5 French Freelancers Who Moved to Georgia: What They Learned

Tax calculators and comparison tables can tell you the numbers. But numbers don't tell you what it actually feels like to close your auto-entrepreneur, pack up your apartment in the 11th arrondissement, and land in Tbilisi with a laptop and a newly registered Georgian IE. For that, you need the stories.

Below are five composite profiles representing different types of French freelancers who have made the move. Each reflects the common experiences, surprises, and hard-won lessons shared by French expats in Georgia's growing digital nomad community.

1. Thomas — Full-Stack Web Developer, Lyon → Tbilisi

Background

Thomas had been freelancing as a full-stack developer (React/Node) for six years when he hit the auto-entrepreneur ceiling. His revenue had grown from €45,000 to €95,000 over four years, and the transition out of the micro-regime hit him harder than expected. In his first year under the standard TNS regime, his combined social charges and income tax amounted to €43,000 — nearly double what he had been paying as an auto-entrepreneur.

"I had always known the ceiling was there," he says. "But seeing €43K disappear before I could save anything — while my rent in Lyon was €1,100/month — that's when I started seriously researching options."

The Decision

Thomas discovered Georgia through a French developer Discord in early 2024. He spent three months researching — reading everything he could find, consulting with a French avocat fiscaliste, and making one reconnaissance trip to Tbilisi for a week. He registered his IE with StartGE before returning to France, flew back to Tbilisi in February 2025, and spent 7 months there before returning to France for November and December.

Tax Results (2025)

• Revenue: €112,000
• Georgian IE tax (1%): €1,120
• Private health insurance (AXA Georgia): €900/year
• Total tax equivalent: €2,020
• Saving vs France TNS: ~€48,000

What He Learned

• Get the Small Business Status right: His IE was registered correctly but Small Business Status wasn't activated for the first month. That month was taxed at 20% instead of 1%. "Always confirm the status explicitly when you use a service provider."
• Clients barely noticed: "I sent an email saying I'd moved my business to Georgia and included my new Georgian IBAN. Two clients asked one clarifying question each. That was it."
• The social aspect was harder than the admin: "The paperwork was easy. What was harder was the first 6 weeks before I found my community. Once I found the expat developer crowd and a coworking space I liked, it became home very quickly."

2. Marie — UX/UI Designer, Paris → Tbilisi

Background

Marie had been running a successful UX/UI design studio from her Paris apartment for four years. Her clients were primarily European SaaS companies, all B2B, and she invoiced in EUR. At €65,000 revenue, she was comfortably within the auto-entrepreneur ceiling but paying ~€23,000/year in charges and income tax — leaving €42,000 to cover Paris rent (€1,650/month for her Bastille-area apartment), food, software, and everything else.

"I was working hard and saving almost nothing," she recalls. "Every year I'd do the math and think: this is only going to get tighter as I grow."

The Move

Marie was drawn to Georgia partly by the tax savings and partly by design — she had seen Tbilisi on Instagram, was intrigued by the architecture and food culture, and decided to combine the financial logic with a genuine change of scene. She registered her IE in October, moved in January, and never went back to living in Paris full-time.

Tax Results (first full year)

• Revenue: €72,000
• Georgian IE tax: €720
• Insurance: €780/year
• Total tax equivalent: €1,500
• Paris rent saved (switched to €650/month Vake apartment): €12,000/year
• Total combined saving: ~€33,000/year

What She Learned

• The Georgian design scene is real: "I expected to be isolated from the creative industry. Instead I found a small but genuine design community in Tbilisi — there are studios, agencies, and individual designers doing interesting work. I've collaborated with two of them."
• Monthly tax declaration is simple: "Once a month, I log into the Revenue Service portal, enter my turnover, and pay. It takes 10 minutes. The French quarterly URSSAF process was more complicated than this."
• The Airbnb trap: Marie spent her first two months in furnished Airbnb apartments before finding a long-term unfurnished rental. "Airbnbs in Tbilisi are relatively expensive — €800–€1,200/month for what you'd rent long-term for €500. Get a long-term lease as quickly as possible."
• Opening the bank account was the hardest part: "The StartGE registration was smooth. The bank account at TBC required me to be present in person and took one full day. Bring all your documents, originals and copies of everything."

3. Antoine — Business Consultant, Bordeaux → Tbilisi

Background

Antoine had run a strategy consulting practice for 12 years, primarily serving mid-size French companies through digital transformation projects. His revenue ranged from €120,000 to €180,000 per year, and he had been operating under the standard TNS regime for the past seven years. His annual tax burden — combining social charges and income tax — routinely exceeded €60,000.

"At €180,000 revenue, I was paying €80,000 in taxes and contributions. Eighty thousand euros. For a sole practitioner with no employees and no office rent. It was absurd."

The Complexity

Antoine's situation was more complex than most. He had a BSPCE (founder warrant) in a startup he had advised early on — worth roughly €400,000 at last valuation. This meant the French exit tax applied to him. He engaged a Paris avocat fiscaliste to manage the exit tax declaration and set up the required tax representative and deferral arrangement.

"The exit tax administration cost me €3,500 in legal fees. Given I was saving €70,000+ per year, I paid that off in the first three weeks in Georgia."

His Lesson on Clients

Antoine's clients were French companies. He was concerned that invoicing from Georgia might create friction. His solution: transparency.

"I told my main clients directly: I've restructured my business in Georgia for tax reasons, your invoice will now come from a Georgian entity. B2B transactions are normal — they just apply reverse charge. The only client who pushed back did so out of familiarity, not any legal issue, and they came around when I explained it."

