FAQ · Politics & Government 32

Georgia has no national animal set by law, and the wolf is the animal most often named as a symbol of the country. The link is usually traced to King Vakhtang Gorgasali, a fifth-century ruler whose name is explained as wolf head after the wolf on his helmet. The state coat of arms instead shows two lions and Saint George on horseback, while wolves still live in the mountains. Gray wolves range from the forested valleys of the Caucasus Mountains to the semi-arid lowlands near the borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the Caucasus is described as supporting a distinct genetic lineage. They are not strictly protected and are hunted in some areas, and their presence is described as woven into local folklore and the pastoral traditions of mountain communities.

Georgia has no retirement or pension visa. Citizens of more than 90 countries and territories, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, every EU country, Australia and New Zealand, can enter without a visa and stay for one full year, with no proof of income. The law names no income or savings figure for that stay, but since 1 January 2026 health and accident insurance must cover at least 30,000 lari for the whole stay, and border officers may refuse entry if that insurance is missing or if there is not enough money to stay and return home. A longer stay needs a residence permit, and one route is a one-year short-term permit for a foreigner who owns non-agricultural property worth over 150,000 US dollars by an accredited assessor's valuation, renewed yearly while the property is owned, with a fee of 300 lari for a decision in 30 days. An investment of at least 300,000 US dollars, or non-agricultural property worth more than that, can instead support a five-year investment permit, and after 10 years on temporary permits a foreigner can obtain a permanent living permit, excluding time spent studying or in medical treatment.

Georgian law asks only for a valid travel document and sets no minimum remaining validity for visa-free visitors. The three-month rule covers visa holders only, and a visa holder needs a passport valid three months beyond the visa, with two blank pages, issued within the last ten years. One reading of Article 4 is that the passport should remain valid until the day of departure, because a valid document is required in order to leave as well as to enter. Citizens of a European Union country, Switzerland or Liechtenstein may use a national identity card instead of a passport. Someone who is also a Georgian citizen must leave and enter with a Georgian passport or a replacement document under Article 5 of the law on departure from Georgia and entry by citizens of Georgia.

There is no arrival card, and there is no registration with police or immigration during a visa-free stay. At the border the officer takes the passport, may ask how long the traveller is staying, stamps it and hands it back. A passport valid for the whole stay is required, although citizens of the European Union may use a national identity card, and health and accident insurance of at least 30,000 lari, in English or Georgian, has been required since 1 January 2026 because the Border Police can ask to see it. Return tickets, hotel bookings and proof of funds are not described as required of visa-free passports, though an airline may want an onward ticket before it allows boarding. The Law on the Legal Status of Aliens still allows the Border Police to refuse entry, and refusals are described as falling mostly on people with long histories of back-to-back stays and on travellers who cannot explain where they are going.

The Revenue Service says a person moving cash, whether Georgian or foreign currency, together with checks or other securities, must declare the total when it exceeds 30,000 lari or the equivalent in another currency. The customs declaration of a natural person is completed at the customs crossing point from information the traveller provides. Import and export of any amount of currency are exempt from payment, so the declaration itself is not a charge. When a customs procedure or re-export is being determined for an amount above 30,000 lari, a certificate of origin and purpose must be filed along with the basic documents. Moving more than 30,000 lari but not more than 50,000 lari by bypassing customs control, by smuggling or by an incorrect declaration can bring a fine of 3,000 lari or confiscation, and the fine is 5,000 lari or confiscation when the sum is above 50,000 lari but not above 100,000 lari.

Any alien who has been granted a residence permit, as well as a refugee or a holder of humanitarian status, must obtain a residence card regardless of age. The application is filed at a territorial office of the Public Service Development Agency or at a branch of the Public Service Hall. There are two types of card: a temporary card for holders of a temporary residence permit, refugees and humanitarian-status holders, and a permanent card for a person to whom the Agency has granted a permanent residence permit. A temporary card is issued for the term of the temporary residence permit, for three years in the case of a refugee, and for one year in the case of humanitarian status. The fee is 60 lari for issue on the tenth working day and 150 lari for issue on the same day, and two photos can be taken at an Agency or Public Service Hall branch for 5 lari a set.

