Typologizing Digital Nomad Visas: Comparing Policy Rationales from Tourism to Wealth Accumulation to Immigration

Abstract

This article presents a comparative case study of the “Digital Nomad Visas” (DNVs) of Croatia, Thailand and Spain. Analysing common themes for these visas, the article identifies varying policy rationales that have guided their development, naming these the tourism, wealth accumulation and immigration rationales. The article then introduces a two-scale typology of DNVs centred around the dimensions of civic attachment and temporality. The findings illustrate the evolving nature of DNVs from ad hoc pandemic responses to strategic tools for socio-economic development and draw attention to the visas’ role in the broader context of global mobilities and labour market transformations.

Keywords:

• digital nomad visas
• comparative case study
• policy rationales
• policy development
• typology

Introduction

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated an unparalleled shift towards remote working practices on a global scale. Facilitated by technology, many people recognized a distinctive opportunity not only to work from home but also, as travel restrictions gradually eased, to embark on domestic and international journeys while maintaining their newly acquired remote employment. Soon, governments started to pay attention to the influx of these foreign remote workers visiting their countries, many seeing an avenue to replace the tourism revenue lost during the pandemic (Ehn et al. 2022; Holleran 2022). In the summer of 2020, Barbados and Estonia introduced visas directed at remote workers, inviting them to reside in their territories. This was followed shortly after by Georgia, several Caribbean island states and Croatia (Parreño-Castellano et al. 2022). More such visas continue to be released. Depending on the definition, there are currently between 30 and 50 visas and permits specifically directed at remote workers available worldwide (see for example Dreher and Triandafyllidou 2023; Sánchez-Vergara et al. 2023; KPMG 2023a).

These visas and permits are colloquially referred to as “Digital Nomad Visas” (DNVs). Most of them are six months to two years in duration, require the applicant to show proof of remote work and a sufficient level of income, and offer either tax-free or preferential taxation together with temporary residency rights. Despite their moniker, questions have been raised over whether these visas are directed at “real” digital nomads (Ehn et al. 2022; Hooper and Benton 2022; OECD 2022; Toivanen 2023; Bednorz 2024). Even though the definition of a digital nomad is still evolving within academia, it is agreed that they are a specific subcategory of remote workers, who, by definition, change locations continuously, intentionally and across international borders (Reichenberger 2018; Hannonen 2020; Chevtaeva and Denizci-Guillet 2021), by some definitions at least three times a year (Cook 2023).

As research on policies relating to digital nomadism are still in an early phase, the unique scientific contribution of this article is to provide an objective comparison of the government rationales of DNVs from a policy design perspective. However, an analysis of the efficacy of the visas for digital nomads falls outside the scope of this article. Here, it suffices to say that, despite their name, most DNVs have characteristics more suitable for people who are less (hyper-)mobile than the quintessential digital nomad; the visas have been designed for a range of differently mobile individuals who can work remotely and want to relocate to another country for some time (or even permanently).

This article presents case studies of the DNVs of Croatia, Thailand and Spain showcasing the policy rationales of the national governments. While all the countries aim to attract remote-working people to their territories, their visas have taken remarkably different forms. From a comparative analysis of our chosen case study countries, we have identified three policy rationales: the tourism rationale of the Croatian visa, the wealth accumulation rationale of Thailand and the immigration rationale of Spain.

Recounting the development of each of these visas points to how the countries’ specific policy rationales have underpinned the designs of the visas. This has prompted us to introduce a new two-scale typology of DNVs based on the dimensions of civic attachment and temporality, which we find are paramount to understanding the similarities and differences of the visas available at present. By situating the identified policy rationales in the typology, we gain a more profound understanding of how governments instrumentalize DNVs in their wider socio-economic strategies in light of changing global mobilities and labour market transformations.

We start by providing background on the current state of research on DNVs and introducing the data and methodology used for this article. We then proceed to discuss and compare the chosen case study countries before introducing our policy rationale typology of digital nomad visas. We end with reflections on the development of DNVs as well as additional research directions.

Background

Research into DNVs so far could be described as explorative; the visas are not only a new phenomenon but also a fast-developing one. However, the past year has seen academic interest in the subject mark the beginning of a promising scholarship on DNVs. However, there is little consensus on which initiatives should be included in analyses as DNVs, making comparisons difficult. Diverging points of view have been taken by, for example, Hooper and Benton (2022), OECD (2022), Dreher and Triandafyllidou (2023), Sánchez-Vergara et al. (2023) and Mancinelli and Germann Molz (2023). Furthermore, government-issued policy papers or even clear instructions on the criteria for the visas are scarce and difficult to obtain, thereby limiting the possibilities for a comparative analysis of all visas (Bednorz 2024).

