If you live in Georgia and you have tried to pay a foreign website, you already know the problem. Your card is fine at home. Then it fails at checkout on a site abroad. Or it works, but costs more than the price you saw.

This page is our full guide to the virtual credit card Georgia citizen and foreigner both need. It also covers when you do not need one at all.

We sell these cards. So we will be straight about what ours does, what it cannot do, and where a free bank product beats it. Every number here sits next to its source. Where a bank does not publish something, we say so instead of guessing.

Which Georgia is this page about?

This page is about Georgia the country. Sakartvelo. Capital Tbilisi, currency the Georgian lari, and about 3.9 million people on the 2024 census.

It is not about the US state. That matters, because search results mix the two badly.

Type georgia virtual card into Google and you mostly get news about a state cash assistance card. Type virtual prepaid card for georgia and you get state government payment programmes.

So if you came looking for a state benefits card, this is the wrong page. If you are in Tbilisi, Batumi or Kutaisi, or you are moving there, keep reading.

One note on names. In this niche people write "VCC" for virtual credit card. A Georgia VCC and a virtual card Georgia are the same thing. We use the plain words.

What is a virtual credit card in Georgia, and how does it work?

A virtual credit card is a real card number that only exists online. There is no plastic.

You get the 16 digits, the expiry date and the CVV. You type them into a checkout exactly as you would a physical card.

The number is issued by a real bank on the Visa or Mastercard network. That is why merchants accept it. The difference is delivery. It arrives on a screen in minutes, not in an envelope in two weeks.

What actually arrives when you buy one?

Four things: the card number, the expiry date, the security code, and a billing address to use at checkout.

That is enough to pay almost any online merchant. Some virtual cards can also be added to Apple Pay or Google Pay, when the issuer and the wallet both allow it.

You do not get a PIN. You do not get plastic. A virtual card lives online only.

Is it a credit card or a prepaid card?

Ours is prepaid. We want that said in plain words before you read another line.

"Virtual credit card" is what people search for, so it is what we call the page. The product is a prepaid Visa or Mastercard. You load money, then you spend that money. There is no credit line and no interest.

At checkout it behaves like a credit card. The merchant sees a Visa or Mastercard number and charges it. The difference is on your side: you can only spend what is loaded.

That is often the point. A prepaid card cannot run up a debt. A merchant cannot pull more than the balance you put on it. For the general version, see our guide to prepaid virtual cards.

How is a Georgia VCC different from your TBC or Bank of Georgia digital card?

Two things differ: who issues it, and what currency it holds.

A TBC or Bank of Georgia digital card is issued in Georgia and tied to your Georgian account. It usually settles in lari unless you hold a foreign currency balance. To get one, you have to be a customer of that bank first.

A Vizocard is issued in the United States and holds US dollars. You need no Georgian bank account and no Georgian address. That one difference solves several problems further down this page.

Neither is better in every case. We compare them in a table below. There are real cases where the bank card wins.

Why do people in Georgia look for a virtual card at all?

Three reasons come up again and again when people search for a virtual credit card Georgia banks do not offer. The bank card a foreigner is offered cannot pay online. The two obvious global apps do not serve Georgia. And paying in lari on foreign sites got more expensive this year.

Each is documented. Here they are one at a time.

What happens when a foreigner walks into TBC and asks for a card?

They may walk out with a card that cannot pay for anything online.

TBC Bank publishes a product called the debit card for non-residents. It is aimed at foreigners in Georgia. On that page, in TBC's own words:

"The card can only be used in Georgia."

"The card is not used in e-commerce."

Read those again. It is a Mastercard debit card with a four-year term. It comes in lari, dollars, euros and pounds. You can collect it at a branch the same day. And it is blocked from online shopping and from working outside the country.

That is the trap. A foreigner arrives in Tbilisi and does the sensible thing. They walk into a big bank and ask for a card. They get one that cannot buy a Netflix subscription.

We want to be fair to TBC. This is one entry-level product. A foreigner who completes full onboarding may be offered a standard TBC card instead. Georgian law firms report that ordinary Georgian cards do work abroad.

But the restricted product exists. It is the one aimed at non-residents. And its limits are printed on TBC's own page.

Why do Wise and Revolut not solve this?

Because neither issues a card to someone living in Georgia.

Wise publishes the full list of countries where it will issue a card. The list is long. It covers Australia, Brazil, Canada, the EEA, Japan, Singapore, the UK, the USA and a tail of smaller territories. Georgia is not on it, on Wise's own help page.

Wise transfers do work in Georgia. You can send and receive money. The card is a separate product, and it is not offered here.

Revolut is the same story. Its sign-up country list covers Australia, Brazil, the EEA, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the USA, with Mexico on a waiting list. Georgia appears nowhere.

This creates a strange loop online. Comparison sites recommend Wise to people in Georgia. When Wise fails, they recommend Revolut. Neither is available. If you have been going in that circle, that is why.

What changed on 15 April 2026?

Both of Georgia's biggest banks started charging a fee on lari payments to foreign platforms.

From 15 April 2026, Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank apply a 1.5% commission, capped at 10 GEL. It hits when you pay an international platform and settle in lari. This was reported by Georgia Today and in Georgian by Commersant, both on the day it took effect.

