Digital Nomad Visas in 2026: A World Cup of Visas

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When I started The Global Move, the first thing I published was a set of ways to move to another country and work there without an employer. I called that series Employer Not Required, and I used it to lay out the real alternatives to the one piece of advice most people ever hear, which is, go find a company to sponsor you. One of those alternatives was the digital nomad visa.

I wrote the 2025 version of this list, Top 21 Digital Nomad Visas in 2025. A year later, almost every number on it has moved, several programs are brand new, and one or two have gone quiet. This is the 2026 update, country by country, with an official government link for each one so you can confirm the figure yourself before you book anything.

These visas may have hit their peak around 2020, and the popular destinations have amended them again and again since then, yet they remain one of the widest options open to engineers who want to work abroad. That is the heart of this guide. There are a lot of digital nomad visas in 2026, and you are about to see how many, spread across regions for almost every taste: big economies and small ones, sun-soaked coasts and cosmopolitan cities. There really is something for everyone here.

I built this guide to name as many as I could with the most current data I could find, anchored to official sources. Digital nomad visas are a global affair, so the websites are usually in English, but for a couple of cases, I tried to access each government site in its original language (thank you, translate features) so the figures stay fresh.

Putting it together reminded me of the football World Cup. A bigger one than ever, with more teams to get behind than any edition before it, and that part is a fact: 48 national teams now, fifty percent more than last time. Visas haven’t grown by 50% in the past four years, but each time I come back to writing about visas, I end up thinking that opportunities keep growing more than shrinking. The way I see it, digital nomad visas are playing their own World Cup. There are dozens of contenders, and the champion is the one you pick.

How many countries actually offer one

The number depends on what you count, so here is how I count it. Dedicated digital nomad visas: about 55 in 2026. Add the remote-work permits that work the same way in practice, and you pass 60. Some trackers reach 70 or more if you include programs that exist only on paper. The team at Immigrant Invest puts the dedicated count around 55, and that is the figure I trust.

I remember writing once that there were over 70. That number mixed dedicated visas with looser permits, and since then the trackers tightened their definitions while a couple of programs closed. More countries run a real program today than a year ago.

A word on the numbers before you trust a single one

These thresholds are not fixed. Most of them are pegged to a local minimum wage or an average salary, so the income requirement you read in a blog post from last spring is very likely wrong by now. Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Colombia, and Ecuador all moved their figures in early 2026 for exactly this reason. Also, to give an example, I wasn’t able to get the exact number for Romania’s minimum income threshold, but still I left a pretty helpful figure for you to rely on.

For every visa below, I link to the official government page. Read the number there, on the day you apply, in the currency it is written in. Use my table to gauge the rough size, then confirm the live figure at the source. If a model or a forum tells you one thing and the government page says another, the government page wins!

What changed in 2026: World Cup Edition 🏆🗺️

Here is what actually moved this year.

Sri Lanka finally launched. After years of being promised, Sri Lanka opened its Digital Nomad Visa in February 2026, run by the Department of Immigration and Emigration. It asks for about USD 2,000 a month for the one-year visa; there is a longer five-year option, and it renews. If you’re heading here, make sure you buy your Sri Lankan national cricket team jersey (they’re actually quite cool).

Three new European programs. Bulgaria opened a digital nomad route at the end of 2025. Slovenia launched its permit in late 2025 and is one of the newest European countries to run one. Moldova started its program in late 2025 and sets the income bar at around USD 3,100 a month.

The Philippines signed one, but I think it’s not live yet. An executive order created a Philippine digital nomad visa in 2025, but the implementing rules were still not in force by mid-2026, and I think you cannot apply for it today. Why I say “I think”: because I tried it myself and couldn’t get past the login screen. It seems like the auth was broken. Since this matches other testimonials I read online telling that the system isn’t ready yet, I wasn’t surprised by this. So, watch the Bureau of Immigration for the day it opens, and know it runs on a reciprocity rule, so eligibility will depend on whether your country offers Filipinos the same. Some valuable comments I found online and that could help make up your mind:

“It is only available for citizens of countries that offer digital nomad visas to Filipinos. Limiting but understandable.”

“The requirements are really high, doesn’t really worth it, the digital nomads here are usually just under ‘tourist visa’ less complicated.”

Several countries got stricter. The UAE doubled the bank-statement window on its Dubai remote-work visa to six months and raised the health-insurance floor. Spain ran a fraud crackdown on fake employment contracts. Greece removed the option to apply from inside the country, so you now apply at a consulate before you travel. Indonesia sent an immigration task force to Bali and deported dozens of foreigners who were working on tourist visas instead of the proper permit. Read the current rules, keep your paperwork clean, and do not improvise. The countries that tightened all caught the same thing: people who assumed the rules had not moved.

Thailand went the other way and loosened. Its long-term LTR visa lowered the revenue bar a qualifying foreign employer has to clear, from USD 150 million to USD 50 million, and eased the old experience requirement.

