Coming to Georgia for treatment from Iraq: visa, insurance, language and documents

Does an Iraqi citizen need a visa for Georgia?

Yes. Iraq is not on the list of countries whose citizens enter Georgia without a visa, and the e-visa portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not issue online visas to Iraqi passport holders. For a patient living in Iraq, the only route is therefore an ordinary visa, applied for through a Georgian diplomatic mission.

It is different if an Iraqi citizen lives in another country or holds a valid visa there. Government Resolution No. 256 of 2015 lists the states whose visa or residence permit gives the right to visa-free entry to Georgia, for 90 days in any 180-day period. The list includes the EU countries, the USA, the United Kingdom and all six Gulf states, among them the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The key condition: the document must be valid on the day you cross the Georgian border.

Our job is to look at your passport and each companion's passport separately: even within one family, one person may hold a UAE residence permit and another only an Iraqi passport. The general rules and the regimes for other countries are summarised on the visa and entry page.

Where and how do you apply for the visa?

There is no Georgian embassy in Iraq. The Georgian embassy accredited to Iraq is the Embassy of Georgia in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, located in the Abdoun district of Amman. According to its official page, it accepts visa applications only from citizens of Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. The process looks like this:

1. An account on the consular portal

   You create an account on geoconsul.gov.ge, fill in the application and upload your documents. Every traveller, children included, needs a separate application.

2. Paying the fee

   The embassy's page currently states a consular fee of USD 20, paid into the embassy's bank account; the receipt is attached to the application.

3. Booking an appointment and the interview

   You book a time slot on the portal. Attending the embassy in person is mandatory for all categories, and interviews are not held online; bring the original documents with you.

4. The decision

   According to the embassy, an ordinary visa takes 10 working days to process. You buy your ticket after the visa has been granted.

The embassy's list includes: a scanned copy of a passport issued within the last ten years, a biometric photo on a white background, proof of accommodation or a hotel booking, a flight reservation, an insurance policy, a bank statement for the last six months or another document showing that you can cover the cost of the visit, the fee receipt and the signed application forms. Travel to Amman is subject to Jordan's own entry rules, which you need to check yourself in advance.

The medical visa and a clinic invitation

Georgia's visa rules have a separate category for treatment, C4. The invitation can also be issued by a clinic registered in Georgia, in the approved form and as a notarised original. The embassy's public page does not list the documents for a medical visa separately, so before you apply we confirm with the embassy which category, and which additional documents, suit your application best. Arranging the clinic invitation, its notarisation and the delivery of the original to Amman is part of our coordination service.

How many days to plan for: visa validity and the treatment schedule

For a patient from Iraq, the most serious risk is time. A visa cannot be extended while you are in Georgia: this applies to every short-term category C visa, including the C4 medical visa, and the law has no type of residence permit for the purpose of treatment. So the days written in your visa have to cover everything before you arrive: diagnostics on site, the procedure, the days in hospital, recovery and the moment the treating doctor clears you to fly.

In practice we do three things. First, we get the number of days in the plan from the clinic in writing, with spare days for possible delays. Second, we align that figure with the dates in the visa application, so that the ticket, the accommodation and the clinic letter all cover the same period. Third, if the treatment has several stages, such as chemotherapy cycles or a two-stage operation, we work out with the doctor which stage can be carried out in Iraq. Every new trip, once the visa has expired, means a new application and a new visit to Amman.

What insurance do you need in 2026?

Since 1 January 2026, every tourist arriving in Georgia has needed mandatory health and accident insurance, under Government Resolution No. 602 of 2025. For a patient from Iraq this comes up in two places: first in the visa pack, where the embassy asks for the policy, and then at the border, where the Ministry of Internal Affairs may check it.

• A sum insured of at least GEL 30,000; cover from the day of arrival up to and including the day of departure.
• The policy must be in Georgian or English. A policy drawn up only in Arabic does not meet this requirement, so ask your insurer for an English version or buy the policy elsewhere.
• The policy may also be issued by a foreign insurer, so an Iraqi or other foreign company is acceptable as long as the conditions are met.
• An accompanying family member needs their own policy.

Bear in mind that this policy is for entry: travel insurance does not usually cover the planned treatment you are coming for. How to read the exclusions and where to look for cover for the treatment itself is explained in our insurance guide.

