Common Questions

Is Georgia in the EU?: No. Georgia is an EU accession candidate, granted candidate status in December 2023, but it is not a member. In 2025 the ruling government suspended accession negotiations until 2028, a freeze the EU treated as unilateral. The country is in the South Caucasus and is distinct from the US state of the same name.
Can digital nomads use Georgia to reset their Schengen 90/180 days?: Yes, historically. Georgia's Visa-free regime lets many nationalities stay up to a year, making it a common base to sit out the Schengen 90-in-180-day gap. An estimated 6,000 to 8,000 nomads use it for this. That route is now at risk: the EU was threatening in June 2026 to suspend Georgia's own Visa-free access to the bloc.Source: Civil.ge and EU diplomatic record
Why is the EU threatening visa restrictions on Georgia?: The EU has escalated pressure over Georgian Dream's anti-Western turn, including a 2024 foreign-agent law and the 2025 freeze of EU accession talks. By June 2026 it was warning that a Schengen suspension could widen from Georgian diplomatic-passport holders to all citizens, with member states due to decide in January 2027.Source:
Where is Georgia the country located?: Georgia is in the South Caucasus, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. It borders Russia to the north, Turkey and Armenia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the east. Its capital is Tbilisi. It is a separate country from the US state of Georgia.
What is Georgia's Law 1509 and how does it affect remote workers?: Law 1509 is Georgia's labour-migration law, enacted in April 2026 with a fine ladder active from 1 May 2026. It includes a remote-worker exemption, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs has published no enforcement data, so foreign workers cannot reliably assess the practical risk of inspection or penalty.Source:

Background

Georgia is a country of roughly 3.7 million people in the South Caucasus, bordered by Russia to the north, Turkey and Armenia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the east, with a Black Sea coastline to the west. Its capital is Tbilisi and its currency is the lari. The country has been an EU accession candidate since December 2023, but in 2025 its government suspended accession negotiations until 2028, a freeze the EU treated as unilateral and incompatible with the candidacy. By June 2026 the EU was threatening to widen a Schengen Visa suspension from Georgian diplomatic-passport holders to all Georgian citizens, with member states due to decide in January 2027, while Hungary's new Tisza government closed worker-Visa applications for Georgian nationals from 5 June 2026.

Georgia regained independence on the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and has spent the decades since balancing between Western integration and Russian pressure. It fought a brief war with Russia in 2008, after which Moscow recognised the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which remain outside Tbilisi's control. Public support for EU and NATO membership has been consistently high, and EU integration was written into the constitution. The country's recent governing turn away from Brussels, driven by the ruling Georgian Dream party in power since 2012, sits in tension with that durable popular pro-Western sentiment and has produced repeated mass protests in Tbilisi.

For nomads and long-stay foreigners, Georgia has mattered as one of the most accessible Visa-free bases in the region. Its generous Visa-free regime, which has long allowed many nationalities to stay up to a year, made it a favoured place to sit out the Schengen 90-in-180-day gap before re-entering Europe; an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 nomads are thought to use it as that reset base. That utility is now under pressure from two directions: an EU suspension would remove Georgia's own Visa-free access to the bloc and break the reset, while domestically the Law 1509 labour-migration regime, enacted in April 2026 with a remote-worker exemption but no published enforcement data, leaves foreign workers unable to price the risk they actually carry.

How the World Sees Them

Russia

Moscow recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia after the 2008 war and views Tbilisi's drift from Brussels as reducing a Western foothold on its southern border, though Georgia denies strategic alignment.

European Union

The EU treats the 2025 accession freeze and foreign-agent law as incompatible with candidacy, and has escalated from restricting diplomatic passports toward a possible Schengen suspension for all Georgian citizens.

Georgia (public)

Polls show durable majority support for EU and NATO membership, and the governing turn away from Brussels has produced repeated mass protests in Tbilisi.