Frequently Asked Questions
(01)
Is it legal?
This is often a complex and misunderstood topic and varies massively depending on your status as a worker, where you are visiting and for how long.
Everything is a lot more straight forward if you are a Contractor or run your own business, rather than being an employee. As a contractor you are liable for your own tax affairs and bear the ultimate responsibility for whatever decisions you take,
As an employee, most companies have restrictions on the number of days employees can work outside of their home country. They may also have additional concerns on data privacy or contractual obligations which require their employees to be based in a certain geographic locatio.
If you don't want to risk losing your employment, you'd be best advised to speak to your employer before to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
Assuming your working status allows you to work abroad, if you are moving from country to country, your stay on a tourist visa is always likely to be well before any legal obligations you may face on having to become a tax resident there. That changes if you are intending on spending 6 months of the year in a certain location.
Read up as much as you can on all of your certain criteria and speak to an expert if unsure.
(02)
Do you need a digital nomad visa?
Depending on the strength of your passport you may want to consider opting for a digital nomad visa, allowing you to legally work from the country of your choosing. This can be a great option if you are looking to spend a prolonged period in one location and allow you to avoid triggering any tax obligations.
If you are from a country with a strong passport, then there may be little benefit to acquiring one.
Read up on the specifics of your case and go from there.
(03)
How does travel insurance work?
Most travel insurance becomes invalidated after 30 days of continuous travel so for peace of mind, especially if visiting some more high-risk destinations, you should consider dedicated travel insurance.
I've been using the Nomad Insurance provided by SafetyWIng. I've fortunately not had to make a claim so far, but creating the policy was simple and straight forward.
(04)
What hours do you work?
I work in a business where the core hours of work are between Israel and Brazil.
There is a good degree of flexibility offered with when you choose to work but it's important to be online for a good chunk of time as the rest of your colleagues.
I've mainly focused on areas within a few hours of CET to minimise the disruption to your standard day.
(05)
Where do you work from?
I absolutely hate working from home.
I love a degree of seperation between work and leisure time and going to a coworking space everyday provides the perfect mix of social interaction and a professional atmosphere to get work done in.
They can be great place to meet grow a social network in a new city, become acquinted with a new area and provide some routine to your day which you may miss out on working from an apartment.
(06)
Is it lonely?
It certainly could be.
I have a busy workday Monday to Friday, where in the evenings I am all to happy to be just relaxing at home or heading out for a run. Working from a coworking space is a great environment to chat to people during the day in an informal setting and provides a certain degree of social engagement.
If you are the sort of person that needs the assurance of routine in-person social interaction, then it could certainly be a challenging lifestyle to adopt.
If you expect to arrive in each destination and quickly make a close nit community of friends, you are likely to be left disappointed.
If i were to offer any advice, it would be to be anticipate and be comfortable being in your own company for a prolonged period and then be pleasantly surprised by the connections you will inevitably make along the way.
(07)
Is it expensive?
I've always tried to keep my monthly outgoings roughly the same as what I would be paying if I had continued renting a (modest) room in London.
Month to month there are obviously fluctuations in costs but this always tends to average out.
Having a rough idea of what you want to spend every month and having some form of contingency fund should anything go wrong are crucial to budgeting effectively.
(08)
Is it not tiring?
If you are staying in a location for a less than a month and find yourself continuously on the move, then the constant cycle of packing and unpacking can become taxing - especially if you are maitaning a demanding full time job.
However, I have found changing destinations to generally always be an invigorating experience, I take great pleasure in locating new coffee shops and running routes.
Taking care of your physical and mental health so that you are in the best shape possible is super important so that this doesn't grind you down. If you treat it like a holiday and are going out 4 times a week (which I probably would've done in my 20s) you will burn out quickly.
it's important to find a balance - a month is the minimum I would generally suggest, unless you are intentionally trying to cover as much ground as possible.
(09)
What do you pack?
No matter the destination of duration of the trip I always take the same luggage - a moderate sized Holdall and a rucksack. Whatever additional clothing items you'll need, you are almost certainly going to be able to find them on the road.
An Amazon Alexa and Firestick have been great purchases that take up minimal room but can make you feel at home anywhere.
Having seperate native plug sockets for my Macbook charger, rather than relying on adaptors was one of the best £15 investments I've ever made for ease of convenience.
An Aeropress & Metal Filter also takes up minimal room but allow you to make great coffee anywhere.
(10)
Do you pay taxes?
Unfortunately, yes.
Having looked into this thoroughly, the only real way to circumvent this is to become a tax resident in a country such as Georgia or Dubai, and commit to spending 6 months a year annually there.
If you are considering entering the murky world of tax mitigiation/avoidance/evasion you would be best advised to speak specialist help.
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