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Digital Nomad and Remote Work Visa: Requirements and How to Apply

Digital Nomad and Remote Work Visa: Requirements and How to Apply

Digital Nomad and Remote Work Visa

Also called: Remote work visa, international teleworker visa, temporary residence for remote workers

A category that essentially did not exist before 2020 and is now offered by more than forty-five countries. The proposition is simple: you live here, you work for someone outside here, you spend money here, and in exchange the country gives you a legal status that a tourist visa cannot. The universal design is a minimum monthly income, proof the income comes from outside the country, health insurance, and a clean record. What varies enormously is the income threshold, whether the status leads anywhere, and how the destination taxes you.

Who needs this

  • Employees working remotely for a foreign employer who want to live somewhere for more than a tourist stay.
  • Freelancers and contractors with foreign clients.
  • Semi-retired people who still earn, and therefore cannot use a retirement or non-lucrative visa that prohibits work.
  • Business owners whose company is registered outside the destination.

When this is the wrong category

Your income comes from local clients or a local employer, in which case you need a work permit. Or you are fully retired with passive income only, in which case a retirement or passive-income visa is usually cheaper and easier.

What every application in this category needs

A minimum monthly income, proven over time
The single defining test. Thresholds run from about 1,500 dollars a month in Brazil and much of Latin America to 3,500 euros in Greece and roughly 65,000 dollars a year in Japan. Most want three to twelve months of bank statements showing the money actually arriving.
Proof the income is foreign-sourced
An employment contract with a foreign company, or client contracts and invoices. Several countries cap the share of income that may come from local sources, commonly at 20 percent.
Employment relationship history
Many countries require you to have worked for the employer for at least three to six months, and that the company has traded for at least a year. This exists specifically to filter out contracts created for the application.
Health insurance valid in the destination
Usually for the full permit period, sometimes with a specified minimum.
A police certificate
The FBI Identity History Summary for Americans, authenticated federally, is required by most of these programmes.
The process, in sequence Roughly 4 months end to end if nothing stalls
  1. 1 Check the income threshold against your actual documented income Gross or net, monthly or annual, and averaged over what period, all differ. A freelancer with variable income needs to look at how the country calculates it, not just the headline figure. Your action · about 3 days
  2. 2 Assemble the income evidence Contract, employer letter authorising remote work from that country specifically, and bank statements over the required period. The employer letter is the document most people have to go and ask for. Your action · about 14 days
  3. 3 Order and authenticate the police certificate FBI Identity History Summary, authenticated by the U.S. Department of State. Most of these programmes require it and most applicants do not expect it. Documents and authentication · about 30 days
  4. 4 Buy compliant insurance and secure accommodation Several countries want to see a lease before they will issue the permit. Your action · about 14 days
  5. 5 File, either at a consulate or in-country Some countries only take consular applications, some allow filing after arrival on a tourist entry, and a few, notably Spain, give a longer permit and a faster decision to in-country applicants. Government processing · about 30 days
  6. 6 Register and get the residence card The post-arrival step that converts an entry visa into a residence permit. Your action · about 30 days

Your action Documents and authentication Government processing

Timing, cost and what the status gives you

How far ahead to start
One to four months. Croatia and several e-application systems are quick; Spain in-country is 20 working days by law; Portugal and Italy are slower because of the residence permit stage after arrival.
What it costs
Application fees are modest, typically 60 to 300 dollars, plus a residence permit fee. The real costs are compliant insurance and, for some destinations, the tax consequences of becoming resident.
Validity and duration of stay
Usually one year, renewable, though several now run longer. The critical question is whether the time counts toward permanent residence. Spain, Portugal and Italy count it. Croatia expressly does not, and its permit cannot be renewed back to back.
Work rights
For foreign employers and clients only. Taking local employment is prohibited and is the fastest way to lose the status.
Family members
Most programmes allow a spouse and children with an uplift to the income requirement, commonly 20 to 75 percent for a spouse and 15 to 25 percent per child.

Where applications go wrong

  • Assuming the visa solves the tax question. It usually creates one. Spending more than 183 days somewhere generally makes you tax resident there on worldwide income, and a handful of programmes grant an exemption while most do not.
  • Overlooking the social security question. Where a totalization agreement exists, a certificate of coverage keeps you in the U.S. system. Where one does not, you can face contributions in both.
  • Not checking whether your employer will actually agree in writing. Many U.S. employers refuse because of the corporate tax and payroll exposure created when an employee works from another country.
  • Choosing a country whose permit does not build toward residence when residence is what you actually want.
  • Using outdated income thresholds. Most are indexed to a local benchmark and reset annually.