The details matter:

• ✅ It applies to foreign platforms. Temu, Shein, Wizz Air and Turkish Airlines were named.

• ✅ It applies to lari payments. Payments settled in dollars, euros or pounds are not covered.

• ✅ Payments under 5 GEL are exempt.

• ✅ Local apps like Wolt, Glovo and Bolt are exempt.

• ✅ It covers personal, business and student debit cards.

• ✅ It is not shown at checkout. The banks debit it separately afterwards.

• ✅ If the merchant refunds your purchase, the commission is not refunded.

That last pair is the sting. You do not see the fee when you pay. You keep the fee even if the order is cancelled.

A dollar-denominated card is outside what this rule covers, because the rule is written around lari settlement. That is not a trick and we are not selling it as one. It is simply what the fee applies to.

Why does a lari card cost you more on a dollar subscription?

Because the subscription is priced in dollars. Somebody has to convert.

Take Spotify. On Spotify's Georgian site, Individual is priced at 5.49 US dollars a month, not in lari. Duo is 7.49 dollars. Family is 9.49 dollars.

Pay that with a lari card and your bank converts every month, at its own rate, twelve times a year. Pay from a dollar balance and there is nothing to convert at that moment.

We cannot tell you what the conversion costs. We could not find a published card conversion margin on the tariff pages of TBC, Bank of Georgia or Liberty. If a bank quotes you a rate, ask for it in writing.

What virtual cards can you already get from a Georgian bank?

Several. Two of them are free. We are not going to hide that.

Here is what each provider publishes on its own site. Blank cells mean the detail is not published, not that it is zero.

 

Every bank product above needs the same thing first: an account at that bank. That is the gate this whole page is about.

Is the Bank of Georgia virtual card free?

Bank of Georgia does not publish a fee on a page we could read. So we will not print a number.

Here is what is reported. Bank of Georgia does offer a Digital Card, ordered inside internet banking or the mBank app rather than at a branch. Georgian business outlet bm.ge described the refreshed cards in March 2025 as free to issue and available in minutes through the app.

We are labelling that as press reporting, not as the bank's published tariff. The bank's site is built so that it only renders in a full browser, which is why we could not read the tariff directly.

If you want the current fee, open bankofgeorgia.ge on your phone or laptop and check before you decide. We would rather tell you we could not verify something than invent it.

Which Georgian bank virtual card is the easiest to get?

On published terms, Liberty and Space are the friendliest. Both are free.

Liberty Bank states a service fee of free and a 48-month term. One card holds lari, dollars and euros. It is issued in seconds from the app. It supports Google Pay and Apple Pay.

Liberty also runs a separate banking page for non-residents that lists a Digital Card among the products. It publishes no fees or document list there, so treat eligibility as an open question until Liberty answers it for your passport.

Space is the digital bank built by TBC. It calls its virtual card "completely free of charge". It says you can order and activate one in about five minutes in the app. It works with Apple Pay and the TBC wallet.

So when is a bank digital card the right answer?

Often. If you already bank with Liberty, TBC or Bank of Georgia, and your card works where you shop, use it.

A free card from your own bank beats a paid card from us in three situations. You mostly pay Georgian merchants. You need cash from an ATM. You need money sitting in a real account with an IBAN.

Buy from us when one of those breaks. That means any of the following:

• ✅ You cannot open the account.

• ✅ The card you were given is blocked from e-commerce.

• ✅ The merchant rejects Georgian cards.

• ✅ You want dollar spending kept apart from your main account.

We would rather you buy the right thing once than the wrong thing twice.

What does a Georgian citizen actually need this for?

Most Georgians are banked and already hold a card. So the honest question is not "how do I get a card". It is "why would I want a second one".

There are four answers. All of them come from the card being American and priced in dollars.

You already have a card: why add a second one?

Because a second card lets you keep risky spending away from your main account.

Your Georgian bank card is attached to the account your salary lands in. Every site you hand it to keeps that number on file. One breach at one merchant, and you are cancelling the card your whole life runs through.

A prepaid card holds only what you load. If it leaks, the exposure is the balance, not your account. That is the idea behind a disposable virtual card, and behind a temporary card you use once and retire.

There is a smaller reason too. Subscriptions are easier to end on a card you can simply stop funding.

Which services reject or complicate Georgian cards?

Some do. The pattern is usually about where the card was issued, not about you.

Merchants set rules by BIN, the first six to eight digits of a card number. Those digits identify the issuing bank and country. A merchant that only sells to certain countries can filter on them. You see "we do not accept cards from your country" and nothing more.

TBC publishes a category block of its own. On its Digital Card page it states that payments to foreign gambling sites are restricted. That is a merchant category rule, not a fault in your card.

Our free BIN checker reads the issuer, brand, type and country from the first digits of any card number.

How does a USD card change the maths on subscriptions?

It cuts out the monthly conversion. Since April 2026 it also sits outside the lari commission on that payment.

A dollar subscription paid from a dollar balance is a straight charge. Nothing converts at that moment. The 1.5% commission described above applies to lari settlement, so it does not reach a dollar payment.