Georgia created a dedicated tourist police unit inside the Ministry of Internal Affairs for problems visitors actually meet, including taxi overcharging, disputes with vendors, lost property, minor harassment, and help filing a report in English. Visitors reach that unit the same way as any other police response, by dialling 112 and asking the operator for the tourist police. In central Tbilisi, including the Old Town, Rustaveli Avenue and Freedom Square, and along the Batumi seafront and boulevard, officers are also on patrol and can be approached directly. The same account says there is no separate number to memorise beyond 112, and that claims of a dedicated tourist hotline should be checked against current Ministry of Internal Affairs guidance because staffing and locations change. The national 112 line, run by that ministry, also connects callers to police, ambulance or fire services, and in the main tourist areas the operator usually has English-speaking staff or will find an interpreter during the call.

Firefighters and rescuers of the Emergency Situations Management Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs took part in the inter-agency Partners 2026 training organised by the National Guard of the ministry. The exercise was held in the Imereti and Mtskheta-Mtianeti regions and included both theoretical and practical parts. In Tkibuli Municipality a fire was simulated at a chemical production facility, and firefighters, rescuers and National Guard reservists carried out the firefighting while a team for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents conducted decontamination. In Mtskheta-Mtianeti the scenario was a forest fire, and a Border Police helicopter drew water from a specially equipped tank and dropped it on the simulated sites. Temur Mghebrishvili, head of the Emergency Situations Management Service, attended the training, which was aimed at improving coordination among the agencies.

Georgian law on medicines and pharmaceutical activity sets the legal basis for the circulation of pharmaceutical products and the rights and duties of people and companies in that field, with the stated aim of wider public access to reliable products. Control and supervision of the market are exercised by the agency named in that law, which uses risk-based selective checks through laboratory control and administrative control of the distribution chain. For products already on the Georgian market the agency relies mainly on administrative control of the chain, and laboratory control is used when a registered product faces a high risk of falsification or deterioration under criteria approved by the minister. A product enters the market either by a recognition regime, under which Georgia accepts the safety, efficacy and quality requirements of a trusted foreign or interstate regulator without repeating the expertise, or by national state registration. Activity without the required permit is punished with a fine of 4,000 lari, and with 8,000 lari if the offence is repeated.

The Georgia Red Cross Society acts as a voluntary, humanitarian, non-governmental and independent organisation with an auxiliary role to the public authorities in humanitarian work. It carries out activities across the country according to its mission and the Fundamental Principles of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The society has duties and responsibilities under the legislation in force. It was founded in 1918 and was officially recognised by the law on the Georgia Red Cross Society in 1997. That law was renewed later in 2017, and the society's published homepage is redcross.ge.

A plant or plant product may be imported as a sample without a phytosanitary certificate or import permit when the total weight is not more than 10 kilograms, except for plant seeds and plant propagating material. At export, a phytosanitary certificate or re-export certificate is not required at the Georgian customs checkpoint for controlled goods leaving by a light vehicle, a freight-passenger vehicle, a bus, a postal item, baggage, or a passenger's hand luggage, though the importing country may still demand one. Permits for products subject to phytosanitary control are issued by the National Food Agency and by the Revenue Service, both legal entities under public law. An import permit for products of plant origin under that control is issued for a period not exceeding six months. To obtain a permit, the applicant submits a written or electronic application to the Customs Department or to the customs checkpoint where the permit is to be received.

The House of Justice, officially the Public Service Hall, is described as Georgia's one-stop government services centre, bringing together up to five hundred state and private services under one roof. Citizenship is almost never a requirement, so a foreigner can register a marriage, file a residence-permit application, open a sole-trader business, obtain an apostille, or have a translation notarised there. Residency paperwork handled in the hall includes the permit application and the identity card that shows a registered address, provided a basis such as a business, a lease, a property purchase or an employment contract is already in hand. Many of these services can also be done through a representative holding a power of attorney, through online services, or through an intermediary, and marriage registration is described as possible on the same day with no mandatory waiting period. Walk-in queues at central branches in Tbilisi and Batumi can run two to four hours in the first half of the day, while an online booking is said to allow a chosen time with almost no wait, and an original passport is required for nearly every service.