Common refusal grounds

  • Income below the threshold, or too variable to evidence over the required period.
  • The employment relationship is too new, or the employing company too new.
  • Insurance that does not meet the specification.
  • Missing or improperly authenticated police certificate.
  • Evidence suggesting the work is really for local clients.

Documents and authentication for this category

Most of these programmes require an authenticated FBI Identity History Summary, and family applications add apostilled marriage and birth certificates. A smaller number require the employment contract itself to be notarised and apostilled, which catches people out because it means going back to the employer for a signature in front of a notary rather than an emailed PDF.

The document chain, in the only order that works
  1. 1 Obtain a certified original From the issuing authority. Photocopies, scans and souvenir certificates cannot be authenticated.
  2. 2 Notarise, if it is a private document Letters, affidavits, powers of attorney and diploma copies need a notary acknowledgement first. Government-issued vital records do not.
  3. 3 County clerk, in some states A handful of states require the county clerk to certify the notary commission before the Secretary of State will act.
  4. 4 Authenticate at the right level State-issued documents go to the Secretary of State of the ISSUING state. Federal documents, including the FBI Identity History Summary, go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
  5. 5 Apostille or embassy legalisation Hague Convention destination: the apostille ends the chain. Non-member destination: the document then goes to that country embassy or consulate.
  6. 6 Certified translation Translate the document together with its apostille or legalisation certificate. Doing this first means paying twice.
  7. 7 File with the right consulate Jurisdiction is by your U.S. state of residence. Bring originals plus a full copy set.

The two expensive mistakes. Sending a federal document such as an FBI Identity History Summary to a Secretary of State, which cannot authenticate it. And translating before authentication, so the apostille certificate is not inside the translation and the whole set has to be paid for twice.

How it differs by country

Spain
Roughly 2,850 euros a month, about 200 percent of the minimum wage. Applying in-country through the Unidad de Grandes Empresas gives a three-year permit and a 20-working-day decision, which is why most applicants choose that route over the consulate.
Portugal
The D8 requires four times the national minimum wage, which is 3,680 euros a month in 2026. It comes in a one-year temporary-stay version and a residence version, and only the residence version counts toward permanent residence.
Italy
Introduced in April 2024, around 2,700 euros a month, and restricted to "highly qualified" applicants meaning a degree or substantial professional experience.
Croatia
Income indexed to the average national salary and revised annually. Notably, holders are expressly exempt from Croatian income tax on foreign earnings. It lasts one year, cannot be renewed immediately, and does not count toward permanent residence.
Brazil
One of the lowest thresholds anywhere at 1,500 dollars a month or 18,000 dollars in savings.
Japan
Around 10 million yen a year, roughly 65,000 dollars. Six months, not renewable, and it does not lead to residence.
Thailand
The Destination Thailand Visa introduced in 2024 gives five years of validity with 180-day stays, at a much lower financial bar than the Long-Term Resident visa.

This category, country by country

Questions

Do I have to pay tax there?

Usually yes if you stay long enough, and this is the question the marketing for these visas consistently glosses over. Crossing 183 days generally makes you tax resident on worldwide income. A small number of programmes grant an explicit exemption, Croatia being the clearest example. Most do not. And you still file in the United States regardless, because U.S. citizens are taxed on worldwide income wherever they live.

Can I just use a tourist visa instead?

It is what many people do and it is legally weaker than they think. Several countries treat remote work performed on their soil as work regardless of who pays you, you cannot open a bank account or sign a real lease, and in Europe the Entry/Exit System now counts your 90 days automatically and unforgivingly. The nomad visa exists to make the arrangement legal.

Will my employer agree?

Ask before you apply. A U.S. employer with an employee working from another country can create corporate tax presence, payroll withholding obligations and employment-law exposure in that country. Many refuse for exactly this reason. Freelancers and contractors have a much easier time.

Which one leads to permanent residence?

Spain, Portugal on the residence variant, and Italy all count the time toward the five-year residence threshold. Croatia and Japan expressly do not. If your goal is eventually to stay, that distinction matters more than the income threshold.

Authoritative sources

Where this tool disagrees with one of these, the official source is right. Tell us and we will correct it.

Verified Sep 7, 2026 Primary sources: travel.state.gov, www.hcch.net

Verified Sep 7, 2026

This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal or immigration advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Visa rules, fees, processing times and entry requirements change frequently and often without notice, and individual circumstances change the answer. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific embassy or consulate that has jurisdiction over your place of residence before you book travel or file an application. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.

Planning to stay, not just visit

If this is a long stay rather than a trip, the retirement atlas covers what the visa paperwork does not: what living there costs, how far a US income goes, healthcare, and where American expats actually settle.

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