Healthcare in Georgia, and what it costs without cover

Georgia runs a Universal Health Care Programme (UHCP) for citizens and certain residents, financed through the state budget and administered by the Ministry of IDPs, Labour, Health and Social Affairs.

It covers a baseline of emergency and primary care plus some planned treatment, with significant co-payments on anything complex. As a nomad you are almost never inside this system. You will be using private providers and either paying cash or claiming on international insurance.

Private sector for foreigners

The private sector is where care for foreigners actually happens. Three networks dominate: Aversi, EVEX (part of Georgia Healthcare Group), and Medi Club / New Hospitals. These concentrate heavily in Tbilisi, with meaningful presence in Batumi and Kutaisi and thin coverage everywhere else. Standards in the flagship Tbilisi facilities are genuinely good for routine and many specialist procedures. Regional hospitals vary widely, and most international insurers will route you back to Tbilisi for anything non-trivial.

English availability

English availability is the weak point. In top Tbilisi private clinics you will usually find English-speaking GPs and many specialists, but it is not guaranteed and the picture drops off fast outside the capital. Russian remains widely spoken, which is part of why a meaningful chunk of Russian and Belarusian nomads ended up here from 2022 onward. For non-Russian, non-Georgian speakers, the realistic play is sticking to the expat-oriented private clinics in Tbilisi.

Costs are the headline

Costs are the headline. Out-of-pocket pricing at private clinics is often 5 to 10 times cheaper than Western Europe for equivalent consultations. This shifts the economics of insurance in Georgia in a way it does not in Portugal or Germany. The honest framing: cheap routine care, real risk on catastrophic events, and evacuation costs that can dwarf any savings from skipping cover.

Georgia is one of the easiest places in the world to stay long-term as a nomad without formal visa work.

Citizens of around 95 countries (including the US, UK, EU member states, Canada, Australia, and most of the Gulf) get one full year of visa-free stay on entry. This is the famous "year on entry" rule. You can leave and re-enter to reset the clock, though border officers do notice patterns. There is no formal nomad visa.

What changed on 1 January 2026 is that insurance stopped being optional. A government decree of 26 December 2025 requires tourists entering Georgia to hold health and accident insurance of at least 30,000 GEL, roughly US$11,000, covering the entire stay including the days of arrival and departure. It applies to visa-free travellers, the policy may be in Georgian or English and on paper or a screen, a foreign insurer is explicitly acceptable, and the border police check it. The decree exempts diplomatic and service-passport categories, accredited staff, entries governed by international agreement and international professional drivers, and it does not reach people entering on a residence permit rather than as tourists. No fine is set out in the decree itself.

The sum is modest against what a real emergency costs here, so treat it as a documentation threshold to clear rather than a level of cover to aim for.

Individual Entrepreneur 1% tax

For longer-term setups, the Individual Entrepreneur (IE) status combined with Small Business status grants a 1% tax rate on turnover up to roughly 500,000 GEL (around $180,000 USD) per year. Above that threshold, rates step up sharply. This regime has turned Tbilisi into one of the most tax-efficient bases in Europe for solo freelancers and online service providers. There are also investor residency routes via property purchase (typically at least $100,000 USD), work visas tied to local employment, and family reunification routes. You may still see the "Remotely from Georgia" programme described as a nomad visa. It never was one: it was a COVID-era entry application form, and the decree behind it lapsed in July 2023.

A work-permit change that catches the self-employed

A government decree of 20 February 2026 introduces work-permit obligations from 1 March 2026, and its wording covers labour migrants and self-employed foreigners, which reaches entrepreneurship and therefore the Individual Entrepreneur route this page recommends. People already registered as self-employed have until 1 May 2026 under the transitional article. Whether purely foreign-paid remote work falls inside it is not settled, and the decree has already been amended twice, so confirm the current position before you register anything.

What this means for cover

Residency routes do not gate approval on proof of insurance the way Schengen states or the UAE do; the 30,000 GEL rule bites at the border, not at the residence permit. Given how reliant you will be on the private system, the practical standard among established nomads is an international plan, or at minimum catastrophic-only cover with evacuation, well above the entry threshold.

One quirk worth knowing: Georgia is geographically in Asia for some insurance pricing zones and in Europe for others. This matters because "Worldwide excluding US" tiers can price differently depending on how a carrier classifies Georgia. Confirm the zone definition in writing before you buy.

• Evacuation distances. Top-tier care for complex cardiac, oncology, or neurosurgery typically means evacuation to Istanbul, Vienna, or Tel Aviv. Confirm your plan's evacuation clause covers both ground and air movement out of Georgia.
• War-risk perception and exclusions. Georgia borders Russia and lived through the 2008 war. Most international insurers cover Georgia normally today, but some policies still carry war and civil-unrest exclusions or sub-limits. Read the war clause before assuming you are covered if the regional picture shifts.
• Currency volatility. The lari has moved meaningfully against the dollar and euro in recent years. Cash-pay prices in GEL can feel cheap or expensive depending on the month. Insurance priced in USD or EUR insulates you from this.
• Dental coverage gaps. Dental work in Tbilisi is high-quality and cheap, but most international plans reimburse Georgian dental claims poorly. Add a dental rider only if you actually plan to use it, otherwise just self-pay.
• Mental health provider scarcity. English-speaking therapists exist in Tbilisi but capacity is thin and waiting times are real. Russian-speaking options are broader. Telehealth from your home country is often the cleaner solution.
• Winter air quality. Tbilisi's winter heating mix and basin geography produce real respiratory issues. Factor this in if you have asthma or chronic respiratory conditions.
• Regional vs. capital quality gap. Care in Kutaisi, Batumi, and smaller cities is meaningfully thinner. If you are based outside Tbilisi, confirm your insurer is willing to route you back to the capital and cover associated costs.