Several authors have discussed the objectives of governments for issuing DNVs in the first place. Even though all the visas aim for potential economic benefit to the issuing countries, there is variation in how they hope to achieve this and who they are welcoming to this end. Dreher and Triandafyllidou state that the countries must have had different motivations in mind, but that the emergence of DNVs in general “point to the anticipated benefits that host cities and countries expect to have by hosting relatively affluent globetrotters, to whom they need not provide any form of social protection” (2023, pp. 12–13). Along the same lines, Mancinelli and Germann Molz (2023, p. 11) discuss DNVs as a type of “border artistry” by states that “intentionally play with the creation of new categories of desirable travellers, to whom they can grant special rights while gaining economic benefits”. Bednorz (2024, p. 7) connects the type of remote workers a country hopes to attract to DNVs as different “strategic approaches” that are designed to meet each country’s already existing policy goals. Toivanen (2023) considers DNVs alongside other new services and products created to attract and accommodate internationally mobile remote workers. Market-led solutions already in use include for example global health insurance, international online banking and coworking spaces. The DNVs, however, mark an entry into this arena as a “new public service” created by states (Toivanen 2023, p. 76).

Much of the research sees the main objectives of DNVs to be, similarly to tourism, the direct injection of foreign income into the local economy. A report by the OECD goes as far as saying that “DNVs are mainly issued by tourism-dependent economies or countries facing economic challenges” (OECD 2022, p. 1). Sánchez-Vergara et al. (2023) agree that tourism and the leisure industry were the central themes promoted in most of the 24 DNVs they analysed. Indeed, many DNVs seem to have been introduced simply to replenish lost tourism revenue during the pandemic, but later also to include considerations for diversifying tourism flows to off-season, longer-term and rural visitors, as is the case of Croatia in our comparison. Another relevant income stream for states is the high application fees, rising to US$3,000 in Anguilla, for example (KPMG 2023a).

Apart from direct spending in the country, DNVs may bring human capital benefits for the countries that issue them, such as skills transfer, innovation and cultural exchange. They may also act as channels for infrastructural development through international talent and capital investment (Sánchez-Vergara et al. 2023) and be instrumental in the competition for a global, highly skilled workforce. Yet most visas do not have a strategy of retention either in the form of an avenue for permanent residency or by allowing for integration into the local labour market (Hooper and Benton 2022; OECD 2022). An exemption to this has been introduced in the Spanish visa, as will be recounted in the case study.

Additionally, DNVs are seen to provide a regularizing legal framework for the increasing numbers of remote workers entering countries as tourists, despite having the intention to work (OECD 2022; Mancinelli and Germann Molz 2023; Sánchez-Vergara et al. 2023; Bednorz 2024). Indeed, writing from a legal perspective, Krakat (2021) states that although DNVs are a completely new type of visa, they are closest to work visas in terms of the rights they grant. As such, they also introduce economically motivated selectivity in specifying the type of remote workers, and earners, the countries want to attract, as will become clear from our case study of the Thai visa.

Data and Methodology

In this little-researched policy field, our approach has been inductive and comparative. To get an overview of the variety of visas available, several databases listing DNVs were reviewed. We chose to use a database compiled by KPMG as a referential listing (KPMG 2023a), as it provides researched, continuously updated information on DNVs globally. The database currently lists 45 countries as having “Digital nomad and remote work visa options”. The corpus of DNVs in the KPMG database was studied for overall commonalities and differences, leading us to identify five relevant themes to focus on in the selected country cases:

1. Definitions of the target group of the visas and responsible ministries

2. The requirements for obtaining the visa

3. Duties expected of visa holders

4. Rights and benefits granted to visa holders

5. The duration and possibilities for continuation of the visa.

Themes 1 and 2 have primarily contributed to identifying the policy rationales of each country case. The remainder of the themes connect more closely with the analysis used for the development of our typology, with 3 and 4 relating to what we have termed the “civic attachment” scale and 5 to the “temporality” scale. The comparison of data under these themes has been compiled in Table 1.¹

Table 1. Thematic overview of DNV features across the three country cases.