112 is the single emergency number in Georgia, operating since 2012 in order to create one system of emergency assistance and response. It is an entity under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and receives emergency calls 24 hours a day throughout the country. The call-taker records the information and passes it to the police, to fire and rescue teams, or to emergency medical crews, depending on the case. Any situation that needs the immediate help of police, an ambulance, or fire and rescue is treated as an emergency, and examples given include a fire, loss of consciousness, a serious injury, bleeding, a vehicle collision and a robbery. The number can be used from any part of Georgia, at any hour, from both fixed and mobile phones.

Since 1 January 2026 every foreign national entering Georgia as a tourist needs health and accident insurance for the whole stay. A policy that meets the check names the insured person as on the passport and names the insurer, covers a territory that includes Georgia, runs from the arrival day through the departure day, lists medical treatment, hospitalisation and accidents, and shows a limit of at least 30,000 lari or the equivalent in another currency. Unless the case is an emergency, the traveller is told to call the 24-hour assistance number on the policy before going to a clinic, giving the policy number, the location and what happened, so the insurer can direct the visit and usually settle the bill with the clinic. A large payment should not be made without that go-ahead. Every receipt, prescription and medical report should be kept and photographed the same day, because a claim filed later from home depends on that paperwork.

Form 100, the medical documentation form IV-100/a, is described as the medical certificate most often used in Georgia, issued to confirm a person's state of health and read the same way by institutions inside the country. Abroad, the same account says the document works only when a translation lets a foreign clinic, embassy, university or employer follow its structure, the diagnosis and the doctor's conclusion. A Tbilisi translation office states that it translates Form 100 and other medical certificates into English, German, Turkish, Russian, Hebrew and other languages, and that it translates foreign certificates into Georgian. Notarization is described as completed on the same day. For a foreign clinic, the certification often used is a translation sealed by the agency to show that it is complete and matches the original, while submission to a non-medical body more often needs notarization.

A Tbilisi clinic page says emergency contraception can be used, depending on the method, within five days after unprotected intercourse, and that it should not be delayed. It names two main oral methods, ulipristal acetate at thirty milligrams, which can be taken within 120 hours, and levonorgestrel at one and a half milligrams, which should be taken as soon as possible because effectiveness falls as time passes. Citing the CDC, the page says the two are comparable in the first three days, while from the third day through the fifth ulipristal is more effective. In practice in Georgia, it says levonorgestrel at that dose is available, whereas ulipristal acetate is currently unavailable through regular pharmacy sales, so levonorgestrel is the main oral option and local pharmacies should be checked because stock can change. The same page says emergency contraception does not terminate an existing pregnancy and is not a medical abortion.

The Georgian Defence Forces National Guard organised an interagency exercise called Partner-2026, which the Ministry of Defence said lasted four days and included both command-post and field components. The practical field phase was held in the municipalities of Tkibuli and Tianeti. The crisis scenario covered mitigating the consequences of acts of sabotage, firefighting and evacuation of the population. Reservists of the National Guard's 10th and 20th Territorial Defence Brigades, together with firefighters and rescuers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs Emergency Management Service, isolated the crisis area, worked to prevent an act of sabotage, fought fires, and evacuated local residents and movable cultural heritage, and the Border Police aviation unit also took part. Senior officials from the Defence Forces and that Emergency Management Service attended the final demonstration in Tianeti Municipality, and the stated aim was better coordination and an effective response to crises and emergencies.

Georgia's public holidays are set by Article 30 of the Labour Code, with fourteen fixed dates plus an Easter block of four consecutive days, eighteen days in a typical year. Fixed dates named on one 2026 calendar include 1 and 2 January for the New Year, 7 January for Christmas, 19 January for Epiphany, 9 April for the restoration of independence and national unity, 26 May for Independence Day, 28 August for Mariamoba, 14 October for Mtskhetoba and 23 November for Giorgoba. Easter moves with the Orthodox calendar, and for 2026 that calendar gives Easter Sunday as 12 April, with the four-day block running from 10 to 13 April. The statute governs employment and does not say which shop will close, but banks, the Public Service Hall, government offices and most companies are described as closed on the major holidays. Public transport is described as typically running a reduced timetable.

