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A few days ago an article about the newly-adopted Estonian nomad visa swiped the social networks of global mobility professionals. And it’s only natural it did so, since it presented an elegant alternative to a lengthy and painstaking immigration process.
Well, it seems that Estonia’s case isn’t the only country with such an easy to obtain visa for people who travel while working remotely or as freelancers. It’s just the first to name it this way. The updated article now mentions 7 other countries offering similar types of visas.
But, in fact, there are at least 8 more:
- Germany: the Freiberufler Visa, as well as the Artist Visa
- Norway: the Svalbard Visa that only requires proof of financial self-sustainability
- Portugal: D7 Passive Income Visa
- Spain: the one-year Self Employment Work Visa for freelancers
- The Czech Republic: the Business Visa that can be granted for one year
- Mexico: the one-year renewable Temporary Resident Visa
- Australia: the one-year Working Holiday Visa for people between 18 and 35 years old
- Costa Rica: the two-years extendable Rentista Visa
Not many people know that approximately 35% of digital nomads in the United States aren’t freelancers, but remote workers. And this means that global mobility professionals have a new type of client to address: companies hiring remote workers that have an “eccentric” lifestyle.
Digital nomads can benefit from this type of arrangement in what social security is concerned (healthcare and retirement benefits). And tax services providers can easily start offering consultancy for international companies working with remote global talent.
Pieter Levels, founder of Nomad List and Remote OK, stated during a 2015 conference that by the year 2035 there will be 1 billion digital nomads around the globe. What is certain is that marriage is experiencing a decrease globally, and so is house ownership. Not only that, but studies have shown that working remotely increases productivity, which may however render personal time indiscernible from work time.
This means that digital nomadism is on the rise, and global mobility providers should think about how to meet halfway the growing number of people choosing this type of lifestyle. The pandemic has most likely already amplified this trend, and financially sustainable nomadism becomes even more important as the climate is transforming.
But going back to digital nomadism today, what industries should mobility providers expect to need tax and visa services for nomads working remotely? Well, in Estonia, digital nomads work mainly in IT, marketing, and finance.
In the US, digital nomads have a very interesting profile: 70% of them are women, 41% belong to gen X, with only 27% of them are millennials and gen Z. Their top 10 career fields are writing, education and training, administrative, customer service, art & creative, computer & IT, consulting, data entry, marketing, and project management.
The profile of digital nomads coming from the United States should be important for HR professionals in the Schengen Area too. Because many American nomads prefer to work in Europe. But more about digital nomads across Europe in a future article!A few days ago an article about the newly-adopted Estonian nomad visa swiped the social networks of global mobility professionals. And it’s only natural it did so, since it presented an elegant alternative to a lengthy and painstaking immigration process.
