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What Is A Digital Nomad Visa? Who, What, Why, Where & How

Category Digital Nomad, Work Online Updated on March 13, 2023

what is a digital nomad visa
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There’s a new buzzword in town and it’s the “digital nomad”.

This used to just be a term that we call ourselves to help people understand what we do, how we live and how we work. But now, countries are making specific visas just for digital nomads.

But what is a digital nomad visa, exactly?

In this article, we’re going to share what a digital nomad visa is, who should apply for it, the eligibility criteria, the countries currently offering them and pros vs cons list of digital nomad visas.

In This Article: show
QUICK ANSWER: What Is A Digital Nomad Visa?
Is The Digital Nomad Visa What You’ve Been Looking For?
What Is A Digital Nomad Visa?
What Is A Digital Nomad Anyway?
Why Are Digital Nomad Visas Created?
Pros & Cons Of Digital Nomad Visas
Is The Freelancer Visa Similar To The Digital Nomad Visa?
Who Should Apply For A Digital Nomad Visa?
General Qualifying Factors To Apply For A Digital Nomad Visa
Which Countries Offer Digital Nomad Visas?
Are Digital Nomad Visas Worth It?

QUICK ANSWER: What Is A Digital Nomad Visa?

Summary: A digital nomad visa is a program created by the government of select countries that allows you to travel and work for a longer period of time. Most digital nomad visas are valid for 1-5 years at a time depending on the country.

The requirements can vary and it’s an extensive application process compared to tourist visas. The digital nomad visa is for people who can work remotely (freelancers, remote workers with a 9-5, digital nomads and entrepreneurs) earning a wage from a country abroad.

Is The Digital Nomad Visa What You’ve Been Looking For?

Want to make the leap and move somewhere you’ve always been dreaming about?

Matthew and I have always wanted to see if we’d like living in Athens or other parts of Greece. Ever since our honeymoon, we have been obsessed with this beautiful country and its culture, food and scenery. But it’s hard to tell if you actually like a place without living like a local for a couple of months, right? With rose-colored glasses, we saw Greece as this dream place but could we actually live there?! We wouldn’t know…

coffee at pergamino cafe

…With a digital nomad visa, you can test the waters and see if you can actually settle in a country well. More than that, you can also just use this visa to live (and work online) in a dream country for longer than 90 days!

A digital nomad visa allows you to temporarily test a location out and see if you actually love the lifestyle in that country. I say temporarily because these digital nomads visas usually only last for a year, after that, it expires – some countries offer longer (2+ years) but it varies quite a bit.

Whether you just want to live in a country for longer than 90 days or you want to see if you would actually enjoy living in xyz country – this is a great, new visa option for you.

What Is A Digital Nomad Visa?

This article is mainly to help you quickly understand what is a digital nomad visa. Let’s say you’ve just come across the term and you want to know what it is, who should apply and get a general idea of the requirements and application process.

The digital nomad visa isn’t for everyone and there are quite a few details that need to be worked out before you even apply for one in a certain country.

What Is A Digital Nomad Anyway?

A digital nomad is a person who can work independently of their location and can travel continuously. The easiest way to think of it is this:

  • Digital = uses technology to work online in some capacity
  • Nomad = no permanent home base, always traveling around

We’ve been living the digital nomad lifestyle since 2018. Since that time, we have worked online and traveled full-time to 15+ countries. Personally, we move every 30-90 days to keep from burning out! Some digital nomads only travel part-time, keeping a home base (house, car + stuff) and others do it full-time selling off everything they own. You also have slow-mads who travel much slower and only visit around 1-2 countries per year.

best laptops for digital nomads

The words ‘digital nomads’ and ‘remote workers’ can slightly be interchanged but there is a key difference. We think of remote workers as a type of digital nomad because you can be a remote worker and simply work from home in your home country. Digital nomads typically travel around and work from anywhere in the world (usually not their home country). Again it’s pretty similar and that’s why you’ll see both terms in the article.

Why Are Digital Nomad Visas Created?

For those applying for digital nomads visas, they are created to allow foreigners to live in a country for longer than 90 days.

digital nomads contribute $787 billion to the global economy

Countries create these digital nomad visas to attract remote workers. Why? According to digital nomad statistics, digital nomads contribute over $700 billion to the global economy each year. With remote workers, they don’t need to work on the local money but still bring their dollars and spend it within the country.

