from Georgia' programme launched in the COVID era. Treat it as history. Its official information has not been meaningfully updated since 2022, and current visa guides describe it as outdated and unnecessary — most remote workers simply use the standard 365-day visa-free entry instead.

The bigger shift happened on 1 March 2026, when amendments to Georgia's laws on labour migration and the legal status of foreigners introduced a two-stage permit framework: foreigners who work in Georgia — including people working remotely — first need a right-to-work or entrepreneurial-activity permit (which can take up to 30 days), then a visa or residence permit. Foreigners already working in Georgia have a transition period until 1 January 2027. The practical upshot: the era of just showing up and figuring it out later is over.

The 12-month nomad stay, as it stands in 2026

Current guidance describes the digital-nomad stay option as lasting 12 months, requiring either about $2,000 per month in income or $24,000 in savings, plus health insurance and proof of remote work. It is free or nominal in cost, open to more than 95 nationalities, and does not renew. Separate work-residence and IT-worker permits exist for longer horizons. Rules are still settling, so verify the latest before committing to a move — but the insurance requirement at the border is already law.

What this changes for trip planning

Practically, the insurance rule turns one step of your trip from optional into mandatory. Previously, many nomads treated travel insurance as a nice-to-have they would sort out later. Now it belongs in the same category as your passport and your return ticket: sorted before you reach the airport. The good news is that it is cheap and fast to arrange — a policy meeting the GEL 30,000 minimum can usually be bought online in minutes from either a Georgian insurer or an international provider. The expensive failure mode is arriving without one and discovering that border officers are asking questions you cannot answer.

Your checklist before flying to Georgia

1. 1Buy travel health insurance that covers your whole stay, minimum GEL 30,000 (~US$11,500). A Georgian or foreign insurer both work.
2. 2Make sure the policy documents are available in Georgian or English, printed or saved on your phone.
3. 3Carry proof of remote work and income documentation — the new permit framework puts working foreigners under a formal two-stage process.
4. 4Check whether the transition rules (running until 1 January 2027) change anything for your plans before booking one-way flights.
5. 5Confirm the latest entry guidance from official sources just before departure — nomad rules in Georgia have moved twice in 2026 already.