The one-year visa-free stay is a single government ordinance — and it was amended again in February 2026

The legal basis for the stay most visitors here rely on is Government Ordinance No. 255, adopted on 5 June 2015. It sets out a list of countries and territories whose citizens may enter Georgia and remain, in the ordinance's own words, "without visa for one full year". The consolidated text names 94 countries and territories. That is unusually generous by regional standards, and it is the single document a buyer, a remote worker or a long-stay tourist should be checking rather than a travel blog.

The ordinance has been amended eight times since it was adopted, most recently by Ordinance No. 80 of 24 February 2026, with the consolidated version reflecting changes through 25 February 2026. Earlier amendments landed in 2017, 2019, 2022, twice in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The practical lesson is that the answer to "can I stay a year?" depends on your nationality on the day you travel, not on what was true when you last visited or when a friend told you about it.

It is permission to be in the country, and that is all. It is not a residence permit, so it grants no settled status and no automatic right to work for a Georgian employer. It is not tax residency, which turns on days counted and has its own test. And it is not a property-linked permit — buyers who want a residence permit tied to real estate apply for that separately, under conditions that have changed in the past two years. Treating the year as a substitute for any of those is how people end up with a problem at a border or a tax office.

Read the ordinance's own list on the Legislative Herald, then cross-check with the State Commission on Migration Issues, which keeps a plain-language page on who may travel visa-free. If your nationality is not on the list, look at the electronic visa route rather than assuming you need an embassy appointment. And if you are planning a purchase around a long stay, get the entry question settled before you sign anything, because the property does not come with an immigration status attached.