		CROATIA: Temporary stay of digital nomads	THAILAND: 10-Year Long-Term Resident Visa: Work-from-Thailand Professionals	SPAIN: Telework visa for international teleworkers (“Digital Nomads”)
	Established	1 January 2021	1 September 2022	21 December 2022
1.	Responsible ministries	Ministry of the Interior (involvement from Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Finance)	Thailand Board of Investment (BOI)	Ministry of Foreign Affairs (through foreign consulates); Large Business Unit and Strategic Groups in Spain (UGE, under Ministry of Employment and Soc. Security)
	Definition of target group	“A digital nomad is a third-country national […] who is employed or performs work through communication technology for a company or his own company that is not registered in the Republic of Croatia and does not perform work or provide services to employers in the Republic of Croatia”	“Work-from-Thailand Professionals: Remote workers working for well-established overseas companies”	“Digital nomads (international teleworkers): Non-EU foreigners [who] carry out a remote work or professional activity for companies located outside the national territory, through the exclusive use of computer, telematics and telecommunication media and systems”
2.	Basic requirements Proof of employment Criminal record check Valid passport Health insurance	Yes Yes Yes Yes	Yes Yes Yes Yes (or US$100,000 deposit)	Yes Yes Yes Yes/No (exempt if paying into Spanish national fund)
	Income requirement/year	€30,471.72 net (2.5x Croatian average wage) +10% for each dependant	US$80,000 (for the past two years) or US$40,000 if the applicant has a min. master’s degree, intellectual property or Series A funding	€25,920 (2 x Spanish minimum wage) +75% (of Spanish minimum wage) for 1st dependant +25% for each further dependant
	Cost of visa	€91.59–189.88 (inc. residence card and visa if needed)	About €1,300 (50,000THB) +equal amount for each dependant	€73.60 (application) + €20 (residency) + intermediary and/or consular fees
	Other requirements	-	Must work for a foreign company that is either listed or has revenue of US$150 million during the past 3 years. Min. 5 years’ work experience in current field	Degree from recognized educational institution or 3 years of relevant professional experience Written permission to work remotely in Spain from employer or clients
3.	Tax & social security payments	No	No	Yes, both (unless covered by agreement with employer’s country)
	Address requirement	Hotel/Airbnb allowed during application, but must register at a residential address for residency	Must report to the police once a year (but no permanent address requirement)	Must have a rental contract for a minimum of a year for residency
	Minimum time in country	9 months/year	Multi-entry visa, no limits	6 months/year
4.	Inclusion in welfare system	Voluntary inclusion in state health insurance fund (in addition to private health insurance); compulsory payments for dependants	No	Yes, fully
	Dependants	Yes, close family members (spouse, common-law partner, children)	Yes, legitimate spouse and children under 20	Yes, family members (spouse, partner, children under 18, parents if under the applicant’s care)
	Other rights	-	Fast track service at airports	20% allowance for Spanish income Accompanying spouse receives a work permit for Spain
5.	Length	6–12 months	5 + 5 years	Initial 1–3 years to be extended to max. 5 years
	Reapplication	Yes, but only after 6 months out of the country	Yes, another 10-year visa	No, but after the 5 years qualifies for permanent residency
	Status change	Not possible	Possible to another type of visa, but not to permanent residency or citizenship	Yes, counts towards permanent residency and citizenship

Sources: Croatia: Croatian Ministry of the Interior (MUP n.d.); Croatian Law on Foreigners (Zakon n.d.); Croatian National Tourism Board (n.d.); Thailand: Thailand Board of Investment (BOI n.d.a); Laws and Regulations for Long-term Resident (LTR) Visa (BOI n.d.b); Spain: Spanish Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business (PRIE n.d.); Consulate General of Spain in London (n.d.); Startups Law (BOE 2022).

For the case studies, the data used in the primary textual and visual analysis included the official websites offering instructions for visa applicants in each country and more promotional websites run by ministries, consulates or other government-affiliated entities. Policy papers and legal texts were analysed when available, and selected press coverage and social media posts by government officials were included for context.

The data were analysed by combining interpretive and comparative approaches (see for example Kadyschuk 2023). Comparative case studies have been effectively used in different fields of social sciences to approach research questions that are context-sensitive and complex by tapping multiple information sources. The aim has been to give both an overview of the visas and their implementation in the three countries under analysis, but also to uncover the specificities of each country’s underlying policy rationales that have shaped the visas. The efficacy of the visas is not under investigation here, rather our focus is on the governmental perspective to policy making.

Case Study Selection

The rationale for selecting the DNVs of these countries as our case studies is manifold. Firstly, all three are popular locations for digital nomads and other remote working professionals. While Spain and Thailand have already been on the nomad map for a long time (Jiwasiddi et al. 2022; Lhakard 2022; Parreño-Castellano et al. 2022; Hannonen et al. 2023), Croatia only became a popular location after the introduction of its DNV at the time of the pandemic (Hornstein-Tomić and Kurilić 2023). The countries share many of the same pull factors for remote workers: low cost of living, warm climate, established digital nomad communities and services, such as mid-term rental market, coworking spaces, and stable and fast internet (Toivanen 2023).

Secondly, the three visas have been selected as “ideal type” examples of the policy rationales we have identified and that we coin the tourism rationale, wealth accumulation rationale and immigration rationale. Each of the countries has defined the target group for its DNV and the intended policy benefits differently. This is reflected in the form and specifications of the visas.

Thirdly, the comparison of these visas represents a timeline in the evolution of DNVs both in relation to the pandemic as a historical event, as well as in relation to global megatrends such as digitalization, ageing of the population and increased global mobility.

The Comparative Case Study

Croatia: Tourism Rationale

On 1 January 2021, while the Covid pandemic was very much still a reality and many countries in the world were heavily restricting the movement of both their own and other countries’ nationals, Croatia became one of the first countries in the world to introduce a digital nomad visa. The visa was created by grassroots advocacy. Initiated by an open letter addressed to Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic by Jan de Jong, a Dutch entrepreneur living in Split, it was quickly pushed through the legal process. The announcement of the forthcoming visa by Plenkovic on (what was then known as) Twitter² was reported by media around the world.

