Ministry of Internal Affairs (Georgia)
Georgian ministry enforcing foreign-worker inspections, protest-deportation powers, and the 1 May fine ladder.
Georgia's interior ministry began enforcing unannounced home inspections of foreign workers from 1 March and a GEL 2,000 fine ladder from 1 May, while EU talks on 11 June left a visa suspension in place.
Last refreshed: 24 August 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
Does Georgia's EU visa suspension change the risk for nomads staying in Tbilisi?
Timeline for Ministry of Internal Affairs (Georgia)
Georgia gives its migration police teeth
Nomads & CommunitiesA passport refused, a resident detained
Nomads & CommunitiesPublished no enforcement data since activating the 2,000 GEL fine ladder on 1 May
Nomads & Communities: Georgia talks leave Schengen reset intactHungary and EU squeeze Georgia at once
Nomads & CommunitiesDeclined to publish fine count, inspection count or sector breakdown one week after the 1 May fine ladder activation
Nomads & Communities: Georgia activates Law 1509 fines, publishes nothingBackground
Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) is the country's primary law enforcement and immigration enforcement body, overseeing the national police, border police and immigration services. It sits within a government that has also passed a Russian-style "foreign agents" law and suspended EU accession talks, and whose Prime Minister has said Georgia will be "freed from illegal migrants".
The MIA's practical reach over foreign residents now rests on inspection powers that do not require a formal violation finding to be exercised: civil-society lawyers note that remote workers for foreign employers sit outside the labour law's formal scope, but that this offers little protection against an inspection regime built on ministerial discretion rather than legal findings.
The ministry's domestic powers operate independently of Georgia's separate dispute with the EU over Visa-free travel. The European Commission suspended Visa-free access for Georgian diplomatic, service and official passport holders on 6 March 2026, a suspension unaffected by the ministry's own enforcement activity and running, for now, to 6 March 2027 for ordinary biometric-passport citizens.
Inspection powers now carry real fines
The Ministry of Internal Affairs gained the power to Conduct unannounced inspections of foreign nationals' homes and workplaces when Georgia's revised labour migration law took effect on 1 March 2026, alongside deportation and a three-year entry ban for any foreigner joining a protest.
Law No.1509, enacted 15 April, turned that authority into a fine ladder of 2,000, 4,000 and 12,000 GEL for repeat breaches, activated from 1 May and reaching an estimated 7,200 remote workers in Tbilisi. A promised exemption for staff working purely for foreign employers remains unusable, since the ministry has not issued the implementing decree needed to claim it.
Recently resolved
Did the 11 June 2026 EU-Georgia talks change anything for nomads in Tbilisi?
Does the EU visa suspension affect ordinary Georgians travelling to Europe?
Why did Hungary stop giving visas to Georgians?
What is the Georgia MIA fine for working without the right permit in 2026?
What happens to a foreign worker in Georgia who attends a protest?
Can Georgia's MIA inspect a digital nomad's home without notice?
