Digital Nomad Thread

Cadder · 21 Dec 2023 at 20:34

Interested to know if any OCUK forum users are or have been digital nomads in recent years.

If so, what were the first steps you took? In how many destinations did you work and for how long?

PaulM · 22 Dec 2023 at 08:21

If you’re single as long as you have proof of income there aren’t many steps, apply for visa, get health insurance, find place to rent (I Airbnb’d the first few weeks to explore where to properly rent), enjoy.

I lived in Greece for a year and Estonia for a year on digital nomad visas and it was great, especially Estonia, cheap living expenses, nice people.

I would absolutely still be doing it if I didn’t have a health condition reoccurrence which has basically made it impossible to get insurance

Cadder · 22 Dec 2023 at 08:33

@PaulM thanks for the response and sorry you're unable to continue the digital nomad journey.

I am married. We both work together, running our limited company consultancy. It's all computer work and in-person meetings/site visits are rare. Most meetings are held online.

Did you work for an employer or through your own company?

PaulM · 22 Dec 2023 at 09:50

I worked through my own company, the first time I did it I wasn't paying myself a fixed amount so had to prove the solo company income was above the country nomad requirement for the previous 12 months. It was a bit of a hassle, the second time I set the company up to pay me a fixed monthly salary which was much easier for them to verify as the overall 'company' income fluctuated quite a lot for what I was doing.

Do you plan on getting individual nomad visas for you and your wife or one nomad visa and a partner visa? Some of the couples I spoke to while doing it said it was significantly easier to just get two separate solo nomad visas.

Cadder · 22 Dec 2023 at 10:10

PaulM said:
I worked through my own company, the first time I did it I wasn't paying myself a fixed amount so had to prove the solo company income was above the country nomad requirement for the previous 12 months. It was a bit of a hassle, the second time I set the company up to pay me a fixed monthly salary which was much easier for them to verify as the overall 'company' income fluctuated quite a lot for what I was doing.

Our accountant set up our payslips so that side of things should be good. Thanks for the heads up, I'll check our payslips against destination country requirements.

PaulM said:
Do you plan on getting individual nomad visas for you and your wife or one nomad visa and a partner visa? Some of the couples I spoke to while doing it said it was significantly easier to just get two separate solo nomad visas

This is very interesting. I don't know enough about either option to have a preference but I'll bear that in mind regarding two solo visas.

I'll be speaking to our accountant again soon to see how the tax side of things works - operating remotely but having a UK limited company. If there's a negligible difference between overall tax expenses then I can see us going ahead.

On Holiday · 22 Dec 2023 at 10:28

Bear in mind that you'll need to be in the UK for 183 days of the year (or more) to remain a tax resident and avoid being liable for double tax where "Double taxation treaties" exist, otherwise you'll need to do an "Statutory Residence Test" and obtain a certificate of residence which you can show off to the government of wherever you are to show that your tax is already being collected and paid.

If you can just do tourism visas, go for that and keep schtum on working/earning whilst you're in that country.. "living off savings" etc.. unless you really want to make it your base for a good amount of time.

Safetywings are the best for nomad visas unless you want to spend £lots on a full-on AXA policy.

delta0 · 27 Dec 2023 at 01:09

On Holiday said:
Bear in mind that you'll need to be in the UK for 183 days of the year (or more) to remain a tax resident and avoid being liable for double tax where "Double taxation treaties" exist, otherwise you'll need to do an "Statutory Residence Test" and obtain a certificate of residence which you can show off to the government of wherever you are to show that your tax is already being collected and paid.

If you can just do tourism visas, go for that and keep schtum on working/earning whilst you're in that country.. "living off savings" etc.. unless you really want to make it your base for a good amount of time.

Safetywings are the best for nomad visas unless you want to spend £lots on a full-on AXA policy.

This depends on the country. You will trigger tax issues for the US with 31 days in a year or 183 days over 3 years.

On Holiday · 27 Dec 2023 at 09:13

delta0 said:
This depends on the country. You will trigger tax issues for the US with 31 days in a year or 183 days over 3 years.

That isn't relevant for a UK resident with no US work permit/visa - i.e. "tourism".

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If anybody is considering working above-board remotely in foreign countries then it'd be worth looking at Deel to take care of payroll & tax implications.