Law No.1509
Georgia's Law No.1509, enacted 15 April 2026, amending the Labour Migration Law to add remote-work exemptions (sub-clauses K, L, T) and establishing a 1 May 2026 fine ladder of 2,000 / 4,000 / 12,000 GEL.
Law No.1509, Georgia's labour-migration fine ladder for unauthorised foreign workers, took effect on 1 May 2026 with fines of GEL 2,000, 4,000 and 12,000 for successive employer offences, its remote-work exemptions still unclarified by the government.
Last refreshed: 24 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Do Georgia's new fines apply to digital nomads working remotely for foreign employers?
Timeline for Law No.1509
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Nomads & Communities: Georgia activates Law 1509 fines, publishes nothingBackground
Law No.1509 is Georgia's labour-migration framework amendment, passed by Parliament on 15 April 2026, regulating the employment of foreign nationals in the country. Its most consequential provision for the resident foreign community is a three-tier fine ladder for foreign workers without legal work authorisation and the employers who hire them: GEL 2,000 for a first offence, rising to GEL 4,000 and GEL 12,000 for repeat violations, which took effect on 1 May 2026.
The same amendment added three remote-work exemption sub-clauses (K, L, T) intended to place foreign nationals working solely for non-Georgian employers outside the law's scope. One of the three could not be relied on at enactment because the government had not published the implementing rules it requires, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs had still not confirmed the exemption by the 1 May activation date.
The law sits alongside Georgia's Remotely from Georgia programme (a USD 2,000/month income threshold) and the March 2026 home-inspection amendments granted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together raising the compliance environment for Tbilisi's foreign remote-worker community.
Fine ladder activated without published guidance
Georgia's Parliament passed Law No.1509 on 15 April 2026, amending the Labour Migration Law to ADD three remote-work exemption sub-clauses (K, L, T) and set a fine ladder of GEL 2,000, GEL 4,000 and GEL 12,000 for successive employer offences. One of the three exemptions could not be relied on at enactment because the government had not issued the supporting implementing rules it requires.
The ladder activated on 1 May 2026, but Tbilisi's roughly 7,200 foreign remote workers were Left without published guidance on whether income earned solely from non-Georgian employers falls outside the law's scope. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has still not confirmed the exemption, leaving enforcement to discretionary inspection.