The Law of Georgia on Assemblies and Demonstrations requires advance notice to the Ministry of Internal Affairs if an assembly or demonstration is held in a place used for the movement of people or transport, or if it obstructs that movement. The notice must state the form and purpose, the venue or route, the time it begins and ends, the date, the possible number of participants, and the identity, address and telephone number of the responsible person. Foreign citizens and persons under 18 cannot be the persons responsible for organising and holding the assembly. The ministry publicly discloses the notice within a reasonable time and, for a non-spontaneous assembly, any alternative time, venue or route it has decided to propose. Binding instructions may set an alternative time, an alternative venue and an alternative route, and in that case the assembly is to be held according to those instructions.

A consolidation of the Code of Administrative Offences checked on 19 October 2026 sets a speeding fine of 50 lari for more than 15 and up to 30 kilometres an hour over the limit, 100 lari for more than 30 and up to 50, and 300 lari for more than 50. A driver or front-seat passenger without a seat belt draws 50 lari, paid by the driver, and driving through a red light or failing to give way at a sign draws 100 lari. The same account says the law does not itself stop someone from leaving with an unpaid fine, but under the law on the legal status of aliens a foreigner may be refused entry if a fine imposed in Georgia has not been paid. Payment can be made at a bank, through online banking or a banking app, at a pay terminal, or in the app of the ministry's service agency, using the receipt number. The receipt should be read first for the article and the issuing authority, because protocols issued by municipal officers follow their own procedure.

A Georgian driving-licence guide says a helmet is compulsory for both the rider and the passenger. Category A1 covers motorcycles up to 125 cubic centimetres and 11 kilowatts from the age of 17, category A2 covers machines up to 35 kilowatts from the age of 18, and category A covers any motorcycle from the age of 24, or from 21 after at least two years on A2. The theory exam is 30 questions in 30 minutes, and 27 correct answers are needed to pass. Categories A, A1 and A2 have no city riding test, only the theory exam and a closed course, and a single mistake on that course fails the stage. The licence is issued in seven working days, or on the day of the exam for a fee of 50 lari.

The Public Service Development Agency of the Ministry of Justice issues Georgian passports at its offices and at Public Service Hall branches, while consulates issue them abroad. A summary of the official procedure says applicants are asked for two biometric colour photographs measuring three and a half by four and a half centimetres, in printed and electronic form, and consulates such as the one in New York ask for an electronic photograph of 35 by 45 millimetres. An agency leaflet asks for a recent, sharp, unfolded photograph that shows the head and the top of the shoulders, with the face occupying 70 to 80 percent of the vertical size and the person looking straight at the camera. The leaflet says the photograph should have been taken in the last six months. The procedure adds that the photograph must show the person receiving the service and must be taken at that person's current age.

The Hague Conference lists the Public Service Development Agency of the Ministry of Justice as the authority that certifies documents with an apostille when the other competent authorities are not doing so. The Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is authorised to apostille documents that the Service Agency itself executed or issued. The listed address for the Public Service Development Agency is 1 Zviad Gamsakhurdia Embankment in Tbilisi, postal code 0114, and the languages of communication are Georgian, Russian and English. The same listing gives a fee of 30 lari for service on the eighth working day, 60 lari for the fourth working day, 120 lari for the second working day, and 150 lari for service on the same day. Applicants are pointed to the Public Service Hall site for the place where an application is filed.

A tax summary last reviewed on 2 September 2026 says there are no social security contributions in Georgia. From 1 January 2019, joining a pension scheme is mandatory for employees, except people who had already reached 60, or 55 in the case of women, before the law took effect, and except the self-employed. The scheme is financed by the employer, the employee and the government. The summary says 2 percent of salary income is transferred to the private pension account while the salary is paid, and a further 2 percent is transferred on the employee's behalf. The government transfers 2 percent when annual salary is under 24,000 lari and 1 percent when annual salary is between 24,000 and 60,000 lari, and if income is higher it contributes only up to that 60,000 lari ceiling.

Article 12 of the Labour Code of Georgia says an employment agreement may be oral or written, and it may be fixed-term or open-ended. The agreement must be concluded in writing if the labour relationship lasts longer than one month. Article 13 says a written labour agreement shall be concluded in a language understandable to the parties. A written agreement may be concluded in several languages. If it is concluded in several languages, it must contain a clause stating which language prevails when the versions differ.

