Why WFH when you can work abroad?
With deep drop in tourism, countries draw ‘digital nomads’
When Lamin Ngobeh, a high school teacher at the Freire Charter School in Wilmington, Delaware, saw a social media post in August about working remotely in Barbados for 12 months, his interest was piqued.
“My school probably won’t open for in-person classes at least until February 2021, and Iwant to be in a country that’s safer— healthwise— and also enjoy the quality of life,” he said of the reasons for considering a temporary relocation. “I reached out tomy school leaders and theywere very supportive ofmy decision.”
When it announced its 12-month Welcome Stamp program in mid-July, Barbados became one of the first of several countries, in regions fromthe Caribbean to Eastern Europe, to create programs for remote workers. The programs employ either special visas or expand existing ones to entice workers to temporarily relocate. Other countries offering similar visas currently include Estonia, Georgia and Bermuda.
A substantial drop in these countries’ tourism numbers is a key reason for the new programs.
“Tourism is the lifeline of the country,” said Eusi Skeete, the U.S. director of tourism for Barbados. Tourism accounted for 14% of the country’s annual gross domestic product in 2019, according to data published by the Central Bank of Barbados, and had a record number of international arrivals of more than 712,000. But in 2020, the number of visitors during the months of April, May and June were near zero.
Skeete said that the country’s new remote worker visa program will help with those numbers.
More than 1,000 applications from around the world were submitted within the firstweek, the country said, with the majority of responses from the United States, Canada and Britain.
Ngobeh’s application was approved. Hemade plans tomove last month.
Even before the pandemic, the number of remote workers worldwide was growing: Research fromthe consulting firm MBO Partners found that the number of independent workers in the United States, which includes consultants, freelancers and temporary workers, was around 41 million in 2019. More than 7.3million workers in the U.S. described themselves in 2019 as “digital nomads”: those who chose to embrace a location-independent lifestyle that allowed themto travel andwork remotely.
David Cassar, MBO Partners’ chief operations officer, notes that the international leverage of freelancers is increasing considerably.
“We absolutely expect interest in becoming a digital nomad to spike among independent workers in the coming years. COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of widespread remote work, and independent workers will be among the first to take advantage of a location independent, technology enabled lifestyle ,” he said.
Many workers are drawn to the lifestyle of digital nomads because of a lower cost of living.
Maggie Turansky, whose hometown is Phoenix, currently lives in the Republic of Georgia. She runs awebsite, The World Was Here First, with her partner, and rents a brand-new apartment in Tbilisi for about $500 a month. They stayed there during the pandemic.
“I can’t think of any other major city in a Western country thatwould be comparable,” she said. “The utilities on top of that rarely go above $50 a month, and the Wi-Fi is great. Georgia is appealing and there’s so much to see and do, andwe kind of fell in love with it.”
Some criteria for international visitors who seek these extended stays are similar.
While all countries require proof of health insurance and negative virus tests, some require an application fee and proof of a monthly salary.
For Barbados, prospective remote workers need to fill out an online application form and submit photos. They also need to supply proof of employment and an income declaration of at least $50,000 annually during the period that they are on the island. An application fee of $2,000 per person is only payable after he or she is approved; families pay a fee of $3,000, irrespective of the number of members in their household. Bermuda’s Residency Certificate Policy has an application fee of $263.
Edward David Burt, the premier of Bermuda, said that the certificate did not require any change in law (the country has issued residential certificates before), but rather an expansion of it.
“This will certainly help with our tourism industry,” he said. “You can have either 52weeklong tours, or one 52-weeklong tour— the bottom line is the same: that it will support our economy.”
Unlike Barbados, Bermuda does not require a minimum monthly income for extended stay remote workers.
Georgia’s program allows workers to stay and work there for up to six months. Like Bermuda, Georgia currently does not require that applying workers showa monthly minimum income; applicants, however, need to make the case that they have sufficient means to support their lifestyles.
Diana Zhgenti, the consul general of Georgia in NewYork, said that while there are no such financial restrictions for remote workers, the program is only available to citizens of 95 countries that are allowed to travel there visafree.
NevilleMehra, hailing from Washington, D.C., left his last corporate job in 2017 and has since done remote digital strategy work through his company, Nampora. He currently lives and works in Valencia, Spain, though he has worked in more than 50 countries.
“Over time, freelance digital nomads have started to ask what’s the best quality of life, instead of ‘where are the jobs’?” he said. “This is not about moving to a country and taking a job away from a local, but about spending locally at a higher level with a stronger currency.”
But while working remotely may be attractive to those who are able do their work with a laptop and a zippy internet connection, it may not be as easy for all professionals.
“If I’m traveling across the country, even as a company employee, workers’ comp may not coverme,” Cassar said. “If I am classified as an independent worker in the U.S., having that freelancer status of ‘LLC’ may not be recognized in other countries.”
Language can also be a barrier. Ketevan Buadze, who co-founded the BSH lawfirm in Georgia that works with immigrants and remote workers, said that the country is extremely friendly to noncitizens, but noted that more “young people speak English, not so much the older folks.”
Those with children could have additional headaches. Families who plan on schooling their children fromanother country remotely may experience issues with time-zone differences. Or those who would like to enroll their children in local schools may face limitations: Bermuda has restrictions on what types of schools are open to enrollment of foreign children.
“International families cannot access public schools, but the private school system,” said Burt, the Bermuda premier.