Glossary

Residency

Digital nomad visa

Also known as remote work visa

A digital nomad visa is a residence permit allowing a foreign national to live in a country while working remotely for clients or an employer outside it, usually conditioned on a minimum income, private health cover, and the absence of local customers.

In plain terms: Permission to live somewhere while working for people elsewhere.

Why it matters

Around fifty countries now issue one. They fall into three groups: those whose legislation expressly exempts the holder's foreign income, those offering a special reduced rate, and — most commonly — those that say nothing about tax at all, so ordinary residence rules apply once you pass the day threshold.

Common misunderstanding

Taking a local client. Most of these permits are conditioned on foreign-source income, so a single domestic customer can breach the immigration condition and create locally taxable income in the same transaction.

Read the full guideDigital nomad visas and tax residency

Related terms