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Which European countries offer a ‘digital nomad’ visa?

With the world of work rapidly changing, digital nomad visas are now in high demand as a way to experience life in another country while continuing to work remotely. Here are the European countries that you can obtain one for, and what’s involved.

Published: 10 April 2024 17:25 CEST

Which European countries offer a 'digital nomad' visa?

Several European nations now offer ;Digital Nomad' visas for remote workers. Photo: Coworkingbansko / Pixabay

Many countries have introduced digital nomad visas as a means to attract visitors and boost their economy.

Generally, to obtain one, those applying need to be able to conduct their work online, to have a contract with a company based outside the country they’re applying to, and to meet a monthly salary level.

Additionally, applicants will need to prove that they have a minimum level of health insurance, means to support themselves and accommodation organised.

It’s also important to note that if you are a citizen of an EEA/Schengen country, you may not be able to apply for these visas – you already have the right to live and work in these countries.

Germany, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland do not currently have offer a ‘digital nomad visa, although there are alternatives.

France and Denmark also have options for those wanting to work remotely.

Several European countries, however, now do offer these visas.

Albania

Albania’s new Unique Permit scheme allows digital nomads to apply for a Type D visa, which is valid for a year, and which can be renewed for up to five years.

While there are no explicit requirements for a monthly or yearly salary, it has been suggested that a minimum yearly income of €9.024,33 would result in an approval.

Applications can take up to twelve weeks, and the costs for the visa will vary, based on your country of origin.

Croatia

Croatia introduced their Digital Nomad Residence Permit in 2021, and it is becoming a popular option for remote workers.

This visa is valid for a year, and can be renewed – although you’ll have to leave the country for six months before you can reapply.

A minimum monthly salary of €2.446,69 is required for a successful application.

The cost of this visa will vary, depending on the country from which you apply.

Cyprus

Cyprus has an appealing Digital Nomad Visa program, albeit one that is capped – only 500 are available per year.

Applicants will need to be able to prove a minimum monthly income of €3,500 to receive a visa, and it is valid for one year – renewable for a further two.

Applicants will need to pay €140 – €70 for the application fee, and €70 for the Alien Registration Certificate.

Estonia

A trailblazer in attracting remote workers, Estonia’s Digital Nomad Visa is one of Europe’s most desirable.

This is due to the country’s excellent online infrastructure and support for remote workers, through its E-Residency Card program.

Applicants can also expect a response to their application within a month – a much shorter waiting period than for several other countries.

Applicants must pay a €60 application fee, and be able to show evidence of a €4,500 monthly salary.

Greece

Greece’s Digital Nomad Visa is valid for two years, renewable for another two years.

It costs €75, and you’ll need to be making at least €3,500 a month to be successful when applying.

Hungary

Hungary’s ‘White Card’ was introduced in 2021 to attract remote workers to the central European country.

The ‘White Card’ is valid for one year, and can be extended once for a further year.

Applicants need to be able to show that they’re earning the equivalent of €3,000 a month, and costs €110 to apply for.

Iceland

Iceland also has a digital nomad visa, although it’s slightly different to many others.

The country’s Long-term visa for Remote Work is only valid for up to 180 days, although it can be applied for again 90 days after leaving the Schengen zone.

It costs €80.96 to apply, and you will need to be making at least €6.636,13 a month to be successful.

Italy

Italy’s digital nomad visa is Europe’s newest, effective from April 4th. The initial visa is valid for a year, and there is no upper limit on renewals, as long as the applicant still meets the criteria.

It’s important to know that applicants will need to be earning €28,000 a year to be successful. The visa must be applied for at the nearest consulate, and costs €116.

Malta

Malta’s Nomad Residence Permit is valid for one year and can be renewed a further three times, for a maximum stay of four years.

Applicants need to show that they are making at least €42,000 a year and the application fee is €300.

Norway

Norway’s digital nomad visa offering is rather unique.

First, the Digital Nomad Visa is valid for up to two years, and can be reapplied for. Applicants must show an annual income of €35,719 and the application costs €600.

Then there’s the Svalbard Digital Nomad Visa. While it has much the same requirements as the regular digital nomad visa, successful applicants must also reside within the Svalbard archipelago, within the Arctic Circle.

Amazingly, there is no expiry date for the Svalbard visa – it has a lifetime duration. However, you will have to pay Norwegian taxes.

Both of these visas can be applied for through the official Norwegian government website.

Spain

Although it was only introduced last year, Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa programme has already proved successful.

The initial visa is valid for one year, and it can be renewed for up to five years.

It costs €80 to apply, and applicants need to show that they’re making a minimum of €2,646 a month.

Portugal

Portugal’s digital nomad visa program is one of Europe’s most well-known.

Two specific visas specifically cater towards digital nomads. The Temporary Stay Visa is valid for three months and can be renewed up to four times – the maximum stay being a year.

This visa costs €75 to apply for, and applicants have to show a monthly salary of €3,280.

The Residency Visa is valid for four months, after which it can be reapplied for, lasting two years.

It costs €80 to apply for, and the income threshold is increased to €3,304.

Family members can accompany those on a Residency Visa, while on a Temporary Stay visa, they cannot.

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How easy is it to get Italy's new digital nomad visa?

The introduction of Italy’s long-awaited digital nomad visa, a full two years after parliament first approved the idea in principle, has generated significant buzz in international remote working circles.

Many questions remain, however, about how to access the visa.

We put some of those to Italian immigration law expert Nick Metta from Studio Legale Metta.

He told us that while in many respects the decree is surprisingly lenient, it also contains some clear hurdles, particularly for self-employed workers.

Besides those obstacles laid out in the text of the law itself, Italian consulates have the power to introduce their own rules, making the visa more difficult to obtain in practice.