All information about the visa is available on the Ministry of the Interior website on one simple page listing the requirements and giving a link to the application (MUP n.d.). The visa is, however, also heavily promoted on the tourism authority’s website with its own hashtag, #CroatiaYourNewOffice, together with a picture of a tanned young man in a hammock working on his laptop. A welcome message from the Minister of Tourism reads: “As a digital nomad, you can discover the beauties of Croatia in all four seasons […]. Along with amazing natural surroundings, fresh air and a healthy environment, Croatia offers a rich cultural and historical heritage, […] high-speed internet across the country and the entire necessary infrastructure that guarantees comfortable living and working conditions” (Croatian National Tourism Board n.d.).

The visa is officially called “Temporary stay of digital nomads”. It is available to any third-country national “who is employed or performs work through communication technology”, either for themselves or for a foreign company. There is no limitation on the industries or mode of employment, and no educational requirements. The applicant must have valid health insurance for the duration of their stay and provide evidence of a clean criminal record. They need proof of income to the equivalent of 2.5 times the average national Croatian wage, and another 10 per cent for each dependant they bring with them (MUP n.d.).

Civic attachment measures integrating the visa holder into the host country are minimal on this visa: by special agreement, the visa holders will not become tax residents of Croatia even after the usual 183 days, and they do not have to pay into the national social security or health care system. They are issued a biometric, temporary residence permit card valid for the duration of their visa, but it does not give the holder access to state services. There are, however, expectations in the form of a minimum (as well as maximum) stay in the country; the visa holder must stay in Croatia nine months of the year and can only leave for a maximum 30 days at a time (Zakon n.d.).

As the name suggests, the visa is valid for a temporary, 6–12-month stay and cannot be extended or transferred to any other type of visa. A reapplication can, however, be made, but only after six months have passed since the expiry of the visa. Responding to criticism about this: “The Ministry of the Interior explains this by stating that the goal of the digital nomad visa was nothing but ‘the promotion of tourism in the Republic of Croatia’” (Poslovni.hr 2023).³ Jan de Jong further points out that introducing the DNV has also served the purpose of establishing Croatia as a “digital nomad welcoming country” regardless of how many people actually apply for it (as opposed to entering the country on tourist permits [2023, personal communication]).

In general, the Croatian government views digital nomads as visitors who can help extend the tourism season, compensate for the lack of revenue in the off-season and visit the lesser-known parts of the country. Many regional tourism authorities have started projects to attract them to rural inland areas (“Live and Work” in Central Istria), to the less visited capital (“Zagreb Digital Nomad Week”) and to little-known island locations (“Digital Nomad Ambassador” programme for Brač).⁴ The design of the DNV reflects this view in many ways by allowing the visa holder to live in Croatia as if on an extended vacation, similar to tourists; without duties, but also with limited rights and inclusion.

The Croatian government has granted 1,411 DNVs to applicants from 41 different nationalities since the beginning of 2022.⁵ As the visa cannot be extended, the number of active visa holders keeps steady at about 700–800 individuals (MUP 2024).

Thailand: Wealth Accumulation Rationale

Throughout 2021 and the first half of 2022, dozens more countries followed Croatia in issuing DNVs and other remote worker programmes. The majority were by tourism-dependent countries for extended stays of 1–2 years and quite straightforward in what they required and offered (Sánchez-Vergara et al. 2023). Thailand, a long-time favourite among digital nomads (Jiwasiddi et al. 2022), finally announced that its version of a DNV would launch on 1 September 2022 (Fujiwara 2022). It already had several visa options strategically used by digital nomads wanting to remain in the country beyond their tourist visas (Faramarzi and Norton 2023). The new visa was announced to take the form of a long-term, but non-immigration, visa targeting “high-potential” applicants (Fujiwara 2022).

The colourfully illustrated website introducing the visa is managed by the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI n.d.a). A pop-up window recommends a list of certified agencies to help with the application process and icons at the bottom of the page link directly to a BOI-managed YouTube channel, Facebook page and Line social media communities. The actual page starts with a promotional video with the tagline “Make Thailand Your Home”, introducing the requirements and perks of the visa. Below, an infographic shows the steps, estimated timeline and payments needed to secure the visa.

Unlike most other countries, this visa is not called a “digital nomad” visa; rather, it is addressed to “Work-from-Thailand Professionals” as one of four options to gain the “10-Year Long-Term Resident (LTR) Visa”. The other categories are “Wealthy Global Citizens”, “Wealthy Pensioners” and “Highly Skilled Professionals” (who differ from Work-from-Thailand professionals in that they work locally in Thailand for local employers). The visa is granted for an initial five years, after which it can be extended for another five-year period. After the full ten years, the visa can be reapplied for another ten-year period, but no further rights or duties shall prevail and the time in the country does not count towards permanent residency.

The visa is open for “remote workers working for well-established overseas companies” from any nationality. The main site is in English, but instruction booklets are also provided in Chinese, Japanese, Thai, German and Russian. While some of the requirements mirror that of the Croatian visas, as well as the DNVs of many other countries (health insurance for the duration of the stay, proof of employment and income, clean criminal record, for example), this visa is only available to specified high-earning applicants. The personal income requirement is US$80,000/year and the applicant must work for a foreign company that is either listed or can show revenue of at least US$150 million during the previous three years. Although there is some leeway in the income requirements if the applicant holds a relevant degree, owns intellectual property or is receiving Series A (startup) funding, the applicant must also demonstrate that they have at least five years of work experience in the field of the current employment over the past ten years.