You still pay to obtain the dollars in the first place. We are not claiming this is free money. You pay the conversion once, when you fund, instead of every month at a rate you do not control.

For anyone running several subscriptions, that difference adds up quietly. Our guide to virtual cards for subscriptions covers how to organise them.

What about Georgians living abroad?

This group has the sharpest version of the problem.

If you moved and kept your Georgian account, the card may still work. But the address on file is in Georgia while you are somewhere else. Some merchants check that. Some issuers get nervous about foreign spending patterns.

A US-issued card with a stable US billing address gives merchants the same answer wherever you sit. It does not stop a merchant declining for its own reasons — see the decline section below.

Our US-BIN reloadable cards page covers how those cards behave in practice, and cards accepted across borders explains where acceptance is wide and where it is not.

What does a foreigner in Georgia actually need this for?

Because getting a Georgian bank account in 2026 is slower and stricter than the internet suggests. And the first card you are offered may not work online.

Georgia is genuinely open to foreigners. Around 95 nationalities can stay up to 365 days without a visa. The "Remotely from Georgia" programme has run since 2020, per IMI Daily. Getting in is easy. Getting banked is the slow part.

What does opening a Georgian bank account really take in 2026?

Far more than a passport. That is the most common surprise.

Georgian legal advisers publish the current list. Legal.ge, updated in August 2026, describes:

• ✅ A valid passport.

• ✅ A completed compliance form.

• ✅ Proof of income or source of funds.

• ✅ A written explanation of what the account is for.

• ✅ A Georgian phone number for SMS codes.

Their blunt summary is that arriving with just a passport is a reliable way to be rejected.

Consensus Legal adds proof of address, such as a lease or utility bill, and a passport with at least six months left.

Both put the decision at a few business days to two weeks after your branch visit.

What can you do in the two weeks before the bank decides?

Something has to cover the gap. Life does not pause while compliance reads your file.

In those two weeks you may need to pay a flat deposit online. Or buy a flight. Or renew a phone plan, start a cloud account for work, or keep a subscription alive. None of that waits.

This is the clearest case for a virtual card. It takes minutes and needs no Georgian account. It stops being necessary the day your bank card arrives, if you would rather it did.

If you are in that gap right now, our guide to instant virtual credit cards is the fastest read. If you are moving between countries, virtual US cards for non-residents covers the same ground for anyone outside the United States.

What if the bank says no and does not explain why?

That happens. Georgian law does not require the bank to give you a reason.

Consensus Legal states plainly that banks in Georgia may decline an application without detailed reasons. Legal.ge notes that citizens of countries under international sanctions are refused as a matter of course.

Business service firms list other triggers they see. Mismatches on the form. Income you cannot document. A job in government service. Dealings in crypto. We are reporting what advisers publish, not endorsing it as fair.

If you are in that position, a bank account may take months. A prepaid card is not a substitute for a bank account. It does let you pay for things while you sort the rest out.

Can you open a Georgian account without flying to Tbilisi?

Yes, but only through a power of attorney. It is slower than showing up.

Legalese Georgia describes the route:

• ✅ A notarised power of attorney to a local representative.

• ✅ A notarised passport copy, at some banks.

• ✅ An apostille, if your country is in the 1961 Hague Convention.

• ✅ A Georgian translation of the paperwork.

They put the total at two to four weeks. They name TBC, Bank of Georgia, Liberty and Terabank as banks that accept non-residents.

Translation alone runs 30 to 80 GEL per page on their published figures. Add notary and apostille costs at home.

None of that is a reason not to do it. It is a reason to have a way to pay online meanwhile.

Do you need a Georgian phone number?

For the bank route, in practice yes. For our card, no.

Georgian banks send confirmation codes by SMS to a Georgian number. Services that arrange remote card issuance list a local number as a requirement. That means a SIM before a card.

Our card needs no Georgian number and no Georgian address. You sign up with an email address and fund the account.

What about digital nomads on the 365-day visa-free stay?

You are in the hardest spot on this page, and you probably know it.

You can live in Georgia legally for a year without a residence permit. Without a permit, and often without a lease in your name, you have neither the address proof nor the local ties the bank wants.

Wise transfers work in Georgia, so you can move money in. The Wise card does not, and neither does Revolut. That gap is where a US-issued prepaid card sits.

What about Individual Entrepreneurs on the 1% regime?

If you have registered as an Individual Entrepreneur, you have a Georgian tax status and probably an account. Your needs are narrower.

Georgia's Small Business Status taxes 1% of turnover up to 500,000 GEL a year, with 3% above that, per Andersen in Georgia. VAT registration becomes mandatory above 100,000 GEL of turnover in a rolling twelve months.

What this group usually wants from us is separation. One card for ad spend or software, kept apart from everything else, so the bookkeeping is simple. Our corporate payment cards guide covers that.

One caution worth saying out loud. Financial services sit on the excluded activity list for Small Business Status. If your business touches payments or currency exchange, talk to a Georgian accountant before assuming the 1% rate applies. We are not tax advisers and this page is not tax advice.

How does the Vizocard virtual card work from Georgia?