It’s a win-win! If you’re interested, there’s more on how digital nomads can boost local economies in this Harvard Review.

Pros & Cons Of Digital Nomad Visas

The digital nomad visa isn’t for everyone. There are some advantages and disadvantages to applying for a digital nomad visa. Here are some that we can identify for anyone planning to apply:

Pros of Digital Nomad Visas

  • Stay Longer Than 90 Days: Want to live somewhere for a longer period but don’t want to commit completely? The digital nomad visa program will be perfect for you, without too much bureaucracy headache!
  • Infrastructure In Place To Handle Remote Work: Worried about the wifi not being great from stunning beaches on a Caribbean island? Don’t! These visas were made for remote workers who rely on decent internet speed which means this shouldn’t be a problem wherever the visa is offered.
  • Lots Of Countries Creating Digital Nomad Visas: Digital nomads contribute $787 billion USD to the global economy each year, according to the latest digital nomad statistics. This makes it very attractive for countries to bring in digital nomads and that’s why more than 42+ countries now offer digital nomad visas.

Cons of Digital Nomad Visas

  • Extensive Paperwork Needed: You’ll need to be able to show some (if not all) of the following – bank statements, no criminal records, minimum income requirement, health insurance, accommodation, plus more.
  • Tax Resident: Be careful with reading the fine print on taxes for a digital nomad visa – you don’t know what tax for an individual could be required if you stay longer than 6+ months. You might be required to pay tax (whether income tax, etc) even on a digital nomad visa.
  • Visa Fee: You’ll need to pay the standard application costs to apply for the digital nomad visa. Now there are also immigration lawyers and agencies that can take care of it for you (at an extra cost).
  • Proof Of Income: Most digital nomad visa programs will require you to have proof of income. Usually, it can be provided in different ways (savings, investments, letters from an employer and bank statements). Some countries will have a monthly income requirement you need to meet to apply.
  • Processing Time: Digital nomad visas are quite new and it might take a while for you to get approved. Some countries have worked out how to fast-track the process but it still takes longer than say a visa-on-arrival.

Is The Freelancer Visa Similar To The Digital Nomad Visa?

Yes! There is actually a visa program called the freelancer visa. The digital nomad visa is pretty similar to the freelancer because well… digital nomads can also be freelancers and vice versa!

Who Should Apply For A Digital Nomad Visa?

Are you a…

  • remote worker with a 9-5?
  • self-employed individual?
  • online entrepreneur?
  • digital nomad looking for a base?

You could apply for a digital nomad visa! The key with this visa is that you should either:

  • work for a foreign company (not the country where you’re applying)
  • own your own business (self-employed elsewhere)
  • work as a freelancer with clients abroad

This visa program is not necessarily aimed at students or people looking to move abroad permanently. If you can work from anywhere with a decent income, you can easily apply for digital nomad visas in most countries.

medellin colombia city views

From my research, I feel like any person from any foreign country/passport can apply for these digital nomads visas as long as you meet their requirements. In other words – you don’t have to be a US citizen to go for a digital nomad visa!

General Qualifying Factors To Apply For A Digital Nomad Visa

Every country’s requirements are different. But there are some similarities, in terms of the eligibility criteria you need to meet to apply for the digital nomad visa. Here are some of the general eligibility criteria:

  • You must be above 18 years old
  • You must pay the application fee for the visa
  • You must have a specific minimum monthly income (the amount varies depending on the country)
  • You must have a job or business you can do from anywhere in the world
  • You must not work in the local economy and local workforce
  • *some* require proof of health insurance

If you meet all of these, you can apply for most (if not all) digital nomad visas whether in the Caribbean, Europe and beyond. The only thing that varies greatly is the monthly minimum income requirement – obviously, some countries in Europe are going to have higher proof of income eg. Estonia requires a monthly income of at least €3,504.

skopje north macedonia
North Macedonia Offers A Digital Nomad Visa

Make sure to read the fine print on each country’s eligibility requirements because they aren’t all the same. These key eligibility can also help narrow down where you can apply for a digital nomad visa so it’s best to double-check before applying!

Which Countries Offer Digital Nomad Visas?

Currently, 42 countries are offering digital nomad visas. Some are already in place (we have met quite a few that applied and they were already living in Croatia on this visa) and others have just been announced which means it might take some time to get passed as law.

