Long-term visa for remote workers
work.iceland.is
work.iceland.is
That comes out to about $96k USD a year. Totally reachable for a SWE-type job, however I know fully remote workers who are far from this amount. I guess they just want people to come and throw money around the bars.
Is there any place which has gotten cheaper in recent years? Genuinely wondering.
E.g. Turkey, Belarus. They haven't necessarily gotten cheaper, but they probably have to tourists shopping in USD.
They know what they’re doing :) who is left? U and S
There's a lot of countries out there with high earners who aren't in the EU or USA ;).
I know of a few people using Malta as a base to nomad around Europe.
0: https://www.mondaq.com/uk/employee-rights-labour-relations/1...
1) Is not visa, you have to not need visa for Iceland to qualify 2) Is not long term, it's valid up to 180 days
On the other hand, they recognize remote workers which kind of fit somewhere in between tourists and people who come to work, which many other countries don't.
[1] https://utl.is/index.php/en/eea-efta-citizens-and-their-rela...
Maybe this is my American ignorance shining through here, but I didn't realize Iceland was not a member of the EU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland%E2%80%93European_Union...
Yep, only the European Economic area, like Norway. As with them, a big reason is stuff around fishing.
Basically, you can travel to meet a Canadian business - but you shouldn't be planning to travel just to do your job.
I’m paraphrasing slightly but they said work performed on the internet by someone not usually resident in Canada was permitted if the employer wasn’t a Canadian company.
In fact, if my options are to just jump on a plane without any thought and go for a 0-3 month trip vs file a ton of paperwork, get approved and go for a 3-6 month trip, I'll probably pick the former.
> An applicant for a long-term visa needs to show proof of health insurance coverage of 2,000,000 ISK as a minimum per person, which is 1) valid in Iceland | Schengen-area 2) valid for the duration of their stay in Iceland. If your insurance is not valid in Iceland, please see our Health Insurance page for a list of providers.
It will start a competition amongst countries to get the best talent in their borders.
For Iceland this will be a net win. Even if the people coming in don't pay taxes, their mere presence in the local economy for a few extra months per year could mean the difference between Iceland building another road or not.
Very impressive step from Iceland!
The median Icelandic salary is approx 600,000 ISK for context. So it's higher than the median, but not insane by any means.
It seems logical to me that you'd only want to grant visas to people who are "above average".
For comparison: Georgia (the country) offers a 360 day visa free entry for almost every country out there, no paperwork required. While the standard of living in Georgia is certainly lower, the nature there is much more diverse and just many more things to do.
I'm not sure if the person is allowed to use country services like healthcare, but I assume that also factors into the high-income requirement.
This is an anecdote, but I remember meals easily being 20-30 USD for basics. A cup of soup (tiny) was 13-14 USD and it wasn't in a tourist area. I'm sure someone will reply with cheap food found somewhere in iceland but as someone from the US, the cost of food in proportion to the amount and quality, it was surprising.
I hope someone chimes in with the rent cost. I'm not sure where that sits.
Give me word class beaches, great weather and cheap cost of living....South East Asia here I come!
But I don't really disagree with your basic point. I'd mostly rather vacation someplace and work at home. (Mostly. I have remote worked when I've had some time between trips in the same general area and I've just stayed there in between.)
Zero interest in working from a beach in SE Asia though, especially given the time zone difference from the eastern US. Though this comes from someone who has "free" lodging in my house in the US.
US citizens, for example, can also stay in Iceland as tourists for 90 days, so this sounds like an onerous amount of requirements to jump through to stay for 90 more.
Meaning not working. You can visit and live of you savings for 3 months, but not work. This new visa would allow you to work in Iceland for up to 6 months. That is a very big difference.
So yeah, technically that might be a volition of the visa (or visa waver). That is the point of the change we are discussing. Previously people visiting Iceland could not work without a work visa. Iceland is updating its set of visas acknowledge the current reality.
Again, you probably won't get kicked out of some country for checking you emails, but that doesn't mean it doesn't violate the conditions of the visa.
Edit: and no, in most places a tourist visa means you are not allowed to do work (for anyone) in that country. The point is to make employers (both foreign and domestic) hire locals in the first instance. Doing work for a foreign employer still requires a specific visa.
Then this would mean if you received and answered a work text message while a tourist in another country, you would be violating what, exactly? Can you cite something specific, in any country, and the corresponding penalty? And also anyone, ever, having faced repercussions for this?
