People who have lived in the country for more than ten years are stopped from re-entering after a trip. Formally, nobody revokes their status.
Georgia's main risk is not getting a status but losing it at the border. Since late 2024 there are documented, systematic entry refusals without explanation, including foreigners who had lived there for more than ten years, among them a former diplomat, as well as dozens of journalists and activists. Nobody formally revokes their status; they are simply not let back in after a trip. In May 2025 France and Poland issued travel advisories for their citizens.
Pressure on residents goes further: fines of up to 5,000 lari for joining protests, lists of protesters, and since 1 June 2025 a foreign agents law with prison terms of up to five years. Rules for foreigners were tightened several times in two years, including retroactively for already registered sole traders.
The new work regime makes status fragile: if a contract ends early, the right to work ends; when a contract expires, the residence permit is cancelled and deportation is possible. The law gives no time to find a new client or employer.
There is no family privilege: a spouse needs a work authorisation of their own. State schools are free, but teaching is in Georgian. No integration courses are required to live there; the language matters only for citizenship.
The index score ignores nationality. This is what changes for citizens of specific countries.
Visa-free stay for up to a year, and bank accounts open routinely. Work follows the same new rules, and border refusals have hit long-term American residents too.
Visa-free stay for up to a year. Working follows the same new rules, through a work authorisation.
The one-year visa-free stay formally remains, but there are unexplained refusals at the border, including on return from a trip and when "resetting" the stay; for Russian citizens, place of birth in the passport (Crimea, Donbas) has been a reason. Secondary data for 2023 show 57% of residence applications by Russian citizens refused, 62% for work permits. Banks add a "loyalty questionnaire" at Bank of Georgia and restrictions at TBC for non-residents from Russia.
The place interval 74-91 shows where the country lands when the data is nudged and the index is recalculated. One place of difference in the table means nothing; a difference of a league means something.
The thin mark on each bar is the average across 97 countries
The strongest category here is Settling in: 72 out of 100, against a 97-state average of 69.5. The weakest is Pressure on newcomers: 15 against 65.2. Above the world average: 1 out of 7.
All 97 states are calculated for one applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route that is actually in use.
Your passport, your income and your family do not change the table. They change which of its lines apply to you. A different income makes entry read differently, a family makes the family category read differently, and your passport makes everything read differently.
You can live there for up to a year, but since 1 March 2026 you cannot work without a work authorisation, sole traders and freelancers included. Those registered earlier have until 1 January 2027.
Work authorisation is 200 lari for 30 days or 400 lari for 10 working days; the work residence permit is 300-600 lari depending on speed, renewed yearly. About 2,500 lari per person over five years plus mandatory insurance.
Yes. When the contract expires the permit is cancelled, and if it ends early the right to work goes; there is no grace period. A separate risk is being refused entry after a trip, without explanation and without a formal revocation.
Permanent residence after 10 years on temporary permits; visa-free years do not count. Investors of $300,000 or more qualify after 5. Citizenship after 10 years, with an exam in Georgian, history and law; dual citizenship only with presidential approval.
1% of turnover up to 500,000 lari under small business status, 3% above that; foreign income of a resident is not taxed. Monthly returns are mandatory even with zero income.
The entry bar is low, but since 2024 the state has grown harsher towards people already living there: border refusals, protest fines, a foreign agents law. Journalists and activists are hit most, but foreigners who have lived there for years have been affected too. What depends on your passport is in the section above.
97 states, 26 indicators, seven categories, 2,522 scores. Every score has a source and a source class: primary means the texts of laws and government portals; reliable secondary means reports by international organisations, tax reviews by audit firms and specialist legal publications; weak means community posts and single secondary sources. The classes add up to a confidence level for the country, and a country with low confidence gets neither a score nor a place.
Every indicator is scored against a fixed ruler, not against its neighbours. Adding new countries therefore does not move the old ones, and a change in a score means a change in policy and nothing else.
A high place does not mean a good country. It means one thing: the state machine treats newcomers predictably and by the rules. Living there may be expensive, dull or hot; that is not our question.
Checked 01/10/2026. Facts come from the country's index card and official websites.
We make mistakes and we will go on making them: policy changes faster than any database. Our answer is not a pose of infallibility but a visible trail of corrections. Every correction is published: what it was, what it became, the source and the reason for the error. The corrections log opens with the second issue, together with the first block of changes.