In just about every way possible, the world is changing. Not all for the worse, either. As people become less physically tied to their working roles, opportunities to define home become broader, and in some cases, even exotic. How does working remotely from Greece sound, with a 50% tax break for the first 7 years?
Greece is the latest country to quickly adapt to the ever changing world, offering a new digital nomad visa, and with relatively low cost of living, where a nice apartment with a view is about $600 per month and all the heavenly greek food and wine is cheap too, it might not be a bad look…
Rise Of “Work Anywhere” Digital Nomad Visas
Greece is the latest in a flurry of countries offering digital nomad visas designed to lure remote workers with already gainful employment. The visas remove the long standing grey area between traveler and country, work and pleasure, where someone enters as a tourist, but undergoes work activities for their job based abroad.
The idea is that these are people who already hold employment from another country, and wouldn’t be taking away work from locals already in the country. Allowing them to live and work remotely brings in vital revenue for local businesses from apartments to things like restaurants, coffee shops and retail.
It’s good to have employed tourists spending longer amounts of time and discovering more genuine areas of any country, so countries are finally offering a legitimate way to stay longer, without grey area and complicated tax issues.
Details: Greek Digital Nomad Visa
Greece voted in favor of the new digital nomad visas in Parliament this week, with a campaign titled “if you can work from anywhere, why not Greece?”
Vietnam, Thailand and a slew of Baltic countries have always been popular with digital nomads, but with many countries closed off to outside visitors, and others absolutely freezing for half the year, many nomads are heading for Southern Europe. These visas are also a way for Americans to enter a given Europe country, despite current EU travel restrictions.
To woo longer term nomad visitors, hopefully beyond the few months most nomads spend in any given country, Greece is offering a 50% tax break for the first 7 years of your digital nomad status. This means currently employed people with flexible work locations could head for Greece, receiving a 50% break on income tax, which allows half the salary to remain tax free.
A relatively upscale 1 bedroom apartment in Athens, or many surrounding areas, and even dreamy islands can be secured for around $600-$750 per month, and food costs are traditionally much lower than the USA, or much of Western Europe.
Even 5G is coming! With only 50% of income counting towards payable local taxes for the first 7 years in Greece, there’s a lot to love!
Greek Digital Migrant Visa: When And Where?
With the Parliamentary approval of the new visa, it’s only a matter of time before full details are hammered out and an application link is live. For now, Greece joins Dubai, Barbados and a handful of others as newcomers fully embracing the digital nomad scene.
If you’re going to be working remotely for years, and are looking for a change of pace, there’s never been a more exciting time in travel.
The world is finally coming around to the realities of jobs in the modern age, and sipping some lovely assyrtiko from a breezy balcony while watching the sunset in Greece isn’t a bad way to replace Friday night work happy hours in the big city.
It depends on the industry you work in and the type of data you have access to. My wife works in finance and no data is allowed to be accessed outside the UK. GDPR is also a consideration. I worked with NHS data and to access to data outside the UK was a very complex process and could be accessed via a stand alone server in the UK with special levels of security. It’s a nice idea but lots of people wouldn’t be able to do this.
Of course, opportunities are rarely for everyone. But for many in IT, web design and digital creative industries, or even day traders, there’s huge opportunities right now to legally move around the globe, and that’s very exciting stuff.
Is it 50% off just income tax or also ocial security and all the other strange Greek tax like solidarity tax I have been told that some freelancers in greece pay around 70% even if you half that it’s not a good rate of tax
Hi, nice article but I need advice, which work can I get and work at from at home here in Africa.
This is great intel! Thank you for sharing. How does a US citizen get started on the process? I am considering moving out to Santorini or Athens for about 6 months. Any further details will be helpful.