How can you talk to the doctor in Arabic or Kurdish?

In Georgia, medical records are kept in Georgian, and doctors often speak English or Russian; do not assume you will find an Arabic-speaking doctor at the clinic. The Law of Georgia on Patient Rights guarantees you information about your diagnosis, the risks and the cost, but it does not provide for a right to an interpreter. That is why we settle the language question before you arrive.

We choose a medical interpreter for Arabic for consultations, for going through the consent form before an operation, on the ward and at discharge. Mention in the form that you are from Iraq: everyday vocabulary in the Iraqi dialect differs from the Arabic of other countries, and that matters when you describe pain or a symptom. If Kurdish comes more naturally to you, tell us separately: we look for a suitable interpreter separately and tell you whether we have found one before we confirm the date with the clinic. You can also ask for a female or male interpreter.

Before surgery, chemotherapy, a blood transfusion or a similar intervention, the law requires written consent. Sign such a form only after every point in it has been explained to you in Arabic and your questions have reached the doctor.

How does payment work, and what can your insurance at home cover?

Georgia's state Universal Healthcare Programme does not cover foreign visitors, so your treatment is paid for by you or by whoever is funding it. Under our standard model, you pay the clinic's bill directly to the clinic, against an invoice issued in your name, while the coordination fee is separate and agreed in writing before work begins. If a partner clinic pays us anything, we tell you before you make your decision.

The specific payment method, whether an international bank transfer, a card or another method, is determined by the clinic and the banks, so we confirm it in writing before you arrive and do not promise that any particular method will work. Ask the clinic which currency the cost estimate and the invoice will be in, what the price includes, for example the room, anaesthesia and a follow-up visit, and what may be added if there are complications.

If an employer, a state body or a private insurer in Iraq reimburses the cost of treatment abroad, find out its requirements before you travel: which language it wants the invoice in, whether it needs prior approval and whether it asks for a legalised document. The six-month bank statement submitted for the visa should also be consistent with your payment plan, because that is exactly how the embassy assesses whether you can cover the costs.

Which documents to bring, and what needs translating?

Medical reports issued in Iraq are usually in Arabic or English. A Georgian doctor needs an English or Georgian text for the assessment, so Arabic documents must be translated before you arrive; an English-language report, if complete and legible, is usually fine without translation.

• Passport and visa, plus your residence permit if you are entering on the basis of it.
• Your latest reports and discharge summaries, in date order, translated from Arabic by our medical translation service.
• Images in digital form: the CT or MRI recording on a disc or via a link, together with the radiologist's report.
• A list of medicines with international names and doses, so that the doctor does not have to guess at Arabic brand names.
• The policy, the clinic letter and proof of accommodation on paper, for the border.

You can bring an ordinary medicine for personal use across the border without documents, up to 10 standard packs. A narcotic or psychotropic medicine, such as some strong painkillers or sleeping pills, is allowed only as a supply of up to 31 days, and only if the prescription and the doctor's certificate are translated into English and certified by the competent authority in Iraq. The full rules are on the medicines service page.

Taking your records to Iraq: translation and legalisation

After treatment, you obtain copies of your records from the clinic by written request, within the time limit set by law. The documents are issued in Georgian, so we translate them into Arabic or English for your doctor in Iraq. The details of the request, the time limits and the full package are on the documents for home page.

When a document is needed by an official body, such as an employer, an insurer or a ministry in Iraq, it matters that Iraq is not a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention: Iraq does not appear in the Hague Conference status table, last updated on 30 June 2026. An apostille will not work for Iraq; you need legalisation. In Georgia this is done in two stages: the document is first checked by the Public Service Development Agency, then the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms the authenticity of the signature on the agency's stamp. Applications are submitted at the agency's offices and at Public Service Halls, the buildings where state services are brought together under one roof.

The Iraqi side may have additional requirements of its own, such as confirmation by its mission or a particular form of Arabic translation. There is an Iraqi embassy in Tbilisi, at 9 Titsian Tabidze Street according to the list of the Georgian National Tourism Administration; before you prepare the documents, ask the receiving body what form it needs them in. Both stages are arranged by our consular legalisation service, and if you have already left, we collect the document and send it to you.

Frequently asked questions about coming from Iraq