{"id":20605,"date":"2023-09-19T17:04:23","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T17:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/personal-finance\/retirement\/expat-options-golden-visas-vs-digital-nomad-visas\/"},"modified":"2023-09-19T17:04:24","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T17:04:24","slug":"expat-options-golden-visas-vs-digital-nomad-visas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=20605","title":{"rendered":"Expat Options: Golden Visas Vs. Digital Nomad Visas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I\u2019m usually skeptical of stories about \u201ca friend of a friend.\u201d But in this case, I know that it\u2019s a true story.<\/p>\n

A friend of a friend was staying in Bali, Indonesia\u2019s paradise island that\u2019s popular with partygoers and backpackers.<\/p>\n

My \u201cfriend of a friend\u201d bought a van to use for transportation. The Balinese authorities arrived at his home and accused him of operating a shuttle bus service without the proper authorization. He was permanently deported from Bali.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t get into whether the guy in this story was on the right or the wrong side of the regulations\u2026 that isn\u2019t really the point.<\/p>\n

The point is that Bali is becoming stricter about who it wants within its borders and who it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

This should come as no surprise to anyone who saw the stories earlier this year about travelers with tiny tears in their passports being denied entry to Bali.<\/p>\n

<\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t really blame the Balinese. \u201cTourists behaving badly in Bali\u201d is almost its own genre of travel story.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the island announced a ban on foreign tourists driving motorcycles without a proper license, due to a rise in accidents, even though this is the most popular form of transport on the island. Tourists would be encouraged to use cars provided by travel agents, even though traffic congestion is also a big problem.<\/p>\n

Balinese officials have created a task force to crack down on vacationers misbehaving. Locals are reportedly exasperated at tourists flashing their genitals on motorbikes and stripping naked at sacred religious sites.<\/p>\n

Bali may want to keep out poor backpackers, reckless drivers, and drunk nudists\u2026 but it has become very interested in attracting wealthy investors, especially from the tech sector.<\/p>\n

Where Golden Visas Are Going Strong<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Indonesia recently announced the launch of its new \u201cGolden Visa\u201d\u2014granting a five-year residence permit in exchange for a $350,000 individual investment in public shares or government bonds. For double the investment, you can get a 10-year permit.<\/p>\n

Currently, you can also purchase a property for at least $220,000 if you also have at least $130,000 in the bank, and get a five-year residency.<\/p>\n

The first person to receive the new Golden Visa (a week after it was launched) was OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, which should give you an idea of the kind of people Indonesia hopes to attract.<\/p>\n

As always, it\u2019s not just the numbers of people but the type of people a country can attract that matters to its government, when it comes to its visa system.<\/p>\n

Some countries in Europe are canceling their Golden Visas (or considering doing so). Multiple European countries launched Golden Visas in the wake of the financial crisis, in order to attract foreign capital. But these days European governments express concern at the number of wealthy Chinese the visas have attracted. The European Commission has long been opposed to Golden Visas on the grounds that they\u2019re open to corruption and that it\u2019s wrong to \u201cbuy residency\u201d in the EU.<\/p>\n

A trend that is on the decline in Europe is going strong in Asia. In addition to Indonesia\u2019s new program, both Thailand and Malaysia are launching retooled investor visa programs.<\/p>\n

Europe Wants \u201cGolden Nomads\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Europe, of course, still wants to attract startups and entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

European countries have turned toward so-called \u201cdigital nomad visas\u201d as a way to attract tech talent.<\/p>\n

Nomad visas have been around since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Estonia introduced the first official program more than three years ago.<\/p>\n

But the number of programs has risen dramatically post-pandemic. More than 50 countries around the world now have digital nomad visa programs, with more on the way. It includes many countries that also have investor programs, like Malaysia.<\/p>\n

The rise of nomad visas reflects the changing world of work since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the boom in remote work.<\/p>\n

Countries are competing for mobile, relatively well-off workers.<\/p>\n

Digital nomad visas offer opportunity\u2026 if you meet the criteria.<\/p>\n

The income requirements, while not huge, can be relatively high\u2014multiples of local wages.<\/p>\n

For example, for Portugal\u2019s digital nomad visa, you must show you have a monthly income of about four times the local minimum wage, or roughly \u20ac3,000 per month. In Greece the number is \u20ac3,500 per month after taxes.<\/p>\n

The programs can be relatively restrictive, too. Unlike when you make a large Golden Visa investment, and typically get at least five years of residency\u2026 nomad visas are typically valid for one year initially, but renewable.<\/p>\n

The Czech Republic\u2019s new nomad program, launched just last month, is specifically for skilled IT professionals and available only to applicants from eight countries: Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, the U.K., and United States.<\/p>\n

Unlike a Golden Visa that gives you a longer residency term and something tangible in-country like a property\u2026 nomad visas are shorter-term and more precarious.<\/p>\n

On one hand, it might seem attractive that so many countries are competing for remote workers to spend time there.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another way to look at these programs\u2026 more like the Bali story I opened with\u2026<\/p>\n

The rise of digital nomad visas could be seen as a crackdown on unauthorized work\u2014visitors coming and going from countries across the world and working on their laptops while just in possession of a tourist visa.<\/p>\n

\u201cDigital nomad visas\u201d don\u2019t honor the idea of being a digital nomad in the traditional sense\u2014hopping from country to country every few months.<\/p>\n

Countries instead want remote workers to register with the authorities, get official status, and stay longer in-country so they become eligible to pay taxes\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not laptop-slinging backpacker artists or writers these visas are aimed to attract\u2026 but better-off tech workers. (Still, in most cases, if you can show the right levels of income, that\u2019s what matters.)<\/p>\n

Both European and Asian countries are clearly signaling who they want to attract in the years ahead: wealthier, internationally mobile information-technology entrepreneurs and workers.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll see immigration service providers, for example, promoting Bali\u2019s Golden Visa as the perfect opportunity for digital nomads to work from Bali\u2026 and if you have the money to invest, and you want to work in Indonesia, it can be.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re going about it in different ways\u2026 but these countries are all trying to attract the same class of people.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got the right knowledge or the right income, you have your pick of countries competing for you right now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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