Can your Georgian bank card get frozen over unpaid fines, and how do you pay fines/duty-free when leaving Georgia?

Before driving out of Georgia, check in advance for unpaid fines — at the border they sometimes only accept cash in Georgian lari, and cards or foreign currency may not work.

Duty-free shops at the exit border crossing may also mainly accept lari, so it's worth keeping a small cash reserve in lari before leaving the country.

If a Georgian-issued bank card suddenly gets blocked, the cause can be an order from Georgia's National Enforcement Bureau (similar to a bailiff service) — usually tied to an unpaid debt or fine.

Support hotlines for blocked-card issues mostly answer in Georgian, so it helps to arrange translation help in advance or look for a hotline number with English-speaking support.

To avoid exposing a Georgian bank account when receiving a large sum, some travelers cash out through a currency exchange office and then deposit the cash into the account via an ATM — but there are limits on how much can be deposited this way.