You buy a prepaid Visa or Mastercard issued in the United States. You load it in US dollars. You use it at online merchants that accept that card.

Being in Georgia does not stop the card working, because the card is not Georgian. Individual merchants can still decline it for their own reasons, and we cover those below.

We do not issue a Georgian card. There is no Vizocard with a Georgian BIN and no lari balance. We want that clear before you buy.

What we sell is a dollar card you use from Georgia. For most of the problems above, that is the one that helps.

Which country issues the card, and why does that matter?

Our main cards are issued in the United States. We publish the BIN on each card page.

 

The issuing country matters because merchants filter on it. A US BIN is a widely accepted starting point online, and it is what US-facing services expect to see.

Our catalogue also holds cards from other countries, including Hong Kong, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece and Turkey. Those pages do not publish a BIN. If the issuing country matters for your use, ask us before you buy.

Do you need a Georgian bank account?

No. You need no Georgian bank account, no Georgian address and no Georgian phone number to buy or use one of our cards.

You do need an email address. And you need a way to fund the account. That is the list.

Do you need a Georgian personal number or residence permit?

No. Your immigration status in Georgia has nothing to do with whether the card works.

That is the practical difference between a foreign-issued prepaid card and a Georgian bank product. The bank is assessing you as a customer of Georgia. We are selling a payment instrument.

We do apply our own rules. Our terms of service set a minimum age of 18 and prohibit illegal use. They let us refuse service, freeze a card or close an account. Any seller who tells you it operates under no rules at all is describing something you should not buy.

How fast do the details arrive?

Card details appear in your dashboard once payment confirms.

The wait is almost entirely the funding step, not us. A USDT TRC20 transfer usually confirms in a few minutes. Bitcoin can take longer, depending on the network.

Once payment confirms, the card number, expiry and security code are on screen and ready to use.

What does a virtual prepaid card for Georgia cost?

Cards start at $100. That is the entry price for a virtual credit card Georgia residents and foreigners can both buy today. Here is the live catalogue, cheapest first.

 

The full catalogue of 29 products is on our cards page. The three headline plans are on pricing.

What is included in every card?

Every card page lists the same seven items: 3-D Secure, global, reloadable, no monthly fee, instant delivery, a card statement, and a billing address.

One of those needs a caveat from us. "Global" means Visa and Mastercard acceptance is wide. It does not mean every merchant will take the card. Merchants still filter by issuing country and by card type, and no seller can override that. Read the decline section below before you assume otherwise.

The billing address is not a small detail either. A billing address you can actually use is what gets a card through checkout on sites that verify it. More on that below.

What is the top-up fee and the load limit?

Both are shown on our pricing page and in your dashboard. Check them there before you fund, because these are the numbers that decide whether a plan suits you.

[VIZOCARD EDITOR — REPLACE BEFORE PUBLISH] /pricing currently renders the top-up fee as "5" and the limit as "10000" with no units on all three plans. Confirm whether that is $5 or 5%, and whether 10,000 is a USD load cap per card or per account. Then write the real figures into this section and delete this note. We have deliberately not printed an ambiguous number.

How long is a card valid?

One year from issue on the three plans published on our pricing page.

The other cards in the catalogue do not publish a validity period. If you are planning around an annual renewal, ask us before you buy.

Either way, note the renewal date against the card's expiry. A payment that fails eleven months from now is an annoying way to lose an account.

Is there a cheaper way to start?

Yes. Start at $100 with the Visa Virtual Universal or the Mastercard Reloadable Classic.

Testing whether a card works for one merchant? Buy the cheap one and try it before committing to a bigger balance. That is what we would do. Our cheap VCC guide covers how to pick.

How do you fund a virtual prepaid card for Georgia?

Crypto is the fastest route and the one most of our customers use. Our US card guide also lists bank transfer and card, so check your dashboard for what is live on your account today.

Below we cover crypto, because it is the route people ask about most — and because Georgian rules on virtual assets deserve a straight answer.

Which coins can you send?

Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT on TRC20, and USDC.

You send from your own wallet or exchange to the deposit address in your Vizocard dashboard. Once the network confirms, your balance is available.

Which funding route is cheapest?

USDT on TRC20, by a wide margin.

Network fees on TRC20 are typically under a dollar. Confirmation usually lands in a few minutes. Bitcoin is slower, and its fee moves with network demand.

Funding for the first time? Send a small test amount first. Check it arrives. Then send the rest. That habit has saved a lot of people a lot of money.

Where do people in Georgia buy crypto?

Through providers registered with the National Bank of Georgia.

Georgia built a formal regime for this. The virtual asset framework took effect on 1 January 2023. The NBG's registration rule for virtual asset service providers came into force on 1 July 2023. Registered providers must meet fit-and-proper standards and anti-money-laundering rules.

Since 1 January 2026, a registered provider must display its NBG registration act where you can see it. That covers its website, its app and its office. The change came in an NBG amendment published in November 2025, because the regulator kept finding unregistered operators.

Use that. Before buying crypto from anyone in Georgia, look for the registration. If it is not displayed, walk away.

What does Georgian law say about paying with virtual assets?

