June 4, 2009 – The day that I arrived in the Republic of Georgia, I approached the Visa section and asked the immigration officer if a Filipino can apply for a tourist visa upon arrival, and he said yes.  All you have to do when you arrive to Tbilisi International Airport go to the left side of the Immigration section where you’ll see a big bold letter “VISA” and present your passport and the immigration officer will give you an application form to fill (sample attached), a photo and pay GEL100.00 (US$70.00).  GEL is Georgian Lari, the currency of the Republic of Georgia.  The visa is valid for one year and it is up to Georgian Immigration’s discretion if they will grant you a single or multiple entry visas or deny you.

I also found out that for American Citizen, the visa application is free.  Isn’t it great to be an American Passport holder?

Anyway, Republic of Georgia is very lenient to Filipinos and other nationalities as well when it comes to granting tourist visas.  They are tourists friendly and I think that is how the government should market tourism, to let other nationalities have an easy processing of Visas.  It can entice more tourists in the country and not only it can generate income from the Visa application charges, it can generate income and taxes as well on airlines, hotels, car rentals, restaurants and the local markets.

Look what Thailand has become, of course that was before the protests.  More tourists = $$$$….

If you can see, I have watermarked the visa application with my logo.  But if you need a clean copy of the visa application, just drop a comment and leave your email address and I will email it to you.

And if you like what you have read, I will appreciate it you link me to your blog or website and better yet register on my email newsletter.

For the mean time, ciao and have a safe trip. J