The application fees start at around US$1,300, depending on where the visa is processed (the options being at a specifically appointed facility in Bangkok or through an embassy abroad). The permit holders can bring legitimate dependants with them, but the same application fee applies for each dependant (BOI n.d.a).

There are relatively few requirements or expectations placed on the applicants, apart from the income limits and a minimum US$50,000 health insurance cover. For example, there is no requirement for minimum time spent in the country or having to commit to a permanent address. Visa holders will not pay tax for the duration of the ten years, but they also will have no rights to any state-run services, such as health care or social security (BOI n.d.b). The government does, however, offer unusual benefits, such as a free “fast-track service” at all Thai international airports. Other concessions have also been made. For example, the Thai government has a history of strict control over remote working in the country and, in some cases, digital nomads have been questioned and even detained for remote working on tourist visas (Jen 2014). However, regulations for the new visa state that visa holders do not require a work permit as “the person does not have Thai employers according to the digital work permit purpose” (BOI n.d.a). This is signalling a new tone in the discussion.

The rationale of wealth accumulation is evident in the choice of language throughout the official communication, especially as it relates to the target group the country wants to attract and under what conditions. The BOI front page states: “This new visa program is expected to attract new foreign residents, technologies and talents contributing to domestic spending and investment while supporting economic growth. The Thai government has set the target of attracting one million wealthy or talented foreign residents into the country over the next five years” (BOI n.d.a).

Quarterly updated statistics show a total of 6,667 applications made since the launch of the LTR visas, out of which 1,545 were for the “Work-From-Thailand Professionals” track (BOI n.d.a).⁶

Spain: Immigration Rationale

Spain is another country whose announcement of a DNV was long anticipated. Several local and regional institutions were already running initiatives to attract and facilitate the mobility of remote workers to their regions (Parreño-Castellano et al. 2022; Hannonen et al. 2023). However, it was not until 21 December 2022, almost two years after the Croatian visa, that the Spanish equivalent was finally released. While most of the earlier DNVs appeared to have been “quick responses to a situation” (Dreher and Triandafyllidou 2023, p. 12) – that is, the pandemic and also the general race to issue DNVs – the Spanish visa in comparison seemed well-planned.

The DNV is part of a wider set of legal reforms called the Startups Law that came into force the previous year (BOE 2022). The law aims to establish the country as an attractive destination for foreign startup founders, entrepreneurs and remote workers, which itself is the objective of the even bigger Spanish Recovery Plan launched after the country was hard hit by the closures during the Covid pandemic. Authorities hope that the law will help the country both recover and diversify its economy from being reliant on tourism. To this end, the Minister of Economic Affairs at the time, Nadia Calviño, said the government is hoping to “attract and retain international and national talent by helping remote workers and digital nomads set up in Spain” (Schengenvisa News 2022).

Unlike the Croatian and Thai examples that have a clear online presence, the Spanish DNV does not have an official landing page, or even one agreed-upon name. The communication about the visa is handled mainly by Spanish embassies in respective countries. The Consulate General of Spain in London (n.d.) website refers to it simply as “Digital Nomad Visa”, while the Miami consulate calls it “Telework Visa”.⁷ The visa is essentially an application for a “residency through international teleworking” directed at “non-EU foreigners […] to carry out a work or professional activity remotely for companies located outside the national territory, through the exclusive use of computer, telematics and telecommunications means and systems” (PRIE n.d.). The application form is the same as for any long-stay visa, be it for local employment, study, investment or other purposes.

The central requirements for the application are as follows: signed statement of employer or clients agreeing to the visa holder working remotely from Spain, income to the equivalent of twice the Spanish national minimum wage (and extra percentages for each dependant), health insurance (public or private) and a clean criminal record. After these, however, the requirements get more consequential than on most other DNVs: all Spanish DNV holders will become tax residents of Spain, potentially starting from a preferential tax rate but moving to full taxation within the duration of the visa. In addition, the applicant’s employer must procure a certificate to prove sufficient social security coverage or start contributing to the Spanish national system (Consulate General of Spain in London n.d.). Those applying as self-employed will become fully incorporated into the national system. In many ways, the duties and rights in this visa are comparable to any long-term residency or immigration procedure.

In contrast to the non-renewable Croatian visa, the Spanish visa has an inbuilt possibility to extend it from an initial 1–3 years until the visa holder qualifies for permanent residency after five years. Furthermore, the time spent in the country counts towards the right to apply for citizenship after ten years of living in Spain. Another atypical right of the Spanish visa is that it permits up to 20 per cent of the visa holder’s taxed income to come from local clients or employers (BOE 2022). Inclusionary measures, such as taxation and social security, gradually deepen together with the design of the visa from temporary to permanent residency, and even citizenship. As such, this visa is essentially a selective immigration scheme, attracting remote workers, freelancers and foreign small business owners into the country as a new type of skilled (digital) labour force.