This is the part most sellers skip. Read it carefully.

Buying, holding and trading virtual assets through a registered provider is legal in Georgia. Paying for goods and services with them is a different matter.

The National Bank of Georgia states that a virtual asset is not legal tender. It also states that "it is prohibited to make payments with a virtual asset, except for the exceptional cases defined by the legal act of the National Bank of Georgia, which are essential for providing virtual asset service."

Those exceptions are narrow and internal to how registered providers operate. They are not a general permission for you to pay for things in crypto.

We are a company outside Georgia and we accept crypto as payment for our products. That is our arrangement with our customers. It does not settle your own position under Georgian rules, and we are not able to advise you on it.

Are you a Georgian tax resident, or running a registered business here? Speak to a Georgian lawyer or accountant about how you fund the card. We would rather send you to a professional than pretend the question does not exist.

On tax: advisers consistently report that Georgia treats individual crypto gains lightly, and that converting fiat to crypto is VAT exempt. We could not retrieve the underlying decision itself. Treat that as a starting point for a conversation with your accountant, not as settled advice.

How do you buy a Vizocard card, step by step?

Six steps. Most people are done in under fifteen minutes.

1. Create an account at vizocard.com with an email address.

2. Pick your card from the catalogue. Unsure? Start with a $100 card.

3. Fund your wallet. Send crypto to the deposit address in your dashboard, or use another method if one is live on your account. USDT TRC20 is fastest and cheapest. If you are a Georgian tax resident, read our section on Georgian rules for virtual assets above before you fund this way.

4. Wait for confirmation. A few minutes on TRC20, longer on Bitcoin.

5. Open the card. The number, expiry and security code appear in your dashboard, along with your billing address.

6. Pay. Enter the card at checkout. Set the billing country to the United States, matching the address we give you.

What do you enter as the billing address?

The billing address we give you with the card. Not your address in Tbilisi.

This is the most common mistake, and it causes more declines than anything else. Type a Georgian street address against a US-issued card and some merchants reject the payment as a mismatch.

Use exactly what is in your dashboard. Same street, same city, same state, same postal code, same country.

How do you check the balance?

In your dashboard, along with the card statement.

Check it before a subscription renews. A card that is a few cents short fails just as completely as an empty one.

How do you reload?

Fund your wallet again and top the card up from the dashboard. All our headline cards are reloadable.

 

How do you use a Georgia virtual card for streaming and subscriptions?

The same way you use any card. Enter the details. Set the billing country to the United States. Keep enough balance for the next renewal.

Subscriptions are the most popular use. They are also where people get caught out. Here is what to watch on each.

How do you pay for Netflix in Georgia with a virtual card?

Enter the card in Netflix's payment section, set the billing country to the United States, and keep enough balance for the next charge.

Netflix retries a failed payment before it suspends an account. A repeatedly declined card ends the subscription outright.

Our advice is simple. Set a reminder a few days before renewal and check the balance. That one habit prevents most of the support messages we get about streaming.

How do you pay for Spotify from Georgia without a conversion fee?

Pay the dollar price from a dollar balance. Spotify prices Georgia in US dollars, at $5.49 a month for Individual on its own Georgian pricing page.

A dollar card pays that with nothing to convert at the moment of payment. Your lari card converts twelve times a year instead.

This is the cleanest match between problem and product anywhere on this page. If Spotify is your main reason for reading, a $100 card covers well over a year of it.

How do you pay for YouTube Premium from Georgia?

The same way, with a little extra headroom on the balance.

Google bills this like any other Google service, and it runs a small verification charge in some cases. Keep a couple of dollars above the plan price so that check does not fail.

Do Disney+ and Crunchyroll work with a Georgia VCC?

Yes, on the same terms as the others. Card details, US billing country, enough balance.

Content libraries still vary by the region of your account, not by the card. We wrote a full walkthrough for Crunchyroll if you want the step-by-step. Our wider subscriptions guide covers how to keep several services on one card without losing track.

Why does a subscription fail on the second month, and how do you stop it?

Almost always because the card ran out of money, not because the merchant blocked it.

The first payment succeeds because you loaded the card that day. The second arrives thirty days later, against a balance you forgot about.

The fix is boring and it works. Keep the balance at least one renewal ahead. Reload on a schedule.

The other cause is card expiry. Our headline plans run one year. An annual subscription renewing in month thirteen will fail on a card that ended in month twelve.

 

How do you use it for free trials without getting surprise-charged?

Load only what you are willing to lose. Then cancel properly when the trial ends.

A free trial normally needs a valid card, and often runs a small check to confirm it. A prepaid card handles that fine, as long as it holds a little balance.

We want to be careful here, because a lot of pages oversell this. An empty card is a backstop, not a cancellation. A declined charge does not end the contract. The merchant can still treat you as a customer and pursue the bill.

Some services also check for prepaid cards and refuse them at trial signup. So cancel through the service, and treat the low balance as a second line of defence rather than the plan.

Our free trial card guide covers the services that are strict about this.

 

How do you use it for ads and cloud bills?

Carefully, and with more balance than you think you need. Ad platforms and cloud providers are the strictest merchants a prepaid card meets.

