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I've daydreamed of one step beyond the Digital Nomad to 'Citizen of the World'. The plan is fairly well formed, and combining a 'placeless' vocation with such c
by 11thEarlOfMar 11y ago
I've daydreamed of one step beyond the Digital Nomad to 'Citizen of the World'. The plan is fairly well formed, and combining a 'placeless' vocation with such citizenship can make one globally and indefinitely nomadic.
My thinking is to spend one month in a locale, explore it to the extent I desire, get to know a few people, learn how the locals live, and then move on.
The foundations of this lifestyle are Around-the-world air tickets from the major carriers [0] and AirBnb. I like the notion of finding friendly AirBnb hosts and learning from them what the local lifestyle is: Where they shop for food, how they get around, what activities they enjoy, what their days are generally like... Then spending a month more or less doing the same things. In the meanwhile, working for pay as a remote consultant.
Total cost of this lifestyle would depend on the class of digs you want to live in. Some cities are really inexpensive, say, Athens or Aukland. You could be comfortable averaging US$125/day for a place and $25/day for food. Another $25 for 'other stuff', entertainment, etc. Call it $175/day, 365/year, throw in the air fare, health insurance and taxes, and you're looking at about $85,000 in income to live this way.
What is interesting is that with this lifestyle, you don't need to own an apartment, or a car, or closets full of clothes. So the money you spend where you are is all the money you need.
[0] http://www.staralliance.com/en/book-fly http://www.staralliance.com/en/book-fly
- mcorrand 11y agoHow would you work out the visas and taxes though?
- kauffj 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_traveler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_traveler There are several countries that will offer you citizenship by investment, including some with visa-free entry to US and Canada. Of course there is no guarantee this will last or that you personally will be able to travel (see Roger Ver).
- bduerst 11y agoI assume they're thinking they'll enter these countries under the pretense of vacationing.
- hackerboos 11y agoThis is actually the big lie of being a Digital Nomad. It's not legal. As a US citizen there are only a handful of countries/territories that you can work legally without any sort of paperwork (Puerto Rico, USVI, Samoa) and a handful more that have official working holiday schemes: - Singapore - New Zealand - Australia - South Korea - Ireland If you are in the EU citizen you can work freely within the EU. However most folks aren't writing about working holiday visas or working within the EU. They are writing about South East Asia and Central/South America. Neither of which allow people to go and work without permits. People are breaking the law and being way too public about it.
- grecy 11y agoThat doesn't apply because you're not working for a company in the country you're working in. i.e. if you're American, and you visit Australia on a tourist visa and work for an American company while doing so, that's perfectly fine. If you wanted to work for an Australian company and earn Australian dollars, you'd need a work visa which is a whole 'nother thing.
- hackerboos 11y agoThat's simply not true. It doesn't matter where your employer is based [1]. "if you have a tourist visa, you cannot work at all;" [1] - http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/2140/are-you-legally-allowed-to-work-in-australia.aspx http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/2140/are-you-legally-allo...
- 11thEarlOfMar 11y agoPretty sure that page is presuming the employer is Australian. That makes all the difference.
- 11thEarlOfMar 11y agoI'd remain a citizen of the US, so I'd still owe taxes to the US. Then, use a family member's address as a home address for official documents. Visas would take some planning for countries requiring a visa for your passport. Many cities have consulates that you can go to. For example, if you were in Tokyo and wanted to go to Bankok next and needed a visa for Thailand, you'd head over to the Thai consulate near Meguro station to complete the formalities. I suppose I may be skirting local employment laws in some places, on the other hand, my employer is not likely based in that country and would therefore have no tax reporting obligations.
- jrallison 11y agoDid almost exactly this for all of 2014 (part of 2015). With a US citizenship, and visited 10 countries for a month+. Working remotely for a foreign corporation generally isn't against the terms of a tourist visa (consult the specific country you're visiting). All officials I asked had no problem with it, from South America/Asia/Europe (Germany will actually let you stay longer, up to 2 years, if you're a remote worker/freelancer). You do need a work visa if you're planning to do work for a company that exists locally (competing with the locals, etc). It was hugely income tax advantageous. There's a huge US tax credit if you aren't living in the US (your first $95-120k tax free), and I wasn't staying long enough in any country to meet their reporting requirements.
- 11thEarlOfMar 11y agoWhat types of places did you stay in? I had forgotten the income tax advantage for expatriates. Makes it even more compelling.
- jrallison 11y agoMostly Airbnb's, an occasional hostel/hotel if I didn't plan ahead. My routine when arriving in a new country would be to quickly find a place to stay and a coworking space, then explore the city/country when I wasn't working.
- pimlottc 11y agoDoes this mean you did not have to file for local income tax in any of your host countries?
- adrianmacneil 11y agoWhy are you still daydreaming about it? You've obviously done a bunch of research, the next step is to just go do it.
- 11thEarlOfMar 11y agoWife, kids, mortgage... But totally doable when I retire in a few years.
- gohrt 11y agoAre you planning a divorce?
- 11thEarlOfMar 11y agoHaha, no. We'll travel together.
- bitL 11y agoI did this for 15 months, 1-2 months in one place. Renting a room/house on AirBnB is significantly cheaper if you book it for a month, hipmunk allows you to chain destinations so that you don't need to buy return tickets, and you can be one month in Canada, next in Japan, then in Australia, as you feel like. Go for it! It was the best year of my life so far ;-)