Is it legal to be a digital nomad? This is probably a rather broad question with multiple layers to it. We’ll have a look at the different areas and what to pay attention to.
Is It Legal To Be a Digital Nomad?
Yes! It’s definitely legal to be a digital nomad! However…
Being a digital nomad as such is perfectly legal. There’s not any doubt about that. A ‘digital nomad’ is also kind of a made up concept / terminology and doesn’t really exist from a legal point of view. Different countries give different interpretations to this terminology depending in what context they use it.
In any case, you do need to make sure that when organizing yourself you stay within the boundaries of different legislation that applies to you.
The Grey Area of Regulations
As said, you need to make sure that you follow the regulations that apply to you. There are three main areas of concern for digital nomads at which we’ll have a look.
Taxes
The first area we’ll have a look at are taxes.
If you live a digital nomad lifestyle, you visit many countries. For each of these countries, you want to make sure you have an idea about their tax rules. In this way, you can avoid surprises. You don’t want to end up in the situation that a country comes knocking on your door out of nowhere to ask you to pay taxes.
The more time you spend in a country and the more connections you have to a country, you more cautious you should be.
I know many nomads who start settling down after years of traveling while not adjusting their tax setup to this new reality. Many times, they were actually doing something illegal as it was quite clear they were a tax resident in that new place. That’s of course a situation you want to avoid.
Visa
The next possible issue is that of visas.
Most digital nomads will just visit countries on tourist visas. However, if you want to stay longer than your tourist visa allows, you’ll need an alternative.
The question is then for which visa you can apply. Many countries offer digital nomad visas if you meet certain requirements. Some countries even offer you tax free digital nomad visas!
A digital nomad visa is perfect for nomads because it legalizes your long stay in the country and it’s a visa that was specific introduced to do so. In this way, it also wipes out any possible discussion about whether or not you can work from a country. We’ll dive deeper into this later on.
Even if countries don’t offer a digital nomad visa, there might be other options out there to obtain the right to stay long-term in a country.
Another route that some nomads take is to do visa runs. However, more and more countries are scrutinizing this practice. Hence, it’s not always the best solution. Furthermore, it also gives you less certainty than a long-term visa.
In addition, the question is if you even are allowed to work in a country if you are there on a tourist visa.
Working
Another topic that needs attention but which many digital nomads don’t think about.
In the past, if you would move to a country and you would want to go to work there you needed a work permit. In this way, governments avoid that any foreigner can just come and live in their country and ‘steal’ jobs from locals.
However, with the development of remote work, people are no longer limited by borders. You can easily work for a company in country A while spending time in country B.
That’s were things get a bit more complicated. Now you are technically working from that country but you’re not really interfering with the local job market. Hence, it’s quite unclear in most countries if you can actually work there or not. Most work permits are linked to local jobs and not to remote work which you do for a company abroad. As already mentioned do digital nomad visas solve this issue.
Nevertheless, most digital nomads still travel on a tourist visa. Most countries won’t bother too much about this and they wouldn’t even know if you are an actual tourist or working there. However, this might change in the future.
Pro and Cons of Being a Digital Nomad
Pro
- Travel full time: no need to wait for your yearly holiday to head out.
- Work from wherever you want: from a coworking space, coffee shop or the beach, the world is your office.
- Save time on commuting, no more need to be stuck in traffic jams.
- Meet new interesting people and experience other cultures to the fullest.
- Lower your cost of living.
- Lower your taxes.
Cons
- Researching and adjusting to new places can be tiring.
- People will come and go so it might be harder to build deep connections which could leave to loneliness.
- One of the priorities on your travel list will be a proper internet connection.
Avoid Legal Issues, Save Time, Save Money
Many people do research about what they can and can not do as a digital nomad. It’s always good to have some basic knowledge yourself about visas and taxes. However, you should see this as the basic foundation. The next step is to work with a professional who actually knows all the ins and outs.
Feel free to reach out if you are looking for a trustworthy digital nomad tax advisor who assisted more than 200 digital nomads with their tax setup.
