Moving from France to Georgia (2026): Complete Guide

Relocating from France to Georgia means clearing two separate customs and administrative systems: France’s export side, run by the Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects (DGDDI), and Georgia’s import side, run by the Revenue Service (rs.ge) under the Ministry of Finance, together with immigration formalities handled by the Public Service Development Agency (PSDA). This guide is for French residents — whether French nationals or foreign nationals living in France — planning a household move to Georgia, and covers what you need to do before leaving France, what happens at the Georgian border, and a short note on moving back the other way.

Key takeaways

• EU citizens, including French nationals, can enter Georgia without a visa and stay up to one year — this status is the starting point for how your shipment gets classified at customs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Consular Services).
• France does not require an export customs declaration for ordinary personal effects leaving for a non-EU country; only regulated goods (weapons, precious metals, cultural goods, protected species) need one (Douane française).
• Registering in the Registre des Français établis hors de France isn’t compulsory but keeps your consular status valid for 5 years, and you must separately update your address with the tax authorities (France Diplomatie).
• The year you leave, you file a split return in France: a normal declaration covering income up to your departure date, plus a supplementary non-resident declaration for French-source income received afterward (impots.gouv.fr).
• Georgia’s GEL 15,000 duty-free personal-effects allowance (after 6+ months abroad) is reserved for Georgian citizens. As a French national you need the separate, no-value-cap exemption for household items — and that one only applies once you hold a Georgian permanent-residence document from the Ministry of Justice, which is a different (and higher) status than an ordinary work, study or family residence permit (Revenue Service of Georgia, official customs brochure).
• Cash and bearer instruments must be declared above GEL 30,000 entering/leaving Georgia, and above €10,000 leaving France for a non-EU country (rs.ge brochure; Douane française).
• Dogs and cats need identification and a rabies-valid health certificate for both the French export leg and the Georgian import leg, with Georgia’s National Food Agency as the receiving authority (agriculture.gouv.fr; National Food Agency of Georgia).
• Vehicle import into Georgia is taxed by engine size and age via the Revenue Service’s own calculator — check it before you decide whether to ship a car (rs.ge Auto/Moto Levy Calculator).

1. Your Georgia immigration status decides your customs treatment

Georgia’s duty-free "change of residence" allowance is not automatic — it is tied to proof of where you’re settling. French (EU) citizens can enter Georgia visa-free for stays of up to one year, which covers many relocations without any visa formality at all (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia). If you intend to stay longer or work locally, you apply directly for a residence permit through the Public Service Development Agency (PSDA) — the main categories on offer are work, study, family reunification, investment, IT and permanent residence — with standard applications decided within 30 calendar days, and faster paid tracks available (PSDA – Migration/Residence Permits; Legislative Herald of Georgia (Matsne) — Government of Georgia Ordinance No. 520 on residence-permit procedures).

Why this matters for your shipment: Georgian customs grants unlimited-value, duty-free treatment for household items and furniture "not intended for economic activities" specifically when you present the relevant document confirming permanent residence, issued according to Ministry of Justice rules — separate from, and not the same as, the standard GEL 15,000 allowance, which the Revenue Service reserves for Georgian citizens returning after 6+ months abroad (Revenue Service of Georgia, official brochure, p.4). Note that Georgian "permanent residence" is a distinct, longer-term status from an ordinary work, study, family or investment residence permit — most new arrivals hold the latter, not the former, in their first years. In practice this means: don’t assume your shipment will clear duty-free by default. Get written confirmation from the Revenue Service (or your customs broker) of which document you’ll actually be able to present, before your container arrives — if you don’t yet hold permanent-residence status, budget for the possibility that standard duty and VAT apply.

2. The France export side

Customs authority. France’s customs administration is the Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects (DGDDI). For a household move to a country outside the EU, DGDDI does not require you to lodge a customs export declaration for your ordinary personal effects and non-commercial vehicles. An export declaration (and in some cases a tax) is only triggered by specific categories: weapons and ammunition, gold/precious metals, dual-use goods and technology, wine remainders, protected wildlife, and cultural goods (douane.gouv.fr). If you are exporting a car, keep a photocopy of the carte grise (registration certificate) with your file.

What your mover will ask for. Even without a formal export declaration, your freight forwarder needs, for the Georgian side of the shipment: proof of your change of residence, and a detailed, dated, signed inventory of the goods being shipped, in duplicate — the same document format DGDDI itself requires when goods move the other way, into France (douane.gouv.fr).