Here’s a small list of countries that offer digital nomad visas and the duration you are allowed to stay in these countries as remote workers.

Country Length Of Visa
1. Antigua and Barbuda 2 years
2. Barbados 12 months
3. Bermuda 12 months
4. Cayman Islands 2 years
5. Costa Rica 2 years
6. Croatia 12 months
7. Czech Republic 12 months
8. UAE (Dubai) 12 months
9. Estonia 12 months
10. Georgia 12 months
11. Germany 3 years
12. Iceland 6 months
13. Mauritius 12 months
14. Mexico 12 months, renewable to 3 years
15. Norway 2 years
16. Portugal 12 months, renewable to 5 years
17. Spain 12 months, renewable
18. Anguilla 12 months
19. Argentina 12 Months
20. Montserrat 12 months
21. Aruba 12 Months

Keep in that most countries don’t call their visa a “digital nomad visa”. But each of the countries above has a visa that would suit digital nomads in some capacity.

I’d say the majority of digital nomad visas are located in Europe. There aren’t too many Asian countries offering this visa. Surprisingly, a lot of Caribbean countries offer digital nomad visas – who wouldn’t want to work remotely from a beautiful island right?

There are a ton of countries you can obtain a digital nomad visa and the list is only going to continue to grow. The digital nomad movement is here to stay and countries are beginning to see that!

Are Digital Nomad Visas Worth It?

It depends!

If you really want to live somewhere for longer than 90 days, it’s going to be the best long-stay visa option for you…if you’re able to work remotely.

If you’re worried about tax residency, you’ll need to check things a little more carefully because some countries will want to tax you after staying more than 6+ months (again, some countries not all).

Double-check the eligibility criteria for each country as the minimum income requirement varies from place to place. Visa holders can enjoy their country of choice for a longer period of time with this long-term visa, making all the paperwork and bureaucracy is going to be worth it in the end!

We hope this answered your question of ‘what is a digital nomad visa’! Is this something you’re looking at applying for? Comment below and let us know your thoughts?

In: Digital Nomad, Work Online

Sunday Suitcase Newsletter

A newsletter for digital nomads! Each Sunday you'll receive an email with the latest nomad news, digital nomad lifestyle tips, new destination guides and work online tips to ease you into your week.

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Welcome!

We’re Matt and Ashley, the American-Aussie couple behind this blog. In 2018, we realized we could take our work with us…anywhere in the world. We packed our bags, sold our stuff and bought two tickets to Bali. Today, we slow travel full-time, run our business from our laptops and embrace life one adventure at a time. We’ve completely fallen in love with the freedom that comes with this lifestyle and we hope to inspire you to join us on the digital nomad journey!

Sunday Suitcase Newsletter

A newsletter for digital nomads! Each Sunday you'll receive an email with the latest nomad news, digital nomad lifestyle tips, new destination guides and work online tips to ease you into your week.

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Follow The Journey In Real-Time @TwoTicketsAnywhere_