How do you pay Google Ads and Meta Ads from Georgia?

Fund the card above your billing threshold, then watch it after every spending spike.

Both platforms charge on a billing threshold or a monthly billing date, whichever comes first. That means the charge does not always arrive when you expect it.

A declined ad payment can pause a live campaign. On some accounts it also flags the payment method, which is a harder problem to unwind than an empty card.

Our virtual cards for ads guide covers the setup in more detail. If you run client accounts, agency card supply and bulk cards are the pages you want.

Does a virtual card work for Microsoft and Bing Ads?

Yes, and prepay accounts suit it better than postpay does.

Microsoft Advertising lets you fund an account in advance rather than being billed after the fact. That matches how a prepaid card behaves. We wrote that up in Bing Ads VCC.

How do you pay for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud from Georgia?

Load the card before you sign up, not just before the bill.

All three verify the card with a small charge at signup. An empty card fails that check even if you plan to fund it later.

Cloud bills also grow. A card that covered last month may not cover this month if you left something running.

We have separate guides for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.

Why do ad platforms decline prepaid cards, and what reduces that?

Because prepaid cards carry higher rates of abandoned payments and chargebacks, so some platforms score them down.

Three things help. Use a card with a US BIN on a US-billed account. Keep the balance well above the expected charge. And do not swap payment methods repeatedly on a new account, which looks like the behaviour the platform is screening for.

We cannot promise any platform will accept any card. Anyone who promises you that is guessing.

 

How do you use it for AI tools, software and app stores?

The same rules apply, with one addition. Many of these services bill in dollars against a US account, which is where a US card sits well.

How do you pay for ChatGPT, Claude or API credits from Georgia?

Load more than the subscription price, because API billing is not flat.

A subscription plan charges the same amount monthly. An API account charges against usage, which is lumpy by nature.

One month where you run a big job can outrun a card sized for a normal month. If you build on an API, treat the card balance as a budget rather than a fixed cost.

Can you buy from Steam, Nintendo or the App Store with a Georgia virtual card?

Yes for the payment. Region-locked content is a separate question.

Digital storefronts usually lock content to the region of your account, not the region of your card. A US card does not by itself turn a Georgian account into a US one.

So check the account region before buying anything region-locked. We covered the details for Nintendo Switch and iTunes.

What about TradingView and other software subscriptions?

Standard monthly or annual billing, and the annual plans are the ones to watch.

An annual renewal can land after a one-year card has expired. Diary the two dates together. Our TradingView guide has the specifics, and online shopping covers general checkouts.

 

Can you use it with PayPal from Georgia?

Sometimes. We are not going to overstate it.

PayPal lets you attach a card to an account, and virtual cards are often used this way. Whether it works depends on your PayPal account country, its verification state, and what PayPal decides on the day.

We could not verify PayPal's current terms for Georgia from PayPal's own country pages. So we are not going to tell you what PayPal does here. Check inside your own account.

We can say the mechanical part. If PayPal accepts a card in your country, it expects a card and a billing address that match. Our PayPal verification guide explains the setup.

If PayPal is the only thing you need, test with a $100 card before buying anything larger.

Why do virtual cards get declined, and how do you fix each cause?

Almost every decline traces to one of six causes. Five are fixable in under a minute.

 

What is AVS and why does a Georgian address break it?

AVS is the address verification system. At checkout, the merchant sends the numbers from the billing address you typed to the card issuer. The issuer compares them to the address it holds on file for that card.

It is a match test against one specific address. It is not a check that your address is real.

Our cards are registered to a US address. So anything else you type comes back as a mismatch — a Tbilisi street, or even a different US street. That is why we give you the address and tell you to use it exactly.

One more thing worth knowing. AVS is mainly supported by issuers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. Outside those, a merchant may get "not supported" back rather than a match or a mismatch, which some merchants treat as a decline.

What billing country should you use?

The United States, for our US-BIN cards, matching the address in your dashboard.

Do not mix them. A US card with a Georgian postal code is the combination most likely to fail.

Why does the 3-D Secure code never arrive?

Because 3-D Secure on a virtual card is handled in your account, not by SMS to your phone.

If a merchant sends you to a verification step, go to your dashboard rather than waiting for a text. Resending the payment while the check is open can get the transaction flagged.

What if the merchant blocks prepaid cards?

Then that merchant will not take that card, and retrying changes nothing.

Some merchants block prepaid cards outright, usually in categories with high chargeback rates. Airlines, some ticketing sites and some gambling operators do this. Check the card type with our card validator and use a different payment method there.

What if the balance is short by cents?

It declines exactly like an empty card. Most online charges have no partial approval.

Currency rounding and small holds are the usual culprits. Keep a small buffer and this disappears.

 

What can this card NOT do?

Plenty. Here is the honest list, because you should know before paying us.

• ✅ It is not a bank account. No IBAN, no account number, no salary deposits, no incoming employer transfers.

• ✅ It gives you no cash. No plastic and no PIN means no ATM withdrawals, in Tbilisi or anywhere.

• ✅ It is not credit. You spend what you load. It builds no credit history.

• ✅ It does not replace a Georgian bank. Living here long term, you will still want a local account for rent and salary.