Deregistering / leaving formalities. There is no single "deregistration" step for a French national leaving France — no exit stamp, no obligatory town-hall checkout. Two administrative steps matter in practice:

• Consular registration. Enrolling in the Registre des Français établis hors de France is free, valid five years and renewable, not mandatory, but it is what lets you access consular services, renew ID documents abroad, and get a certificate of residence from the embassy or consulate in Georgia (France Diplomatie).
• Tax residency exit. In the calendar year you leave, French tax law splits your return in two: a normal declaration covering income up to your departure date, and a 2042-NR declaration covering only French-source income received from your departure date to 31 December. From the year after your departure, if you’re no longer tax-domiciled in France, you’re taxed only on French-source income. You must update your address on your impots.gouv.fr personal account or with your local tax office (impots.gouv.fr).

Cash. If you’re carrying €10,000 or more (cash, bearer instruments, gold, prepaid cards) out of France to a non-EU country, it must be declared to French customs — either online via the DALIA service up to 30 days before travel, or in person at the border. Failing to declare is a customs offence that can trigger a fine and seizure of the undeclared funds (douane.gouv.fr).

3. Ports, airports and transit

For a household shipment to Georgia, sea freight typically routes via container from a French Atlantic/Channel or Mediterranean port to Georgia’s Black Sea ports (Poti or Batumi), and air freight via Paris. The two relevant French gateways are:

• Le Havre, part of HAROPA PORT (the merged port authority of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris), France’s largest container hub on the Channel (HAROPA PORT).
• Marseille-Fos, France’s principal Mediterranean container and general-cargo port, and typically the shorter sea route toward the Black Sea (Ministère de la Transition écologique, French seaport network).
• Paris–Charles de Gaulle (CDG), France’s main air-freight gateway for smaller or time-sensitive shipments.

Estimated transit times (freight-industry estimates, not official figures — always confirm with your forwarder):

• Sea freight, Marseille–Poti/Batumi (often via a Mediterranean or Black Sea transshipment hub): roughly 3–5 weeks door-to-port, depending on carrier routing and whether the shipment transships through Istanbul or another hub.
• Sea freight, Le Havre–Poti/Batumi: typically 4–6 weeks, given the longer approach into the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
• Air freight, Paris CDG–Tbilisi: 1–2 days transit, but air is priced by weight/volume and is normally reserved for a partial, urgent shipment rather than a full household move.

4. The Georgia import side

Georgia’s customs authority is the Revenue Service (rs.ge), operating under the Tax Code and Customs Code of Georgia. Every arriving shipment of personal belongings must be declared, even goods not physically with you on arrival — you then have a window after entry to bring the declared goods through customs (rs.ge official brochure; Customs Code of Georgia).

Two duty-free routes exist for household goods, per the Revenue Service’s own guidance — but only one is realistically available to a French mover:

1. GEL 15,000 personal-effects allowance — for Georgian citizens who have been abroad more than 6 months (excludes vehicles, excisable goods and food). This route is not available to foreign nationals.
2. Unlimited-value exemption for non-commercial household items (furniture, household goods) — available when you’re entering Georgia for permanent residence, evidenced by the relevant document issued under Ministry of Justice rules. This is the route a French national needs — but it only applies once you actually hold Georgia’s permanent-residence status, which is distinct from (and normally granted well after) an ordinary work, study, family or investment residence permit.

If you don’t yet hold permanent-residence status when your shipment arrives, expect it to be treated as ordinary import cargo, subject to standard customs duty and Georgia’s 18% VAT under the Tax Code of Georgia (rs.ge brochure, citing Tax Code Arts. 168, 194, 199). Required paperwork typically includes your passport, the bill of lading/air waybill, a detailed packing list, and — for anything shipped separately from you — proof it’s for personal, not commercial, use.

Cash into/out of Georgia: amounts of GEL 30,000 (roughly €10,000 equivalent) or more in cash, cheques or securities must be declared to Revenue Service customs at the border; larger undeclared amounts carry fines or confiscation (rs.ge brochure).

5. Pets

Leaving France. Dogs, cats and ferrets need an ISO microchip fitted before the rabies vaccination, and — because Georgia is outside the EU — an international health certificate issued by an authorized French veterinarian in the week before departure; check the exact certificate model and any extra entry requirements with Georgia’s embassy in France, and start the process with your vet at least a few months ahead (France Diplomatie, animaux domestiques; Ministère de l’Agriculture, official rules for pet movements with third (non-EU) countries).

Entering Georgia. Animal health and border-veterinary control for imported pets is overseen by the National Food Agency (NFA) of Georgia. Confirm current vaccination-timing windows, the accepted health-certificate model, and whether a veterinary inspection or quarantine hold applies to your specific case directly with the NFA before travel, since these details can change and are not standardized in a single public form (National Food Agency of Georgia).

