pathoff← All countries for move & retire

Move & retire

Georgia

A year in the country before anyone asks you a question.

4/4
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Living
~$1,500/mo
Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Safety
Moderate
The weakest safety figure on this site
ResidencyRecently changed
A year without a visa, but a stay is not residence
Nationals of roughly 95 countries may stay 365 days per calendar year. Beyond that the routes are study, business registration or a category D long-term visa leading to a residence permit. Since 1 March 2026 working requires a separate permit, which narrows what the visa-free year is actually good for
Healthcare
Cheap, and below European standards
Out-of-pocket spending is 58.8% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

More is being checked.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Living~$1,500/mo

Pathoff judgement directed by evidence, not computed from it: the country’s position comes from the World Bank household consumption price level for 2024 (0.395 of the United States, CC BY 4.0 — the ICP benchmark carried forward annually by the World Bank’s own method); the US reference budget is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
SafetyModerate

Global Peace Index 2026: rank 94 of 163, score 2.066. Converted by the Pathoff GPI formula (GPI in lib/scoring.ts)

The weakest safety figure on this site

Confidence
made by us from the source
ResidencyA year without a visa, but a stay is not residence

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-4), residency band "Work, family or business only": A year of visa-free stay is not residence and does not accumulate into it, and it turns on the passport. Beyond it the routes are study, business registration or a long-term visa.

Nationals of roughly 95 countries may stay 365 days per calendar year. Beyond that the routes are study, business registration or a category D long-term visa leading to a residence permit. Since 1 March 2026 working requires a separate permit, which narrows what the visa-free year is actually good for

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
Changed recently — older guidance elsewhere is out of date
Last checked
2026-09
HealthcareCheap, and below European standards

Pathoff healthcare rubric (the Pathoff method, section 13-2), band "You buy your own, and it is affordable": Care is cheap to pay for out of pocket and everyday appointments are quick, but serious or specialist treatment is commonly sought abroad.

Out-of-pocket spending is 58.8% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
Never against a source

What it is like here

For simply being somewhere, Georgia is close to frictionless: a year of visa-free stay for most Western passports, a business registrable in a day, and living costs well under Portugal's. Three things to weigh against it. The 365 days is a stay, not residence, and does not accumulate into one. Since March 2026 working requires a permit. And it is the least peaceful country on this site by a clear margin, which is the trade for everything above.

How the process works

1

Arrive and count the days

The 365 days runs per calendar year from 1 January, not from the date you land.

Timing not confirmed
2

Decide whether you need to work

If you do, the visa-free year is not enough on its own since March 2026. Sort the permit before relying on it.

Timing not confirmed
3

A long-term visa is the precondition for a residence permit

Category D, issued for 90 days or a year, is what a residence permit is built on.

Timing not confirmed

Where people settle

Tbilisi
Where the foreign community, the services and the healthcare are
Batumi
Coastal and cheaper, much quieter outside the season

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-03.

Photograph of Georgia, licensed Pexels License, via Pexels.