• ✅ It cannot force a merchant to accept it. Category blocks and country filters are the merchant's decision.

• ✅ Refunds come back to the card. Not to your crypto wallet and not to your bank. Plan for that on returns.

• ✅ It does not change your tax position. Holding a foreign prepaid card removes no obligation you have as a Georgian tax resident.

• ✅ It expires. One year on our three published plans.

If any of those is a dealbreaker, a Georgian bank account is what you actually need. We would rather say so than take your money.

How do you spot a virtual card seller you should walk away from?

There are a lot of card sellers online and some are not real. Use this checklist on us as well as on them.

• ✅ They market the absence of all rules. A card issued on the Visa or Mastercard network sits inside a compliance framework whether the reseller mentions it or not. A seller whose entire pitch is that no rules apply is describing a business you cannot hold to account.

• ✅ They publish no price. Most competing pages we reviewed for this guide did not show what a card costs before you contact them. If you cannot see a price up front, ask why.

• ✅ They publish no company address and no terms. You need to know who you are buying from, and what happens if something goes wrong.

• ✅ There is no refund or dispute policy. Ours is in our terms of service. Refunds are limited to the day of purchase. After that, unused funds are withdrawn through live chat rather than refunded. That is narrower than a bank, and you should know it before you pay.

• ✅ They pressure you into an unusual payment method, or rush you off the site into a private chat.

• ✅ The copy is recycled. We found a live page in this niche whose opening sentence still named a different brand. If nobody proofreads the sales page, nobody is maintaining the product.

• ✅ There is no way to reach a human. Ours is on the contact page.

What should you check before you pay anyone?

Three things, and they take five minutes.

Check that the price, the validity period and the fees are written down somewhere you can screenshot. Check that a real support channel answers before you pay, not after.

Then check the card once it arrives. Run the first six to eight digits through a BIN checker. Confirm the issuer and country match what you were told.

If a seller cannot survive those three checks, that is your answer.

Is a virtual credit card legal in Georgia?

We are not lawyers, so here is the structure rather than a verdict.

Georgia's payment rules sit in the Law on Payment Systems and Payment Services. They govern who may issue cards and provide payment services inside Georgia. The National Bank licenses banks, maintains a public register of payment service providers, and since 2023 registers virtual asset service providers. In 2023 it also updated the payment regulation to add open banking services.

Those are obligations on institutions, not on cardholders. We are not aware of a Georgian rule that regulates you for holding a card issued by a company abroad. If your situation is unusual, ask a Georgian lawyer rather than us.

We are not licensed by the National Bank of Georgia and we do not claim to be. We sell prepaid cards issued on the Visa and Mastercard networks by our issuing partners.

Does this create a tax obligation?

That depends on your own situation. It is a question for a Georgian accountant.

Georgia taxes individuals on a territorial basis, which is part of why the country attracts remote workers. Where a card balance or crypto funding fits into that depends on your residence status, your income sources and what your business does.

We are a card company, not your tax adviser. If money is moving in amounts that matter to you, pay a professional for an hour of their time.

How do you get started?

If a Georgian bank card already does what you need, use it. It is free and it is local. We said so above.

Come to us when the bank route breaks. Maybe you are waiting on a decision. Maybe the card you were given cannot pay online. Maybe you are tired of lari conversions on dollar subscriptions. Or you just want subscription spending kept apart from your salary account.

Start with a $100 card. Test it on the one merchant that matters most to you. Go from there.

Browse the cards · See pricing · Create an account · Ask us a question first

Frequently asked questions about virtual cards in Georgia

1. Can I get a virtual credit card in Georgia without a Georgian bank account?

Yes. Our cards need no Georgian bank account, no Georgian address and no Georgian phone number. You sign up with an email address and fund your account. The card details appear in your dashboard once payment confirms.

2. Is the Bank of Georgia virtual card free?

Bank of Georgia does not publish the fee on a page we could read, so we will not print a number. The bank does offer a Digital Card ordered through internet banking or the mBank app. Georgian business press has reported it as free to issue and available in minutes. Check the current tariff in your browser at bankofgeorgia.ge before deciding.

3. Can a foreigner get a virtual card in Georgia?

From a Georgian bank, only after opening an account. In 2026 that needs a passport, proof of income, a written explanation of purpose, proof of address and a Georgian phone number. From us, yes, immediately, with none of that.

4. Does TBC Bank's card for non-residents work for online shopping?

No. TBC's own page for that product states "The card can only be used in Georgia" and "The card is not used in e-commerce." It is a branch-issued Mastercard debit card with a four-year term. A different TBC product may suit you better, so ask the bank what else you qualify for.

5. Can I get the Wise card in Georgia?

No. Wise's own help page lists the countries where it issues cards, and Georgia is not among them. Wise transfers do work in Georgia, so you can send and receive money. The card is the part that is unavailable.

6. Does Revolut work in Georgia?

No. Revolut's official sign-up country list does not include Georgia. If you already hold a Revolut account from another country, moving to Georgia may affect it. Check with Revolut directly.