The Spanish government has not released any numbers on how many DNVs have been applied for or granted so far.

Comparative Analysis of the Case Studies

To begin with, it has been telling to compare the ministries in charge of designing and managing the visas in each country. In the Croatian case this is the Ministry of Interior together with the ministries of Tourism and Finance; in Thailand the Thailand Board of Investment; in Spain a whole array of ministries all have their own responsibilities, from the Ministry of Exterior, EU Affairs and Foreign Cooperation to the ministries of Employment and Social Security. These correlate with our identified policy rationales of tourism, wealth accumulation and immigration.⁸ The same can be said for the definitions and language used to describe the intended audience of each of the visas: from the temporary digital nomads discovering the beauties of Croatia, to high-potential professionals working for well-established overseas companies making Thailand their home, to international teleworkers supporting Spain in establishing their startup scene, the narratives of tourism, wealth accumulation and immigration are present throughout the communications.

Continuing to compare the requirements for the visas, there are many similarities. All have requirements for minimum income, proof of employment, health insurance and criminal background checks. They all include the possibility of bringing dependants, as long as the applicant can provide for them according to extra income requirements. And while they all accept renewal or extension of the visas in some form, all require a review by the authorities of the candidate still meeting the requirements. These are all elements designed to ensure that the visa holders will not be a burden to the country and its welfare services. As such, the visas are examples of the “border artistry” of governments (Mancinelli and Germann Molz 2023) that are facilitating the entry of preferred newcomers by themselves defining the “ideal type” through the requirements of the visas. In this sense, all these visas are selective entry policies, whether over the type of (off-season, long-term) tourism, (no-strings-attached) wealth accumulation or (skilled digital labour) immigration the countries want to attract.

However, there are also striking differences across the DNVs, especially in regard to how much the various duties and rights commit and attach the visa holders to the country. While the Spanish immigration rationale includes duties (such as taxation and social security payments) that deepen the civic attachment of the visa holders into the receiving country while also granting them rights and benefits in return, the other two country cases impose very few requirements on the visa holders and only superficially connect them to the state.

There are also major differences regarding the temporal aspects of the visas, in particular concerning their length, their renewability and the possibilities for permanent residency. The Croatian DNV has the shortest time horizon of the three case studies, as it offers only a temporary stay for a pre-defined time. It is specifically designed so that its holders cannot qualify for permanent residency through this avenue by forcing a six-month break after the first visa expires; under Croatian law, five years of continuous residence would be required. The Thai visa, although long, is still a temporary, non-immigration visa that will not grant any rights in the country or count towards the possibility of permanent residency or citizenship. Both are in stark contrast to the Spanish visa, which, even though a temporary residency at first, is designed to offer a track leading to the potentiality of Spanish citizenship.

As far as all DNVs have an end goal of economic benefit for the country, the Thai one is most explicit about this. At eight times the average local wage,⁹ the income requirement of US$80,000 is considerably higher than for most DNVs. Dreher and Triandafyllidou (2023, p. 20) refer to the Thai visa as “a more ‘elite’ option than the typical DNV”; people who qualify for this visa are likely to live separately from the local society when it comes to neighbourhoods, doctors’ visits or children’s schooling. They are welcome to stay in the country long-term in exchange for the benefit that their foreign-earned direct spending brings to the Thai economy, hence the rationale of wealth accumulation over time.

In contrast, the Spanish income requirement places DNV holders on a par with middle-income Spaniards¹⁰ and the high level of civic attachment and the potentiality of citizenship further grant rights to visa holders comparable to the local population. The consideration of gain for the country seems to rely more on the human capital of the visa holders, especially if they become permanent residents in the long run. Harnessing their future potential relies on achieving higher levels of civic attachment than the Thai or Croatian visas envisage.

Policy Rationale Typology of Digital Nomad Visas

To enable systematic comparison of the policy rationales pertaining to the DNVs, we introduce the policy rationale typology of digital nomad visas. The typology differentiates between the three rationales discussed above, namely tourism, wealth accumulation and immigration. These rationales are positioned in a two-scale grid centred around the dimensions of civic attachment (the extent to which policies aim to attach the newcomer to the state) and temporality (the intended time horizon envisioned in these policies).

• The civic attachment scale includes both duties and rights. Duties are demands that the state places upon the newcomer and rights are benefits and entitlements to services that it provides to the newcomer in return. Both create a systemic attachment to the receiving country. In the context of DNVs, examples of duties are the requirement to pay taxes, local social security and health care payments, commitment to long-term rental contracts or buying property, and having to stay in the country for a certain number of days. Examples of rights offered to the newcomer are access to national health care and social security, the right to bring dependants on the same visa and the right to local employment/clients.

• The temporality scale includes various aspects of the DNVs related to the time horizon, such as the initial length of the visa and conditions of extension and renewability. An important part of this scale is also the possibility for status change, to transfer to a more permanent residency or even citizenship (and whether the time on the DNV counts towards meeting the requirement for this status).

