Digital Nomad Visas and emerging market space around it

This year, the summer tourism season has come back after two years of Covid restrictions, and many people, especially those with relatively less economic concerns, are enjoying the sun and sea. While you may choose the Bahamas for the summer or prefer a more cultural holiday and go to Czechia, some people have already started living in these places, working online and earning money while continuing their travels. It is how these people enjoy a life full of travel and flexibility while not being bound by a typical work-life, thanks to digital nomad visas.

Digital nomad culture

Like anything that brings people together around a common cause, digital nomads constitute their own culture.?They have values, needs, behaviours and traditions emerging from this new way of living. In a world where the phenomenon of culture is borderless, digital nomads are like a country full of people scattered around the globe.

Understanding their cultural associations and building solutions for their needs is an emerging space for the economy with almost?one trillion dollars annually. It will continue to increase annually with more companies making remote working possible and more countries offering digital nomad visas.

Digital nomad visas are a particular visa type that allows people to work remotely from many countries worldwide without limiting themselves and enjoying a work-life without commitment to one place. Especially after Covid-19, the number of countries establishing nomad visas increased. While this benefitted individuals who chose this lifestyle, it is also aimed to help touristic places where a more sustainable economy and tourism are needed,?such as Bali, Indonesia.

Learnings from a long-term digital nomad

Matthew Karsten, a travel blogger, had chosen nomadic living ten years ago, a long time before the pandemic. He had travelled to over 50 countries by remote working while living in those countries, such as Mexico, Thailand, and South Africa.?As someone with significant experience on the topic,?Matthew states that nomadic living has pros and cons.?Since you can schedule your own working time and place as a digital nomad, it is usually much better than being stuck in an office for many hours.

On the other hand, he mentions that it could be hard sometimes to find stability while travelling without private space. He also adds that there are many digital nomad jobs besides blogging, such as customer service, bookkeeping, marketing, language education and software developers.?Moreover, the global pandemic had only accelerated the transition for many people to nomadic life.

Countries offering digital nomad visas

Today, 15 European countries?offer digital nomad visas to foreigners?who want to work remotely for approximately six months to two years.?Several of these countries are Czechia, Latvia, Norway, Portugal, Estonia and Malta and many other countries such as Italy, Spain, and Montenegro are on their way to the transformation.

This number is constantly growing, including countries like Greece, Romania, Cyprus and Hungary, which instated digital nomad visas last year.?A total of 44 countries?are offering digital nomad visas globally.?Indonesia, Colombia and Serbia are some countries working on finalising the visa program soon.

Additionally,?over 35 million digital nomads?worldwide are from various nationalities, with an economic value of?$787 billion annually. According to research,?if the digital nomads were a country, it would be the 41st in the world by population size, following Canada.?Also, the female community of digital nomads are pretty balanced, with a percentage of 49.81%, and 31% of the digital nomads worldwide are from the U.S.A.

Digital nomad visas can also be considered an excellent opportunity for people who do not want to deal with the struggles of having a tourist visa. However, it is essential to remember that all countries have different processes and requirements while applying and working. It is also necessary to see that while nomadic living also benefits those countries, it gives an excellent opportunity to people and societies to encounter cultural richness from around the world as the visas allow cultural transmission among people.

There is promising discovery space not only for countries that can offer digital nomad visas but also for companies considering offering remote work to their employees and for startups and businesses that can provide solutions and value for digital nomads.?So get in contact with us to discover this cultural space and help you achieve creativity and innovation at the intersection of culture and strategy.

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pakt is a cross-cultural strategic consultancy?helping clients discover new cultural perspectives, narratives and meanings that will enable them to create value for the future. Get in touch with us, and let’s talk about how we can help you discover new meanings in a cross-cultural environment. This article is also published on our Medium page at this link. Follow our Medium profile for more articles and insightful content like this.