7. What is the 1.5% fee Georgian banks charge on international platforms?

Since 15 April 2026, Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank charge 1.5%, capped at 10 GEL, on lari payments to international platforms. Temu, Shein, Wizz Air and Turkish Airlines were named. Payments under 5 GEL are exempt, as are local apps like Wolt, Glovo and Bolt. The fee is not shown at checkout, is debited separately, and is not returned if the purchase is refunded.

8. How do I avoid the lari conversion cost on a dollar subscription?

Pay in the currency the subscription is priced in. Spotify, for example, prices Georgia in US dollars. Paying a dollar price from a dollar balance means nothing converts at that moment. You still pay once to obtain the dollars when you fund.

9. Can I use a Georgia VCC for Netflix and Spotify?

Yes, on the same basis as any card. Valid details, the billing address that came with the card, a US billing country, and enough balance for the next renewal. The usual failure is not the merchant. It is an empty card in month two.

10. Will a virtual prepaid card for Georgia work with PayPal?

Sometimes. It depends on your PayPal account country and verification status. We could not verify PayPal's terms for Georgia from PayPal's own pages. If PayPal is your only reason to buy, test with a $100 card first.

11. What billing address do I use at checkout?

The billing address supplied with the card in your dashboard, not your address in Georgia. Our main cards are issued in the United States, so the billing country is the United States. A Georgian address against a US card is the most common cause of a declined payment.

12. Why was my virtual card declined?

Usually a low balance, a mismatched billing address, or an incomplete 3-D Secure step. It can also be a merchant that filters by issuing country or blocks prepaid cards. Work down the decline table above. Five of the six common causes take under a minute to fix.

13. Can I add a virtual card to Apple Pay or Google Pay?

Often, but not always. Wallet support depends on the issuer and the wallet, and it can differ by card. Liberty and Space both publish wallet support on their own pages. For our cards, check in the dashboard for the specific card you hold.

14. Can I withdraw cash from a virtual card in Georgia?

No. There is no plastic and no PIN, so no ATM access. If you need cash, you need a physical card from a Georgian bank. Liberty publishes a 10,000 GEL per 24 hours ATM limit on its Digital Card, for comparison.

15. How long does a Vizocard virtual card stay valid?

One year from issue on the three plans published on our pricing page. The other catalogue cards do not publish a validity period, so ask us if you are planning around an annual renewal.

16. Is it legal to buy and use a virtual card in Georgia?

Georgian rules in this area govern who may issue cards and provide payment or virtual asset services inside Georgia. They are obligations on institutions, not on cardholders. Separately, the National Bank of Georgia treats virtual assets as not legal tender and prohibits paying for goods and services with them. If you are a tax resident here, speak to a Georgian professional about how you fund things.

17. Do I need a Georgian phone number or personal number?

Not for our card. You will need a Georgian number for the bank route. Georgian banks send confirmation codes by SMS to a local number, and remote card issuance services list it as a requirement.

18. What happens to a refund from a merchant?

It goes back to the card it was paid from. It does not return to your crypto wallet or your bank account. Keep the card open until an expected refund has landed. Remember, separately, that the Georgian banks' 1.5% cross-border commission is not refunded when a purchase is.

19. How much does a virtual credit card cost in Georgia?

From us, cards start at $100. That buys the Visa Virtual Universal or the Mastercard Reloadable Classic, both issued in the United States. The $200 and $300 plans sit above them. From a Georgian bank, Liberty and Space both publish their digital cards as free, so compare before you spend.

20. Can I get a free virtual card in Georgia?

Yes, if you can open the account behind it. Liberty Bank publishes a service fee of free on its Digital Card, and Space by TBC calls its virtual card completely free of charge. Both need you to be a customer of that bank first, which is the step foreigners often cannot complete quickly.

21. What is the difference between a virtual card and a physical card?

A virtual card is the number without the plastic. It works online, in wallets where supported, and nowhere that needs a physical swipe or a PIN. A physical card does everything a virtual card does, plus ATMs and shop terminals, but it takes days or weeks to arrive.

22. Are virtual cards safe to use online?

They limit what a merchant can lose on your behalf. A prepaid virtual card holds only the balance you load, so a breach at one merchant exposes that balance instead of your salary account. It does not protect you from buying from a bad seller, which is a different risk.

23. Can I open a Georgian bank account without a residence permit?

Georgian law firms report that non-residents can open accounts without a residence permit, and they name TBC, Bank of Georgia, Liberty and Terabank as banks that accept them. What you still need is a passport, source-of-funds evidence, an explanation of purpose, proof of address at some banks, and a Georgian phone number. Banks may decline without giving reasons.

24. Can I buy a virtual card in Georgia with cash or with lari?

Not directly with us. Our funding runs through your Vizocard wallet, with crypto as the fastest route, and other methods where they are live on your account. If you hold lari, you convert once at the funding stage rather than every month at checkout.

25. Bank of Georgia digital card or a third-party virtual card — which should I choose?

Choose the bank card if you already hold the account, your card works where you shop, and you also need cash and a local IBAN. Choose a third-party card when the bank route breaks: you cannot open the account, the card you were offered is blocked from e-commerce, or you want dollar spending kept apart from your main account.