Article 31 of the Labour Code gives an employee the right to at least 24 working days of paid leave a year and at least 15 working days of unpaid leave a year. Additional paid leave is 10 calendar days a year for work that is arduous, harmful or hazardous, not more than 15 calendar days once after taking part in martial law, a state of emergency or emergency situations, and 30 calendar days after a peacekeeping rotation and return to Georgia. An employment agreement may set different terms, but those terms must not make the employee's condition worse. If the employer ends the agreement, unused leave is compensated in proportion to the length of the labour relationship. A term that denies or ignores the right to take paid leave every year is void.

The Labour Code places duties on the employer after an industrial accident. The employer must take every reasonable step to localise and eliminate the effects of the accident in a timely manner. The employer must also administer first aid and carry out evacuation. Separately, the employer must fully compensate the employee for work-related damage caused by the deterioration of the employee's health. That same duty covers the costs of any treatment the deterioration requires.

Article 37 of the Labour Code grants, on request, paid maternity leave of 126 calendar days, or 143 calendar days if childbirth is complicated or twins are born, and the mother may spread that leave across the pregnancy and the time after the birth. Parental leave is 604 calendar days, or 587 calendar days in those same cases, and 57 calendar days of it are paid. The mother or the father may take the parental leave in whole or in parts, while maternity leave itself is the mother's exclusive right, although the father may use any of those maternity days that the mother does not use. The employee must tell the employer two weeks before taking parental leave. The paid parts of maternity leave and parental leave are used in sequence, for 183 calendar days, or for 200 calendar days when the birth is complicated or twins are born.

Under the Law of Georgia on State Pensions, entitlement begins when a person reaches the age of 65, although women may draw the pension from the age of 60. The law applies to citizens of Georgia, to stateless persons who hold a status in Georgia, and to aliens who have legally resided in Georgia for the last ten years at the time they apply. Someone who could also receive a payment under the Law on State Compensation and State Academic Stipends may claim a benefit under only one of those laws, and the choice is that person's own. A pension does not start, and an existing pension stops, for as long as the person carries out public activities in the sense used by the law. The Social Service Agency awards the pension and arranges payment, and the claimant may send the application in writing or in electronic form.

A consumer may submit a request to the Georgian National Competition Agency within two years after the observed violation, and the Agency opens an investigation when it has information that the rights of a group of consumers are violated or may be violated. The Agency examines the case within one month from the decision to start that investigation, and the examination may be extended by up to three months. When the investigation ends, the Agency decides whether to confirm or to deny a violation of the rights of that group of consumers. If the violation is confirmed, the Agency sets a deadline for the trader and demands restoration of the violated right or an end to the action prohibited by law. The decision may be appealed in court within 30 calendar days, and a trader who misses the deadline or fulfils it late may be fined by up to 2 percent of turnover for the preceding financial year.

Georgian Railway states that a passenger may request compensation when the railway itself causes a delay of 60 minutes or more at the final destination on a journey from the departure point to that destination. The sum is 25 percent of the ticket price when the delay lasts from 60 minutes to 119 minutes, and 50 percent of the ticket price when the delay reaches 120 minutes or more. There is no right to that payment if the passenger was told about the expected delay when buying the ticket, or if the delay is shorter than 60 minutes. Compensation is issued only if the passenger has used the railway service in full and the fare has not already been refunded on another ground, while a cancelled train brings a full refund of the fare. The passenger must contact the railway within seven days by the hotline, the call-centre email, or a ticket office, and the compensation is paid within one month after the request is filed.

A tourist who notices that a service in a package was not performed as agreed must tell the tour operator within a reasonable period, and the operator remains responsible for every service in the package whether it provides that service itself or through someone else. The operator must put the lack of conformity right unless that is impossible or the cost would be disproportionate, and if it fails to do so within the period the tourist sets, the tourist may arrange the remedy and claim the necessary expenses. The tourist is entitled to an appropriate price reduction for any period of non-conformity that is not the tourist's own fault, and to compensation for the resulting damage, which is to be paid within a reasonable period. The operator may cap that liability at three times the total price of the package, except where personal injury comes from its intentional act or gross negligence, and these claims must be brought within two years. A complaint about performance of the package may be given to the travel agency that sold it, which must pass the complaint to the operator without undue delay, and a message sent to the agency counts as a message sent to the operator.