We discussed the ways in which the law is more lenient than anticipated, as well as potential obstacles prospective applicants can expect to encounter.

Let’s start by looking at some of the ways in which the application criteria are relatively generous:

The skills threshold is low

The decree requires applicants to be “highly skilled”, which is defined as having a three-year degree with six months’ relevant experience, an accredited professional qualification, or equivalent experience – all of which, Metta says, is surprisingly lenient.

“We would have expected a high level of scrutiny over the “high skills”, but high skills can be really pretty much anything.

“They say if you have a college degree and six months work experience, that’s enough. Does that qualify you as having high skills? I don’t think so.”

As for equivalent professional experience, Metta notes that getting a professional qualification or licence is often easier abroad than in Italy.

Italy’s digital nomad visa allows you to work from anywhere in the country. Photo by David L. Espina Rincon on Unsplash

“Look at lawyers: lawyers could get a licence in Spain without any exam until a few years ago. So a lot of students used to go to Spain, take up their licence and go back to Italy to practice.

“There are still some situations like that, where licences in certain areas are granted with much less scrutiny than would be the case in Italy.”

Access to the Italian job market

In the past, Metta says, Italy’s laws have been staunchly protectionist when it comes accessing the Italian labour market.

“In the previous immigration law, if you wanted to hire someone from overseas you had to demonstrate that there was a lack of available candidates in the same industry for the same role in Italy,” he says – but in the new law, “there is zero about that”.

The decree also doesn’t say that remote workers most be employed by clients or companies based overseas, in theory opening up the domestic job market to non-EU nationals.

“It’s not direct in saying you can be employed by an Italian employer, but there are so many references that make it an obvious conclusion that one could be hired by an employer from Italy.”

Leniency around income and background checks

Metta observes that the law doesn’t specify that your income – which must be at least three times the minimum amount that would grant you free access to Italy’s national health service, or just under €28,000 – must come from work.

That means other income sources, such as rent, could count towards this amount.

The decree also doesn’t require you to undergo a criminal background check or personally sign an affidavit affirming that you don’t have a criminal record.

It’s only employers or clients based in Italy, Metta clarifies, who must self-certify that they’ve not been convicted within the last five years of specific crimes relating to migration, sex work, exploitation of minors or labour exploitation.

What’s involved in applying for Italy’s digital nomad visa? Photo by David L. Espina Rincon on Unsplash

He notes, however, that individual consulates may require the applicant to supply a criminal background check.

“The fact that the law doesn’t ask for a background check in your own country doesn’t mean the Italian consulate won’t ask for it, because for the elective residency visa and other visas the Italian consulates have thrown it in.”

Potential hurdles

While many of the requirements for the digital nomad visa are more relaxed than experts predicted, Metta notes that there are a number of potential hurdles.

Many of these relate to being self-employed – which a majority of remote workers are – as freelancers typically lack a steady income or proof of employment.

Here are some of the obstacles that would-be applicants for the digital nomad visa are likely to face:

Employment contracts and references

The decree requires that applications provide either an employment contract or a ‘letter of collaboration’.

Most freelancers don’t have the former, which means they’ll need to ask their clients to supply the latter.

“Hopefully they have simple engagement letters or letters of collaboration, a track record that they can demonstrate,” says Metta.

He notes that with Italy’s elective residency visa (ERV), consulates often request letters of reference from an accountant certifying your spending and annual income – so something similar might apply here.

“It is very possible that they might ask for a letter recommendation from a client you might have had for a while or evidence of signed engagement letters from other clients; something that would give the consulate similar peace of mind to a contract with an employer.”

Accommodation requirement

The law requires an applicant to prove they already have accommodation in Italy.

While it doesn’t say what kind of proof is required, in the case of the ERV, consulates have made it clear in the past that booking an airbnb doesn’t count: you must have either a rental lease agreement or a property ownership deed.

Metta says he gets usually approaches this rule by advising applicants who don’t own Italian property to sign a 12-month lease agreement, adding a clause that allows them to leave with two or three months’ notice.

Proof of income

For self-employed workers whose annual salary tends to fluctuate year on year, proving you meet the government’s minimum income threshold might be a challenge.

The consulate is likely to request tax returns and bank statements, “and once again, they might ask for a letter of reference from your financial advisor or accountant confirming what you’re saying,” says Metta.

“It’s almost like when you go to apply for a mortgage: if you’re self-employed it’s a little bit tougher.”

When it comes to the ERV, consulates have in the past sometimes raised the income threshold significantly above the government’s limit, and Metta suggests the same could happen here.

Can you make a living while travelling the world? Italy’s new digital nomad visa is expected to make this easier. Photo by Persnickety Prints on Unsplash

He compares two applicants: one “a person who has been working for Microsoft for ten years, wanting to go to Italy with a letter from HR saying it’s totally cool with us if this person moves to Italy”; another “self-employed with six months of experience just fresh out of college with a very very limited track record.”

In the latter case, he says, “the Italian consulate wants to be impressed. €28,000? Ehh…”

“What we recommend is, try to make your application as solid as possible,” he says.

“So if you are fresh out of college with only six months of experience, make sure you have, once again, a letter of recommendation, leads, people who are promising to engage you. Whatever you can, try to throw it in.”

The consulate has absolute power

As mentioned above, an Italian consulate has the power to arbitrarily raise the government’s minimum income threshold and tighten the application criteria – and if yours is strict, there’s not much you can do about it.

“The Italian consulates have discretion based on geography, socio-economic situation, and so many other factors,” says Metta.

While it’s still very early days for the digital nomad visa, some applicants have already reported being turned away by their local consulate.

A member of Facebook group Expats Living in Italy said they were recently informed by the Miami consulate that applicants “must have a masters degree or certification and have contacts with “a company like Apple” to be eligible.

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