Allowed: - Consult with business associates - Attend a scientific, educational, professional, or business convention or conference - Participating in short-term training - Settle an estate - Negotiate a contrast
Not allowed:
- Paid performances, or any professional performance before a paying audience - Arrival as a crewmember on a ship or aircraft - Work as foreign press, in radio, film, print journalism, or other information media
To take an extreme example, Microsoft can’t just have someone from Mexico come into the US for 3 months to work on a project in their Seattle office even though their salary may be paid by Microsoft Mexico.
> The applicant can show their monthly income is equivalent to 1,000,000 ISK, or 1,300,000 ISK if applying for an accompanying spouse, cohabiting partner, and children under the age of 18.
You can buy permanent residence in Costa Rica for $5000-ish.
And all of this is for an activity that most countries would be fine with you doing on a tourist visa. It’s pointless.
I don’t see the appeal. It seems completely pointless to me. It’s basically targetting only wealthy countries outside of the EU, like Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand.
And in that case, why would I bother with visa and the paperwork just to be able to stay for 90 days longer?
It’s basically like applying for a B1/B2 visa for the US if you’re from a VWP country. You can do it, but why in the gods name would you?
Well, now you can do that.
Some countries of citizenship will require you to declare your domicile elsewhere, but in virtually all of those cases a post box in Costa Rica and registering a business there will suffice.
Also doesn’t work for US nationals, because US taxes all green card holders and citizens irrespective of actual residence
> It’s basically like applying for a B1/B2 visa for the US if you’re from a VWP country. You can do it, but why in the gods name would you?
If your esta gets rejected.
Their airline was quite popular as a cheap route between Europe and North America, and again, lots of otherwise passengers can’t/won’t make that journey.
1. You are offering entry but not equal treatment (in terms of economic freedom). 2. In Europe citizens have taxpayer paid healthcare but as a visitor you are screwed, I mean private insurance exists but it is hard to have a good restaurant in town if another government funded restaurant is distributing food for free.
If you can say we will give you 100% exemption from tax then it is a different story.
However if you've been to Iceland and thought there wasn't much outdoors, I'm not really sure what to say. It's sparsely inhabited, beautiful, and gigantic. It's a totally different experience from something like the sierras.
I'd love to see this from Japan or Korea. I'd definitely go and spend my money.
Incredibly smart business decision on Iceland's part, though. I'm sure they'll get some takers and enjoy that extra "long term tourist" income.
So, I share your desire. I do not expect it to happen, thou.
February average high and low temps (according to Google):
Miami 75°/64° F
Atlanta 58°/36° F
Tokyo 51°/36° F
New York 43°/29° F
Reykjavík 38°/28° F
Seoul 40°/24° F
Toronto 32°/21° FIts basically an urbanist's dream come true, with mega tall apartment complexes even in backwater villages. Right next to single family homes, right next to hilly forested areas where you can hike. There is excellent transit so you don't need to own a car (although a lot of people still do).
There is the possibility of being caught in a nuclear hellfire though. So... YMMV.
The only problem would be the time difference, assuming you're working for an American company.
I've spent 4 months in Japan as a digital nomad, while working for a company based in Europe. It worked. Now that I live and work in the US, I'm pretty sure the time difference would be too disruptive.
I can spend 6 months in the UK per year, but I can work no more than something like 30. Here is an old chart: https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2016/01/statutory-r...
A "tourist working remotely" visa fills this obvious gap, without the implication of a proper work visa that you are taking a job away from a local (what they local authorities are mostly concerned with).
I doubt there is any tourist visa that explicitly prohibits working for a company in another country. Were this true, everyone checking their work email, or taking a work call, while on vacation, would be breaking the law.
Hardly. Most countries treat the rich differently from everyone else, when it comes to immigration/visas, and have basically forever. It's the overwhelming norm. In plenty of desirable countries you can simply buy your way to permanent residency. And I don't just mean the usual tropical tax havens.
For most countries, it's "prove your worth—and it better be damn good—or go away". One way to prove worth is to bring a ton of cash to the table.
"The applicant does not intend to reside in Iceland for the long term."
Climate so severe that even polar bears can barely survive. To do what? Shovel snow and take selfies with penguins?
Even Bangladesh seems like a more interesting destination for work.
Is is also not warm in summer though :) (I guess the gulf stream is regulating temperatures pretty heavily).
Not because of the climate. Polar bears are not native to Iceland; all that swim there are shot.