Why work in one office, home, city, country or continent when you could experience so many? The digital Nomad Visa is the future of online work and travel.
What is it?
A digital nomad put simply is an individual who lives a nomadic lifestyle, using technology to work and travel remotely from outside his or her home country.
The visa allows these individuals to live and work in another country legally. It's kind of like a holiday visa and a work visa but the work is digital and the holiday is physical.
The visa is available to students and workers, however costs and requirements tend to vary.
Many countries who offer the visa allow the individuals to apply for themselves and dependents.
There are however some draw backs, like this lifestyle may limit the formation of long-lasting relationships.
This kind of travel and adventure may not appeal to everyone but more and more people are working online and this gives them the ability to do it pretty much anywhere.
What Countries offer this type of Visa?
Currently about 41 countries offer this type (with variations) of visa and more and more are creating them. To check some of them out click this link
Where is Africa in this and why should African countries be offering these types of visa’s?
As you can see from the list only 4 African countries offer some sort of Nomadic visa and 3 are island nations, one is still pending.
South Africa, or more specifically Cape Town is attempting to offer a Nomad visa, as the link states “The City of Cape Town which has been voted as one of the 'Best Places for Remote Working' in 2021” has even made a comprehensive plan to attract even more digital nomads.
Benefits and Drawbacks to a Country
Benefits
There may be tons of benefits but here are the immediate ones we can think of.
More tourists.
Most digital nomads have an online presence that promotes the places they stay and influences followers to visit.
They spend money in the country they are staying (money that would never otherwise be spent).
Costs to the country are nothing. No jobs are taken from residents and on the flip side they may even create jobs that never existed with money that would otherwise never come into the country.
Long term tourists tend to do more good, fall in love and protect the areas and have less of an impact than many individuals with temporary stay visas that sometimes abuse the destinations and then leave.
Draw Backs
Again there may be lots but without going into a full debate, here are the main two we can think of.
They don’t pay income tax. This we believe is mitigated by the fact that these individuals will pay vat and other forms of tax that they wouldn’t if this visa never existed. Technically they will pay tax in their country of origin and also they don’t work in the country but rather virtually.
It may to a certain extent allow for leaks when people abuse the system. However we say this with caution as the world we know always has individuals that will attempt to abuse the system.
Most of Southern Africa we believe is perfect for digital nomad visas. From Mozambique to Kenya there is loads of potential to benefit the region.
Do you think Southern Africa is missing out on the digital nomadic movement and its potential?
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