Figure 1 of this two-scale typology grid combines the civic attachment and temporality dimensions. It captures the essence of the three policy rationales: tourism (combination of low civic attachment and short temporality), wealth accumulation (combination of low civic attachment and longer temporality) and immigration (combination of high civic attachment and longer temporality).

Figure 1. The policy rationale typology of digital nomad visas

This figure depicts the gradation of the scales, with the three “ideal type” rationales situated in three corners of the grid, but with the understanding that many DNVs do not neatly fall into these “ideal type” rationales and that the rationales themselves are not clearly demarcated entities. The high civic attachment and short temporality corner of the typology is void of a named rationale, as such a DNV is unlikely to exist.

The scales of the typology also enable us to position and compare not just our three case study countries, but also other DNVs that are currently available. With insights from the KPMG database (KPMG 2023a), we have positioned DNVs of selected example countries in this typology as shown in Figure 2. These should be considered as illustrative rather than exhaustive examples of the variation within and the fluidity between the identified policy rationales.

Figure 2. Positioning digital nomad visas in the policy rationale typology

As the figure shows, our three case countries are close to the “ideal types” of the three rationales found towards the corners of the typology. The Croatian and Spanish visas represent the opposite ends of a continuum from the tourism to the immigration rationale, corresponding to the sliding scale from tourism to migration in general (Bell and Ward 2000). Most other DNVs are also placed along this tourism–migration continuum, starting from simplified policy solutions along the lines of Hooper and Benton’s (2022) suggestion to adapt tourist visas to allow remote work: the Argentinian “Digital Nomad Visa” and the Icelandic “Long Term Visa for Remote Work”, both for six-month stays, are available only to applicants from nationalities that do not need tourist visas to enter the countries; Mexico allows remote work for people in the country on tourist permits. The short time aspect and restricted target audience of such visas make them low-bureaucracy ad hoc solutions for both the governments and the applicants.

Towards the immigration rationale corner of the typology are a few visas that have emerged in the past year that are relatively high on both scales. With an inbuilt citizenship track similar to the Spanish example, the Portuguese “Residency Nomad Visa” is another clear example of the immigration rationale. Slightly shorter, Malta’s three-year “Nomad Residence Permit” represents a medium-term immigration option with inclusion in most state services. The Canadian and Colombian visas have been placed closer to the tourism rational for what they initially offer, but they both have the possibility for deeper civic attachment as well as longer temporality aspects: the Canadian “Visitor Status” allows the visa holders to look for local employment while in the country for an initial six months of remote working, thereby offering an avenue to longer-term residency. Colombia’s two-year “Visa V for digital nomads” allows people to set up tech companies locally, hence opening the potential to integrate the newcomers to the local economy in the longer term (KPMG 2023a).

While many of the visas are placed along the tourism–immigration rationale continuum, those more attuned to wealth accumulation, like the Thai DNV, come in more diverse forms. For instance, Anguilla’s “Remote Work Programme” allows for 3–12-month stays with few civic attachment requirements in exchange for a payment of US$2,000–3,000. Montenegro offers a “Temporary Residence Permit for Digital Nomads” for up to four years without any taxation or duties apart from having a local address. The Mexican “Temporary Resident Visa” asks for ten times the local minimum wage and offers a track to permanent residency, but has no tax implications until that time, placing it somewhere in between the Thai and Spanish DNVs and their rationales (KPMG 2023a).

Future Outlook on DNVs and Related Research Agenda

The case studies in this article show the embeddedness of the DNVs in the specific legal, economic, socio-cultural and political context of each country. Their comparison, however, illustrates the evolution of such visas in general from ad hoc responses to the Covid-19 pandemic to more elaborate policies with a further reach.

The continued discussion about these visas should also be located in the context of the ageing of populations, digitalization of working life and competition for skilled labour. In many countries, these global trends are leading to wider restructuring of visa and immigration policies, of which the DNVs are also a part (Hooper and Benton 2022). In Spain, the introduction of the Startups Law and the announcement of the end of their Golden Visa scheme are signalling a more selective approach to the type of wealth, skills and talent they want to attract (KPMG 2023b). Croatia, suffering from a continued brain drain, restructured its Law of Foreigners to encourage and ease the return of the Croatian diaspora at the same time as initiating the DNV (Hornstein-Tomić and Kurilić 2023). Thailand will soon add further options to its portfolio of visas by introducing a “Global Digital Talent” visa to allow new graduates to come to Thailand to look for local employment in the tech sector (Ajanapanya 2023).

The coming years will show if more visas will be developed with the rationale of seeing remote workers as (digital labour) migrants rather than tourists. Furthermore, it will be interesting to see if there will be more consideration for the human capital benefits of attracting remote workers, rather than just the economic gain illustrated by the Croatian and Thai examples. Most of the current visas lack elements of retention, in terms of temporality but also in terms of possibilities for social and economic inclusion. For example, the allowance of 20 per cent of local income granted by the Spanish DNV is rare; so far only the Estonian DNV states similar accommodation for labour market inclusion (OECD 2022). Seeing the value of international remote workers in the country as a potential highly skilled labour force to draw upon, Spain is not looking to benefit just from the instant monetary boost to the economy through tourism revenues or through foreign-earned spending, but also casts its view further into the future.