better than the movies…💭🌴⁣ ⁣ ⁣ #trav better than the movies…💭🌴⁣
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#travelreels #funnytravel #travelgram #exploretheworld #travel #chasingsunsets #sunsetlover #travelblog⁣
#digitalnomad #laptoplifestyle
3x UNDERRATED digital nomad destinations in europe 3x UNDERRATED digital nomad destinations in europe ✈️ (to visit this summer) - add these to your travel plans in 2023 (or 2024🤓)⁣
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🇭🇷Croatia - stunning coastline, good wifi, growing DN community, beautiful nature and lots of cafes! ⁣
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🇷🇸Serbia - friendly locals, low cost of living, fast wifi, plenty of activities, great cafes to work from & great dining scene. ⁣
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🇨🇾Cyprus - great weather year-round, mountains + beaches, delicious food, growing community, good coworking spaces, endless outdoor activities.⁣
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Have you already been to these countries? Which was your favorite? Share below! 👇⁣
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#digitalnomaddiaries #workfromwifi #fulltimetravel #workandtravel #digitalnomad #laptoplifestyle #workanywhere #digitalnomadlifestyle #travelblog #digitalnomadlife #blogger #twoticketsanywhere #digitalnomadblogger #livethedream #maketheleap #passportcollective #digitalnomadgirl #exploretheworld #worldnomad
living, not surviving 🤝 ⁣ ⁣ why stay in an living, not surviving 🤝 ⁣
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why stay in an office when you can travel + work remotely from anywhere ✈️⁣
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#workfromwifi #fulltimetravel #workandtravel #digitalnomad #laptoplifestyle #workanywhere #travelreels #funnytravel #travelgram
plus you get free access to paddle boards and kaya plus you get free access to paddle boards and kayaks 👀❤️‍🔥⁣
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📍Free Cerveza, Lake Atitlan ⁣🇬🇹
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#visitguatemala #lakeatitlan #travelreels #uniquestays #traveldestination #digitalnomadlife #exploreguatemala #digitalnomad
Flying out to Cyprus just made sense! 🇨🇾⁣ Flying out to Cyprus just made sense! 🇨🇾⁣
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The weather in Europe started to get colder in October and if you know us, you’ll know we chase the sunshine ☀️⁣
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The best part is that we were joining a coliving space with some friends we made back in Zagreb! We spent an awesome month together - exploring the country, getting work done together and getting to know each other better!⁣
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We love coliving because you get to have an instant community as soon as you land. A nomadic life gets lonely (yes, even as a couple) and coliving spaces usually create great communities with like-minded people!⁣
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@tohani_coliving was especially great at creating events for everyone. During our first week, we had a community design meeting to discuss and plan the kind of things we wanted to do together. I'll share more about our experience on coliving soon ✌️⁣
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Here are some of the highlights:⁣
🌊 Swimming in the ocean with friends⁣
🚗 Weekend getaway to northern cyprus⁣
🎳 Bowling night with the coliving fam⁣
🍼 Meeting good friends (+ their cute baby)
🚤 Jet skiing with my girl @jbabbage 
🥟 Monday dinners at home with the coliving fam⁣
🏖️ Exploring the many beaches Cyprus has to offer⁣
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Would you ever try staying in a coliving space?⁣
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#digitalnomadcyprus #colivingspace #tohanicoliving #digitalnomadlife #funnytravel #traveltheworld #coliving #workandtravel #workfromwifi #digitalnomad #travellifestyle #traveladdict #twoticketsanywhere #travelblogger #travelawesome #digitalnomadlifestyle #fulltimetravel #passportcollective #travelcouple #cyprusdigitalnomad #cyprus
Is Skopje, North Macedonia on your destination lis Is Skopje, North Macedonia on your destination list? 🇲🇰⁣
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On our Europe tour, we decided to make Skopje home for a few weeks! One of the main reason is because I needed to renew my passport which is much faster outside the country.⁣
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Other than that, we didn’t really know what to expect. There weren't many blogs or videos about being digital nomads here. We could only find 1 coworking space in the area but there were plenty of cafes to visit! There’s a huge cafe culture which is always nice.⁣
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We had a really nice, modern, comfortable apartment in Skopje for $580 USD which was 5 minutes walking from the city center. The cost of living is pretty affordable and it’s very safe! ⁣
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If you’re looking for a city to get some work done, explore the surrounding destinations and establish some routine or even simply go to the BEST gym I've ever been to (@fit_in_performance) - Skopje could be that place for you!⁣
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Would you visit Skopje, North Macedonia as a digital nomad?⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #digitalnomadskopje #skopje #skopjedigitalnomad #skopjenorthmacedonia #visitskopje #visitnorthmacedonia #europedigitalnomad
Lisbon, Portugal is the top digital nomad destinat Lisbon, Portugal is the top digital nomad destination in Europe! 🇵🇹Why?⁣
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One word: community!⁣
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According to some digital nomad statistics, loneliness is the #1 reason people leave this lifestyle. When you’re traveling alone (or even as a couple), you easily feel all alone. Thankfully, the digital nomad community is very strong, open and welcoming!⁣
