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This is a ridiculous claim probably very biased by a local worldview given that the number of DN visas has exploded in the last 2 years.

I've been working remote for 8 years now and it's never been easier and the amount of options worldwide is unreal.

tmountain 302 days ago

I live in Portugal, and there is a robust debate around this topic. It's far from ridiculous, and nationality laws are in the process of changing as a component of this discussion.

Also, many countries are "tightening down" their golden visa programs or removing them entirely. I have a friend who works for a golden visa consultancy, and they're already in the process of pivoting because of so many changes.

> I live in Portugal, and there is a robust debate around this topic.

Assumed it was somewhere in that region because my European friends usually talk about it. Personally find it bizarre because the few thousand digital nomads are barely moving the needle compared to tourism or normal migration. It comes across as people getting very upset about a minor issue because they have rigid ideological views that prevent them from touching the main one. A convenient scapegoat but nothing will change in the slightest if the Portugese DN visa is scrapped.

You've created the easiest pathway to a EU passport and then wonder why the planet flocks there.

The simple solution here is to build enough housing to meet demand.

tmountain 302 days ago

I agree with you. It's purely political. The country has shifted to the right because of rhetoric around immigrants being the reason for everyone's problems. I do not agree with it, but I'm seeing it every day, and it does suggest that DN may be less viable as time goes on.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/27/lisbon-portuga...

mattmanser 302 days ago

I don't think it's ridiculous, you might even argue we're at "peak" digital nomad. There's definitely pushback building, here's an example from recently:

‘There’s an arrogance to the way they move around the city’: is it time for digital nomads like me to leave Lisbon?

I know the guardian can be very hand wringy, but digital nomads are going to get swept up in the general anti-migration narrative that most populaces are now feeling. Anti-mass-migration in most populations, anti-tourist in Venice, anti-nomad in Portugal.

Locals are feeling betrayed by their politicians and foreigners are an easy target to point at and say "why is this happening". The Lisbon example is especially egregious, with the digital nomads being taxed less than locals. Locals are subsidizing their lifestyles.

techcode 301 days ago

"Locals are subsidizing their lifestyles"

Same feelings towards non-nomadic Expats in The Netherlands - because of the "30% tax free for Expats".

Meanwhile the truth is that some 15-20 years ago - Dutch government introduced that "30% tax rule" as a cost saving measures.

Previously expats in The Netherlands would collect bills/receipts for expatriation related expenses (e.g. language classes, international school for kids, differences in cost of living/housing ...etc).

And processing those tax claims was so much bureaucracy that Dutch government realized just giving expats 30% of gross income tax free for 10 years (reduced to 8 and then 5 years) is both less money than actual expenses used to be, and much less paperwork/cost.

And let's not forget that (definitely for non-nomadic expats, though arguably also for digital nomads) country didn't need to pay their birth/growing up, education ...etc.

And (especially for digital nomads) might not need to cover the costs for their old age health, retirement and such.

> but digital nomads are going to get swept up in the general anti-migration narrative that most populaces are now feeling

Can you name one digital nomad visa that has been scrapped in the last year or two?

I can name a few dozen that have been implemented.

When I started in 2017 there was maybe 3 or 4 places you could move on Earth with a six figure USD salary as a remote worker, it was always a grey zone to go places on tourist visas but that's how people rolled and countries knew how good a deal it was for them compared to raising/educating/supporting locals so let it slide. There's over 70 legal valid options now for remote workers in 2025.

The easily proven evidence doesn't stack up with the narrative people and newspapers likes the Guardian are trying to push for clicks.

I personally couldn't care less if locals don't like me. My own countrymen are jealous about me having a good paying remote job too.

exasperaited 302 days ago

And so they should. It looks like a fun trend until you realise how little digital nomads give back and how much they take.

It doesn't matter what they contribute to the government and local communities, the digital nomad visa wasn't built with that in mind.

Digital nomads make landlords and property owners richer so there's a high chance the system will be allowed indefinitely since a lot of Croatians are property owners so they directly or indirectly benefit from this gentrification.

The system will only be challenged in politics once enough young Croatian voters find themselves priced out of their own cities like in Barcelona or Lisbon.

mschuster91 302 days ago

> The system will only be challenged in politics once enough young Croatian voters find themselves priced out of their own cities like in Barcelona or Lisbon.

Outside of the direct coastal areas that already struggle with this issue from tourism, the brain drain that followed the 90s Independence War still left a sizable amount of empty real estate just sitting around.

And even in the direct coastal areas... a place to live is cheap. In doubt, just buy it, usually young people pool together some cash from relatives and some from bank loans to get started. Or they build it piece by piece, floor by floor, just like my grandparents did. Work a few years in a good job abroad, return to the homeland, build a house.

>In doubt, just buy it

With what money? Doesn't matter, just buy it bro!

>young people pool together some cash from relatives

Where's my cash from my relatives? Guess I should have picked better parents.

>Or they build it piece by piece, floor by floor, just like my grandparents did.

Yes I'm sure building a house today is like in the 1950s. Same rules and regulations. I buy a small piece of land in the city and can just start laying bricks after work and then live in them.

mschuster91 301 days ago

> With what money? Doesn't matter, just buy it bro!

Work in Germany, set aside money, go back to Croatia. Land and construction costs are really cheap compared to Germany. It's a common thing in Croatia.

> Yes I'm sure building a house today is like in the 1950s. Same rules and regulations. I buy a small piece of land in the city and can just start laying bricks after work and then live in them

You still can do that today and extend an existing structure after the initial permit/inspection. All you need is the lower stories be solid enough statically, and you can't use that to get around zoning limitation on building height/story count. And yes, you can even do that in the motherhood of bureaucracy that's colloquially called Germany.

FirmwareBurner 301 days ago

>And yes, you can even do that in the motherhood of bureaucracy that's colloquially called Germany.

So why isn't anyone doing it?

willvarfar 302 days ago

The local economy also gains from the small but continuous spend on restaurants and cafes etc, and the spend is encouraged to be year-round and not just in peak holiday season.

>The local economy also gains from the small but continuous spend on restaurants and cafes etc

Speaking as someone living in Austria ATM, that's the worst kind of industry you want to boost if you want more money in the community, as it only creates dead-end low wage unskilled jobs(often taken by seasonal immigrants who send that money home) and is rife with cash-driven tax evasion, leading to more wealth and income disparity. If you get more and richer tourists, you won't get better paid baristas or waiters with better pension plans, but wealthier business owners who will buy more properties and flashy cars while still hiring the cheapest most desperate labor possible from abroad.

As a government, you should do the opposite, focus on attracting or creating highly skilled innovation jobs (like NL or Sweden did) and the hospitality jobs will follow naturally.

There's a reason countries where the tourism industry is a big part of the GDP, are low income countries.

> There's a reason countries where the tourism industry is a big part of the GDP, are low income countries.

Unreal that you can't see the obvious logical flaw in this argument.

As opposed to your bad faith comment that argues nothing and just breaks HN rules?