Fed up of home-working but don’t fancy heading back to the actual office? If you think you could now do your job from pretty much anywhere, perhaps you should consider moving abroad and remote-working from somewhere hotter, cheaper or just plain different.
As lockdowns lift in fits and starts around the world, many countries are attempting to lure freelancers and other remote workers with brand-new visas. The latest nation to do so is the Baltic state of Estonia, whose ‘digital nomad’ scheme has just opened for applications.
There are only a couple of requirements prospective residents must meet: your monthly income must be meet the minimum of threshold of €3,504 (£3,170, $4,160 or A$5,770) before tax, and you must either have a job contract with an employer outside the country, have your own company registered abroad or work as a freelancer for mainly non-Estonian clients.
Mart Helme, the country’s interior minister, said the scheme aimed to attract tech-savvy ‘nomads’ who can contribute to its economy without taking away jobs from locals. ‘The digital nomad visa will strengthen Estonia’s image as an e-state and give Estonia a more influential voice on the international level,’ Helme added.
Once named ‘the world’s most digitally advanced society’, the country has already introduced an ‘e-residency’ programme allowing international entrepreneurs to access the country’s cutting-edge digital services and start a business within the European Union (without necessarily having to work there). Some 50,000 businesspeople have benefited from the scheme.
Estonia also pioneered the digital ‘ID-card’, was the first country to let its citizens vote online in elections, and boasts some of the fastest public wi-fi in the world.
But it isn’t all tech this, tech that: the country’s sprawling forests, national parks and beautiful Baltic islands are ripe for exploring in your downtime. So when’s that next flight outta here?
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