What He Learned

• Maintain a good French accountant through the transition: "The exit year — the year you leave France — has complicated French tax implications. Don't do the final return yourself."
• Georgia LLC might be better for consultants: "After two years as an IE, I converted to a Georgian LLC. It provides liability protection and the tax rate on distributed dividends (15%) is still far better than France. For high earners consulting into large organizations, the LLC looks more professional on contracts."
• The 183 days are not hard to hit: "People worry about the 183 days. Tbilisi has everything you need — I'm actually here more like 240 days a year. I spend a month in France visiting family and another month traveling."

4. Camille — E-commerce Seller (Shopify/Amazon), Nantes → Tbilisi

Background

Camille sold natural cosmetics through her own Shopify store and Amazon Europe. Revenue: ~€90,000/year, with roughly €35,000 in product costs, fulfilment, and advertising — leaving ~€55,000 net margin. Under the French auto-entrepreneur regime, her charges were calculated on the full €90,000 revenue, not her net margin, because the micro-regime provides no expense deductions.

"I was paying social charges on €90K but my real income was €55K. The effective tax rate on my actual income was absurd."

The Georgia Approach

Camille registered a Georgian LLC rather than an IE. Her reasoning: with Amazon FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon), she had European warehouse exposure and complex VAT obligations across multiple EU countries. The LLC provided better structure for managing this, and its 0% retained-profit tax (Estonian model) meant she could leave money in the company while it grew without triggering personal income tax.

"The Georgian LLC doesn't pay tax on retained profits. I only trigger the 15% dividend tax when I pay myself. So I leave money in the company, reinvest in inventory and ads, and pay myself a modest salary. Total personal tax in Georgia: essentially zero most months."

The VAT Question

Camille still registered for EU VAT (through the OSS one-stop scheme) for her B2C EU sales — this is a separate obligation from Georgian tax and isn't avoided by operating from Georgia. "The Georgian company collects and remits EU VAT just like a French company would. That part didn't change. What changed was the 22% I was paying France on my personal income."

What She Learned

• LLC vs IE for e-commerce: "For product businesses with real expenses, the LLC model makes more sense than IE because retained profits grow tax-free. The IE's 1% on gross turnover ignores your costs."
• Fulfilment logistics are unchanged: "My Amazon FBA fulfilment runs through EU warehouses. Georgia has nothing to do with the physical product flow. I just moved where I personally live and where I pay tax."
• Personal banking: use Wise: "I have a Wise account with EUR, GBP, and USD balances attached to my Georgian LLC. It's smoother than the Georgian bank for receiving international payments."

5. Lucas — Content Creator / Newsletter Writer, Paris → Tbilisi

Background

Lucas ran a French-language business newsletter with 35,000 subscribers, monetized through paid subscriptions (Substack) and sponsorships. Revenue: ~€55,000/year, growing at 40% annually. Under auto-entrepreneur, he was paying ~€19,000/year in charges — leaving €36,000 on which to actually operate his life in Paris.

"I was living a Paris-cheap lifestyle — cooking at home, no holidays, one-bedroom apartment in the 20th — and still barely building any savings. That's supposed to be the reward for building something?"

The Niche Concern: French-Language Content from Georgia

Lucas was unique in that his product was explicitly French-language content for a French audience. He worried that living in Georgia might create a disconnect with his readers.

"The opposite happened. Moving to Georgia became editorial content. I wrote a transparent series about why I was moving, what the tax comparison looked like, what Tbilisi was actually like. Those issues got more engagement than anything I'd ever written. My subscribers didn't feel abandoned — they were fascinated."

Tax Results

• Revenue in year one of Georgia: €78,000 (accelerated by the newsletter series about the move)
• IE tax: €780
• Health insurance: €720/year
• Saving vs France: ~€27,000
• Monthly living cost saving: ~€1,500/month = €18,000/year
• Total combined improvement: ~€45,000/year

What He Learned

• Location independence for content creators is real: "My content didn't become less French because I moved. It became about a French person navigating the world from Georgia. That's just as French — maybe more."
• The community accelerated his growth: "Tbilisi's freelancer community is full of people doing interesting things. Three of my best newsletter sponsorships came from companies I met through Tbilisi expat events."
• Substack and Stripe work fine from Georgia: "Everyone worries about payment processors. I had zero issues. Stripe, PayPal, Wise — all work with a Georgian IE. Your IBAN is different, that's all."
• The hardest part: telling family: "The paperwork was nothing. Telling my parents in Lyon that I was moving to Georgia was harder. Once I showed them the numbers, they understood. My mum now wants to come visit."

Common Themes Across All Five Stories

Reading these five profiles, several consistent patterns emerge:

1. The admin is easier than expected: Every person described the Georgian registration and monthly filing process as simpler than France's equivalent. The French side (closing the auto-entrepreneur, final tax return) is slightly more work but entirely manageable.
2. Clients adapt quickly: None of the five lost a significant client due to the move. French B2B clients handle foreign invoices routinely. Transparency and professionalism in the communication made the transition smooth.
3. The community made it work: Tbilisi has a genuine expat community, particularly of French and other European digital workers. Finding that community — through coworking spaces, expat events, online groups — was described by all five as the key to feeling settled.
4. The financial improvement exceeded expectations: Every person who did the pre-move calculation was still surprised by how much better their financial position was after the move, largely because the cost-of-living savings compounded the tax savings beyond what spreadsheets captured.
5. Going back was always an option — but none wanted to: All five were asked whether they considered returning. All said they had the option and might eventually, but none were in a hurry. "Why would I? I'm eating better, working just as much, saving more, and paying €1,000 a year in taxes. Paris will still be there."