In November 2022, Kian Sheik, a search engine programmer based in San Diego, decided he desired to move in along with his girlfriend Júlia, a dentist who was living in her hometown of Sao Paulo.
So Sheik applied for a digital nomad visa and relocated to Brazil, where he’s in a position to work remotely for his San Diego employers.
“My career is such which you could just about work anywhere on the planet so long as there’s an online connection,” the 25-year-old said.
Sheik spent around $200 to get the visa, which required he prove that he makes no less than $1,500 a month.
He also had to supply Brazil with a notarized copy of his birth certificate, pay $75 for an FBI criminal background check and provide three months of bank statements and proof of medical insurance.
Lastly, he needed to get a letter from his employer granting him permission to work remotely abroad.
That was considered one of the better parts of the complicated process.
“I told my job, ‘Hey, in case you value me as an worker and need to maintain me [on staff], you’ll support my decision to work from Brazil,’” said Sheik, who pays taxes in each countries but get a credit with the US for what he pays in Brazil.
(For digital nomad visa holders, tax requirements vary by country.)
Sheik officially immigrated to Brazil this past February. He’s loving immersing himself in Brazilian culture and learning Portuguese.
But, “the most important pro for me is that I can spend more time with my girlfriend,” he said.
In January 2022, Brazil joined the handfuls of nations all over the world — from Barbados to Estonia — that supply digital nomad visas, which cost $200 to $2,000 and grant globetrotters temporary residency to work remotely from their country of origin.
Unlike the formerly favored D7 visa, which forced distant employees and freelancers to establish plans for long-term residency, the digital nomad visa is specifically tailored to transients who want to live overseas for the short term.
It’s turn out to be increasingly trendy because of its relative permissiveness and the proliferation of work-from-home jobs.
The TikTok hashtag DigitalNomadVisa has racked up a staggering 10 million views, with Sheik and others touting the advantages of the visa and the way they got it.
Toman Ford, 29, an infrastructure engineer at an IT firm in Atlanta, can be on the visa.
He and his wife Risha Hill-Ford, 28, relocated to the small town of Spata, Greece, just outside of Athens, with their two toddler daughters in February.
Essentially the most difficult adjustment Ford has needed to make is acclimating to the six-hour time difference between Greece and the eastern United States.
Ford now works from 4 to 10 p.m. to be on similtaneously his colleagues in Georgia.
He spends the primary a part of his day tending to his daughters.
Hill-Ford, a high-quality artist, paints within the mornings and and sells her pieces online all over the world.
It’s a schedule that’s working for them.
“The work-life balance of living in Greece on the digital nomad visa makes life a lot easier,” said Hill-Ford, noting that her family’s once $4,000 monthly overhead for housing, food and amenities has been chopped right down to a palatable $1,200.
The couple resides in a three-bedroom home for lower than $1,000 a month, and shops with local grocers and vendors to assist boost the region’s economy.
“The associated fee of living in Atlanta was eating up all of our funds,” she said, “but here in Greece, I can work half the period of time that I worked within the US, and I’m greater than in a position to sustain myself financially.”
The couple isn’t required to pay taxes to Greece, but pay income taxes to the US, in addition to on the property they own in Atlanta.
Hill-Ford, who promotes ethical expatriation to her over 50,000 TikTok followers, says it’s vital that Americans avoid contributing to the gentrification of disenfranchised areas.
In Greece, in addition to in Portugal, where the digital nomad visa was introduced in October, natives are said to be facing evictions and unpredictable rent increases attributable to the influx of American transplants.
“It’s our responsibility to do our research to make sure that we’re not taking away housing that was originally priced for the typical Grecian, but is now double or triple the price because people from the US, who earn loads extra money, are moving here,” she said. “That’s absolutely incorrect.”
Raimee Iacofano, 28, a Los Angeles social media manger for a tech startup company, agrees.
She’ll be moving to Barcelona, Spain, on the digital nomad visa this summer, and he or she’s aiming to be socially responsible about it.
“It does trouble me that I’ll be living somewhere and be making a fairly good US salary, while my Europeans neighbors are making less,” she said.
“But I’m not renting a spot through Airbnb or shopping at big chain stores — every dollar I spend will probably be towards strengthening the local economy.”
But Sheik says, irrespective of their best efforts or intentions, Americans on the digital nomad visa, including himself, can’t escape their role in gentrifying their recent homelands.
“You’ll be able to speak the language and learn the culture, nevertheless it’s vital to keep in mind that you’re still an American, and to acknowledge how that privilege affects other people around you,” he said.
“Live just like the locals as much as you possibly can so that you just’re not changing their lives.”
