Estonia Hands out Visas for Digital Nomads

In the new normal, countries across the world are trying out ways to support travelling and increase air traffic. Visas for digital nomads has become quite the thing wth countries offering special visas for remote workers. Dubai is handing out retirement visas. 

Estonia is the latest country to launch a visa designed for digital nomads. The visa will let people working remotely for companies abroad or freelancers stay in Estonia for up to one year at a time and work.

With this new visa programme, Estonia wishes to attract high-earning independent professionals, mostly from the IT, finance, marketing, or similar fields.

This comes as an extension to Estonia’s well-known network of digital services such as electronic voting, digital prescriptions, and thousands more. The country is so precisely designed that all interactions with the government can be undertaken digitally, apart from getting married, divorced, or buying property.

The advantages of the digital infrastructure can easily be availed by becoming an 'e-resident' of the country. As of now, more than 70,000 people from 170 countries have become e-residents of Estonia attaching the digital identity that gives them access to the country’s digital services. It's not a right to actual residency, of course.

With the new scheme in place, the Estonian government estimates upto 1,800 applicants for the digital nomad visa within the first year, with the firsts of applications coming from the United States, Canada, South Africa, and Singapore. However, the income threshold is a major downside of the new visa. At 3,500 Euros net income per month, only the richest are eligible to apply for the same. The country had earlier implemented tough immigration rules for foreign workers and students.