As the past few years have made abundantly clear, working full-time doesn’t equal five days of in-office time anymore. For many employees around the world working from home, there’s no office time required, period. This newfound flexibility has given plenty of workers the opportunity to work from anywhere, freeing up time when it comes to traveling the globe. Over 50 countries now offer some form of digital nomad visas or special remote worker permits, and Forbes found that there are an estimated 35 million digital nomads worldwide. But when it comes to digital nomad visas, which country offers the best package?
To find out, the housing rental marketplace Flatio surveyed over 1,200 digital nomads about their preferences for a new report. Portugal came in first place, with over a quarter (27.1%) of respondents naming the country as their preferred destination. From the surfing hotspot Ericeira to the mountains of Sintra to the bustling cities of Lisbon and Porto, it’s always been a popular tourist destination, so why not give living there a go?
The country currently allows digital nomads to live and work there for a year, as long as they come from a country that isn’t in the EU or EEA, and prove income or employment from companies not based within Portugal itself.
Meanwhile, Thailand came in second place in Flatio’s report, receiving 12.2% of the vote. The Southeast Asian country offers four-year digital nomad visas with the opportunity for extension, open to people from any industry. Third place went to Spain, which received 8.6% of the vote. The country also ranked first in Flatio’s survey of which destination digital nomads are most excited to visit yet, receiving 14.5% of the vote.
You can check out Flatio’s full digital nomad report here. In the meantime, here’s their list of the 10 most popular digital nomad destinations:
- Portugal
- Thailand
- Spain
- Argentina
- Mexico
- Indonesia
- Madeira
- Germany
- Romania
- Malaysia