In studying the myriad of DNVs that are currently available, our prediction is a development towards further diversification of the visas that account for all types of cross-border remote work – from hypermobile digital nomads to remote workers staying a year – as well as those future digital labour migrants who want to move to another country indefinitely while retaining their remote jobs. There are already examples of countries whose DNVs have separate options for both a short-term visa and a longer-term residency: Portugal offers a “Temporary Nomad Visa” for up to a year without many requirements but limits on temporality, as well as the residency option we have placed at the immigration rationale end of the typology; Malta has a choice of a simpler visa for stays up to six months, which can be continued to the three-year residency status with deeper civic attachment (KPMG 2023a).

The findings presented in this article are the result of inductive research in a new policy field that lacks much of the demographic data that would make exploring the impact of the policies viable. Our research has been concerned with the envisioned gains from the varying rationales behind the making of the policies, but it is left for future research to explore their efficacy and actual impact on economies. Most countries do not divulge information on how many DNVs they have granted, let alone the demographic characteristics of applicants. Furthermore, we must wait for the availability of longitudinal data on, for example, how many DNV holders in Spain eventually become full residents or even new citizens of the country. Very little is also still known about digital nomads’ decisions on whether or not to apply for a DNV. Upcoming research by Koskela will hopefully shed light on this in the near future.

The rapid development of the field offers its own challenges as new visa policies are announced regularly, most recently by Japan and Korea in early 2024. Our two-scale typology centred around the dimensions of civic attachment and temporality could serve future research into DNVs as they multiply and diversify. The typology also invites the positioning of more DNVs as well as emerging new rationales based on more quantifiable data. As such, it offers a meaningful starting point facilitating comparative policy studies.

In this evolving field of research, a dynamic study on DNVs on the basis of this typology would be useful to systematically capture a gradual shift of DNVs away from the tourism rationale towards the wealth accumulation and immigration rationales. A study with broader scope could enhance our contextual understanding on how DNVs are instrumentalized by governments as part of their wider socio-economic strategies to navigate global trends of ageing populations, the digitalization of working life and increased competition for skilled labour, all of which trigger restructuring of visa and immigration policies.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Peter Rimkus for his invaluable help in visualizing Figures 1 and 2 of this paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

Supplementary data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2024.2343696

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kaisu Koskela

Kaisu Koskela is a postdoctoral researcher at Nijmegen School of Management at Radboud University. She is part of the Radboud University Network on Migrant Inclusion (RUNOMI). Her research focuses on digital nomads and other new forms of remote working mobilities, looking at the intersections of governmental responses and the existing mobility strategies digital nomads employ to navigate their lifestyle. She has conducted extensive fieldwork among digital nomad communities around Europe and South-East Asia.

Pascal Beckers

Pascal Beckers is Associate Professor in Human Geography and Planning at the Radboud University with particular expertise on issues related to migrant inclusion, employment and housing. He is coordinating the EU Horizon Europe projects DignityFirm and GS4S (Global Strategy for Skills, Migration and Development). He is also Director of Research at the Radboud University Network on Migrant Inclusion (RUNOMI), a university-wide network of 120+ scholars specialized in migrant inclusion issues.

Notes

1. See also online supplementary material for a more thorough comparison table.

2. https://twitter.com/AndrejPlenkovic/status/1298628616683741185/photo/1

3. Translation from Google Translate.

4. https://liveandwork.central-istria.com/; https://digitalnomads.infozagreb.hr/; https://adventurely.app/blog/postira-village-on-brac-island-is-croatias-charming-new-digital-nomad-destination

5. No data from the first year of the visa is available. Figures from 29 February 2024.

6. Figures from 29 February 2024.

7. https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/miami/en/ServiciosConsulares/Paginas/TELEWORK-VISA.aspx

8. As an acknowledgement of similarity, Mancinelli and Germann Molz (2023, pp. 13–14) also discuss the distinction between tourism and migration in comparing the management and communication of the DNVs by particular authorities, which we have also found telling. Our analysis, however, is more focused on the policy design of each DNV. We also have reservations about Mancinelli and Germann Moltz’s proposed connection of dependence on tourism leading to a tourism focus of the visa. All of our three case study countries are heavily dependent on tourism, yet we have identified different rationales, objectives and end goals in their DNVs that are rather about reducing tourism dependency (in the cases of Thailand and Spain). Further comparison is difficult, as the 27 cases chosen for analysis by Mancinelli and Germann Molz only coincide in the case of Croatia, which they agree falls under the tourism-dependent type DNV, even if they have categorized its management under “immigration” (as it is indeed managed by the Ministry of the Interior: Mancinelli and Germann Molz 2023, pp. 12–13).

9. The average monthly income for a household in Thailand in 2021 was just under 30,000 Thai Baht, which equals about US$10,000 per year. This makes the minimum income requirement for someone applying for the Thai LTR visa eight times the average Thai wage (NSO 2021).

10. The average annual wage of a Spanish worker in 2021 was €25,900 (Instituto National de Estadística 2021).