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Lisbon is also a popular spot because of the fast wifi (we had speeds of 500+ Mbps), endless coworking options and a relatively affordable cost of living (except the rising rental prices, of course let's be real). ⁣
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Our month in this wonderful city wasn’t long enough! It’s got all the simple things we love:⁣
 ☕ specialty coffee⁣
🍷 delicious food & wine⁣
🥑 bustling brunch scene and ⁣
👯 friendly people & community⁣
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We can easily see why digital nomads keep coming back to this city and we hope we can explore more of Portugal (Porto, Algrave, etc).⁣
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Have you been a digital nomad in Lisbon before? What were your thoughts?⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #digitalnomadportugal #lisbon #lisbondigitalnomad #lisbonportugal #visitlisbon #visitportugal #europedigitalnomad
We embarked on another 6-hour bus journey to our n We embarked on another 6-hour bus journey to our next digital nomad destination on this Europe tour.⁣
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Zagreb, Croatia has been on our minds for a while. While most people think of Split or Dubrovnik, we wanted to visit the capital and see what it’s really like for digital nomads.⁣
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These are some things that we think of before choosing a destination:⁣
- Is there an active digital nomad community?⁣
- What’s the wifi speeds like?⁣
- Are there good coworking spaces?⁣
- Is the cafe culture buzzing?⁣
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And so much more! Our biggest concern was the community part. After traveling Serbia alone - we were starting to feel quite lonely! We joined an FB group and found someone had set up a weekly coworking day.⁣
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It’s always nerve-wracking going to events where you don’t know anyone but as digital nomads, you get acquainted pretty quick! TLDR, we had a pretty close group of 8 working from cafes together, exploring Zagreb and getting to know each other.⁣
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Zagreb is a great destination in Europe for a digital nomad wanting a more affordable cost of living while still exploring Croatia! 🇭🇷⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #digitalnomadcroatia #zagreb #zagrebdigitalnomad #zagrebcroatia #visitcroatia🇭🇷
Never did we think we would visit Serbia…⁣ ⁣ Never did we think we would visit Serbia…⁣
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…but we are SO glad we did!⁣
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Serbia surprised us in so many ways, we honestly didn’t know what to expect! ⁣
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That’s one of the ways we like to approach some of our travels - not judging the country by its cover. You can hear some positive (or negative) things about countries but you never truly know until you experience it for yourself. ⁣
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We spent a month living in Belgrade, Serbia and it wasn’t long enough! With such limited time, as digital nomads you have to hit the ground running to get settled into your new home. We used our first 3 days to find (good) cafes to work from, sign up for a gym membership and plan our travel across Serbia.⁣
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Here are some reasons we can recommend Belgrade to fellow digital nomads:⁣
- friendly, welcoming people⁣
- they have delicious food⁣
- high standard of living⁣
- relatively low cost of living⁣
- fast wifi with tons of cafes to work from ⁣
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We ate countless bureks, drank copious amounts of coffee and worked from some of the coolest cafes. We can’t wait to get back to Belgrade!⁣
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Serbia, you stole our hearts!⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #digitalnomadserbia #belgrade #belgradedigitalnomad #belgradeserbia #visitserbia
European Digital Nomad Summer 2022, incoming ✨⁣
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After 4 months in Medellin, Colombia - we decided to head to Europe for the rest of the year!⁣
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Travel planning just becomes part of your lifestyle as digital nomads - it almost becomes a side hustle. When we're not working or exploring, we are researching/booking our next destinations!⁣
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What countries did we decide on?⁣
🇬🇧 England⁣
🇦🇹 Austria⁣
🇭🇷 Croatia⁣
🇷🇸 Serbia⁣
🇫🇷 France⁣
🇳🇱 Netherlands⁣
🇵🇹 Portugal⁣
🇲🇰 North Macedonia⁣
and finally, a last-minute decision to visit...⁣
🇨🇾 Cyprus⁣
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We found flights for only $400 to London from Colombia! My lovely friend and her husband were the best hosts and showed us around their new home. We spent a week in London exploring, acclimating to this continent and working from Pret! ⁣
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TTA TIP: If you're in London, Pret has a subscription service for only about £30 and you get 5 drinks per day plus a cafe space to do a little work!⁣
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*I'm going to be recapping the rest of our 2022 as digital nomads for the next few posts, we are currently in Asia🤪 ⁣
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#workfromeurope #workfromwifi #laptoplifestyle #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #remoteworking #digitalnomadcouple #locationindependent #freedomlifestyle #fulltimetravel #digitalnomadeurope #remotework #workonline #workfromanywhere #workandtravel #digitalnomadlifestyle

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A newsletter for digital nomads! Each Sunday you'll receive an email with the latest nomad news, digital nomad lifestyle updates, new destination guides and work online tips to ease you into your week.

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