The coronavirus pandemic has shattered the notion that you must live near where you work. It may also dispel the idea that you must live in the same country as your employer.
Attaining the expat lifestyle once meant finding a job in a distant land or bouncing around on short-term tourist visas. Now, a growing number of countries are allowing you to take your current job to a distant land, with a little bit of paperwork. A decade from now, the immigration barriers and tax deterrents to globe-trotting could be looser.
In the past year, countries hungry for more tourists and talent—from Estonia to Bermuda to Georgia—have rolled out special temporary visas (some valid for a year or more) to lure well-heeled, mobile professionals looking for an exotic escape from the routine.
Consultants who work with companies and expats say these so-called digital-nomad visa programs are an experiment in propping up commerce and tourism by tapping into the economic power of wanderlust. The pandemic’s toll on economies and international travel has spurred more nations such as Costa Rica and Croatia to consider the visas for economic growth.
If the visas work to stimulate economies, “we think other countries will jump on the bandwagon,” says Dave Cassar, chief administrative officer at Virginia-based MBO Partners, a provider of support services to self-employed professionals.