6. Vehicles, money, and things people forget

• Vehicles. Importing a car into Georgia triggers excise duty based on engine capacity and vehicle age, plus VAT, calculated through the Revenue Service’s own Auto/Moto Levy Calculator — run your exact vehicle through it before deciding whether shipping it is worth it versus buying locally (rs.ge Auto/Moto Levy Calculator).
• The inventory list is your single most important document. Both the French side (as evidence of change of residence) and the Georgian side (for the duty exemption) rely on the same detailed, dated, signed inventory — build it once, carefully, and reuse it.
• French tax exit ≠ automatic non-residence. Simply moving does not by itself end French tax residency for a given year; the split-return mechanism (2042 + 2042-NR) is how the transition year is actually taxed (impots.gouv.fr).
• Consular registration is optional but useful for getting documents, certificates, and assistance once you’re in Georgia — do it before or right after you arrive (France Diplomatie).
• Cash thresholds differ (€10,000 leaving France vs. GEL ~30,000 entering Georgia) — declare at the correct end, correctly, or risk fines/confiscation on either side.

Reverse direction: moving back from Georgia to France

Coming back to France after living in Georgia follows the general EU regime for personal-property relief on a change of residence: French customs (DGDDI) typically requires proof that you’ve lived abroad more than 12 months and owned/used the goods for more than 6 months before granting duty-free import, alongside the same type of dated, signed inventory in duplicate used on the way out (douane.gouv.fr — transfer-of-residence formalities) — confirm the exact conditions and paperwork for your situation with DGDDI or your forwarder before you ship, since requirements can vary by case. On the Georgian export side, work with your forwarder on the corresponding export paperwork with Georgian Revenue Service customs, and re-check pet and vehicle rules in reverse (France requires an EU-format pet health certificate/passport and, for a car, French registration and — where applicable — VAT/customs formalities on entry).

How Flyto handles your France to Georgia move

Flyto runs its own offices, warehouses, trucks and moving teams across Northern, Central and Southern Europe, so the French collection, packing and consolidation side of your move is handled in-house by our own crews. For the Black Sea leg and Georgian on-the-ground delivery, we work through a carefully vetted network of subcontracted carriers and trusted local partners in Georgia who handle customs clearance and last-mile delivery under our coordination — giving you one point of contact for a move that spans two very different customs systems.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a visa to move to Georgia if I’m French?
No, not for a stay of up to one year — French/EU citizens enter Georgia visa-free. For a longer stay or local work, you apply directly for a residence permit (the main categories are work, study, family reunification, investment, IT and permanent residence) through the Public Service Development Agency (geoconsul.gov.ge; PSDA).

Will my household goods be taxed entering Georgia?
The GEL 15,000 personal-effects allowance (6+ months abroad) is reserved for Georgian citizens, so it won’t apply to you as a French national. Your goods can still clear duty-free under the unlimited-value exemption for non-commercial household items — but only once you hold Georgia’s permanent-residence document from the Ministry of Justice, not just an ordinary work/study/family residence permit. Without that document, standard duty and 18% VAT apply (rs.ge brochure).

Does France require a customs declaration to ship my furniture out?
No formal export declaration is needed for ordinary personal effects; it’s only required for specific regulated items like weapons, precious metals or cultural goods (douane.gouv.fr).

Can I bring my dog or cat to Georgia?
Yes, but plan ahead: you’ll need microchipping, a rabies vaccination and an official health certificate for the French export side, and you should confirm current entry requirements with Georgia’s National Food Agency before you travel (agriculture.gouv.fr; NFA Georgia).

Is it worth shipping my car to Georgia?
Run it through the Revenue Service’s own calculator first — excise duty scales with engine size and vehicle age, plus VAT, and for many vehicles it’s cheaper to sell in France and buy locally in Georgia (rs.ge Auto/Moto Levy Calculator).

Am I still a French tax resident the year I move?
Only up to your departure date. You’ll file a split return: normal income to that date, and a 2042-NR form for French-source income received afterward (impots.gouv.fr).

Sources

• Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects — Déménagement hors de l’Union européenne
• Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects — Transfert de résidence principale hors UE (expatriés)
• Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects — Voyager avec 10 000 euros ou plus
• France Diplomatie — S’inscrire au registre des Français établis hors de France
• France Diplomatie — Animaux domestiques (préparer son expatriation)
• impots.gouv.fr — Je pars à l’étranger ou j’arrive en France
• Ministère de l’Agriculture — FAQ modalités d’importation des animaux de compagnie en provenance de pays tiers
• Ministère de la Transition écologique — Acteurs, réseau et activités portuaires en France
• HAROPA PORT (Le Havre)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia — Consular Services, Entering Georgia
• Public Service Development Agency of Georgia — Migration/Residence Permits
• Legislative Herald of Georgia (Matsne) — Government of Georgia Ordinance No. 520, Procedures for Reviewing and Deciding the Granting of Georgian Residence Permits
• Legislative Herald of Georgia (Matsne) — Customs Code of Georgia
• Revenue Service of Georgia — Exemption from import duties and declaring obligation (official brochure)
• Revenue Service of Georgia — Auto/Moto Levy Calculator
• National Food Agency of Georgia