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Ok I was more looking to see if anyone else has successfully gotten a digital nomad visa for the EU. Looks like I'll just go for 60 days or so. Afterwards if

Ok I was more looking to see if anyone else has successfully gotten a digital nomad visa for the EU. Looks like I'll just go for 60 days or so. Afterwards if I'm still in the mood for it, I'll move on to Turkey or Asia

gregjor 5y ago
No one has gotten a digital nomad visa for the EU because there's no such visa. The closest thing is the EU Blue Card, but that's a work permit for highly-skilled professionals; most digital nomads (freelancers) would not qualify. The EU and the Schengen visa region are not the same. Turkey is an EU member but not part of the Schengen visa area. The UK, Ireland, Romania, and several other countries in Europe are not Schengen area countries either. Spain recently announced a so-called digital nomad visa, good for a year if you are making money from outside Spain. I don't think it's approved yet. Some other countries in Europe have such visas available already. Germany has a couple of visas for freelancers that allow renewal for up to three years, to give one example. I know people who have been granted those visas, the process is somewhat tedious. Almost always you have to apply for a long-stay visa before you arrive in your destination country. You can't enter Germany (for example) on a tourist visa (what Americans will get on arrival) and then apply for a Freiberufler visa while in Germany. You have to plan ahead. Most digital nomads bounce around on tourist visas (look up "border run") until they find a place they want to stay for a while, then go through the process of getting the long-stay visa. If you intend to travel abroad for a while plan for things like taxes, banking, US address and phone number, health/medical insurance. Americans have to pay US income tax no matter where they live or where their income comes from, an almost-unique tax disadvantage for US citizens. On the other hand US citizens who live outside of the US for 11 months out of a year qualify for the FEIE, a big tax savings. All of this is documented and pored over constantly on nomadlist.com and the Reddit digital nomad sub. Lots of people do this, it's not particularly hard, but it is easy to make mistakes that create a lot of headaches.
- 999900000999 5y ago
  Okay, thank you for explaining this all to me. I just saw the Taiwanese program, and I assumed with all the various EU countries at least one of them had implemented something similar. I actually might consult with a tax attorney before I do this. Thanks
  - gregjor 5y ago
    Several countries in the EU have, just not the entire EU or Schengen region. ustax.bz is good.

gregjor 5y ago

No one has gotten a digital nomad visa for the EU because there's no such visa. The closest thing is the EU Blue Card, but that's a work permit for highly-skilled professionals; most digital nomads (freelancers) would not qualify. The EU and the Schengen visa region are not the same. Turkey is an EU member but not part of the Schengen visa area. The UK, Ireland, Romania, and several other countries in Europe are not Schengen area countries either. Spain recently announced a so-called digital nomad visa, good for a year if you are making money from outside Spain. I don't think it's approved yet. Some other countries in Europe have such visas available already. Germany has a couple of visas for freelancers that allow renewal for up to three years, to give one example. I know people who have been granted those visas, the process is somewhat tedious. Almost always you have to apply for a long-stay visa before you arrive in your destination country. You can't enter Germany (for example) on a tourist visa (what Americans will get on arrival) and then apply for a Freiberufler visa while in Germany. You have to plan ahead. Most digital nomads bounce around on tourist visas (look up "border run") until they find a place they want to stay for a while, then go through the process of getting the long-stay visa. If you intend to travel abroad for a while plan for things like taxes, banking, US address and phone number, health/medical insurance. Americans have to pay US income tax no matter where they live or where their income comes from, an almost-unique tax disadvantage for US citizens. On the other hand US citizens who live outside of the US for 11 months out of a year qualify for the FEIE, a big tax savings. All of this is documented and pored over constantly on nomadlist.com and the Reddit digital nomad sub. Lots of people do this, it's not particularly hard, but it is easy to make mistakes that create a lot of headaches.

999900000999 5y ago
Okay, thank you for explaining this all to me. I just saw the Taiwanese program, and I assumed with all the various EU countries at least one of them had implemented something similar. I actually might consult with a tax attorney before I do this. Thanks
- gregjor 5y ago
  Several countries in the EU have, just not the entire EU or Schengen region. ustax.bz is good.