Some Caribbean programs closed. Antigua and Barbuda shut its Nomad Digital Residence on 15 November 2025, so it is off this year’s list. Anguilla’s program has gone quiet, with its public information untouched for years, so I have left it off, too. The Bahamas program is seemingly discontinued. The islands change faster than Europe does, so confirm any of them in writing before you count on it.

Now the full list, grouped by region.

Europe

Europe runs the deepest set of options, and the popular ones cluster in the south. Portugal and Spain remain the two most asked-about by a wide margin, partly because both give you a real path toward longer residency rather than a single year and out.

Portugal 🇵🇹

• Visa: D8

• Min. income (2026): USD 4,230/mo

• Duration: 1 yr (or 2-yr residence permit)

• Official source: vistos.mne.gov.pt

Spain 🇪🇸

• Visa: Digital Nomad (Telework) Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 3,280/mo

• Duration: Up to 5 yrs

• Official source: inclusion.gob.es

Croatia 🇭🇷

• Visa: Digital Nomad Stay

• Min. income (2026): USD 4,160/mo

• Duration: Up to 18 months

• Official source: mup.gov.hr

Greece 🇬🇷

• Visa: Digital Nomad Visa (Type D)

• Min. income (2026): USD 4,030/mo

• Duration: 1 yr, then 2-yr permit

• Official source: migration.gov.gr

Italy 🇮🇹

• Visa: Digital Nomad / Remote Worker Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 32,200/yr

• Duration: 1 yr, renewable

• Official source: vistoperitalia.esteri.it

Malta 🇲🇹

• Visa: Nomad Residence Permit

• Min. income (2026): USD 48,300/yr

• Duration: 1 yr, renewable

• Official source: residencymalta.gov.mt

Estonia 🇪🇪

• Visa: Digital Nomad Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 5,180/mo

• Duration: Up to 1 yr (reapply)

• Official source: e-resident.gov.ee

Hungary 🇭🇺

• Visa: White Card

• Min. income (2026): USD 3,450/mo

• Duration: 1 yr (+1)

• Official source: oif.gov.hu

Latvia 🇱🇻

• Visa: Remote Work Long-Stay Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 4,840/mo

• Duration: 1 yr (+1)

• Official source: pmlp.gov.lv

Czechia 🇨🇿

• Visa: Digital Nomad Program

• Min. income (2026): USD 3,220/mo

• Duration: Up to 3 yrs

• Official source: mpo.gov.cz

Cyprus 🇨🇾

• Visa: Digital Nomad Residence Permit

• Min. income (2026): USD 4,030/mo

• Duration: Up to 3 yrs

• Official source: gov.cy

Romania 🇷🇴

• Visa: Digital Nomad Long-Stay Visa

• Min. income (2026): About 3x avg gross salary (USD 4,000/mo)

• Duration: 6 months, extendable

• Official source: evisa.mae.ro

Bulgaria 🇧🇬

• Visa: Digital Nomad Visa (new 2026)

• Min. income (2026): USD 35,650/yr

• Duration: 1 yr, renewable

• Official source: mfa.bg

Slovenia 🇸🇮

• Visa: Digital Nomad Permit (new 2026)

• Min. income (2026): About 2x avg net salary

• Duration: Up to 1 yr

• Official source: gov.si

Moldova 🇲🇩

• Visa: Digital Nomad Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 3,100/mo

• Duration: 2 yrs

• Official source: igm.gov.md

Please keep in mind that the minimum income figures are approximate and based on exchange rates at the time of writing.

A few notes. Portugal’s D8 is pegged to four times the minimum wage, which is why it sits around USD 4,230 a month for 2026, and the figure that matters is the one in force on your appointment date with AIMA, so the day you file does not lock it in. Spain gives you a path up to five years and pairs well with its tax regime, which is part of why it keeps topping the popularity rankings.

The Czech program is narrow, aimed at IT and marketing people from a fixed list of countries, so check the eligibility before you fall in love with Prague. The three new entries, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Moldova, are worth a look precisely because they are new. Fewer people have found them yet, and that is the advantage. Two more sit at the edge of Europe and belong on your radar: Turkey opened a digital nomad route in 2024 through its official portal, and Georgia lets citizens of around 95 countries stay a full year visa-free, which does the same job without a dedicated visa (official info).

A related note: I remember putting together an article about the most affordable countries for expats last year, and I found both Turkiye and North Macedonia incredibly attractive due to their cost of living. Actually, I ended up validating that living in Istanbul might prove to be 60% more affordable than living in Zurich!

The Americas

Latin America is where the income bars are lowest, which makes the region the most realistic for people earlier in their earning years. Most of these are foreign-income-only, so you cannot work for a local company on them. Also, a word of advice: Against some popular misconceptions, please keep in mind that some of these countries are incredibly expensive in 2026! That’s the flip-side of moving here. All of these are still incredible destinations.

Brazil 🇧🇷

• Visa: Digital Nomad Visa (VITEM XIV)

• Min. income (2026): USD 1,500/mo

• Duration: 1 yr (+1)

• Official source: gov.br

Colombia 🇨🇴

• Visa: Visa V Nómada Digital

• Min. income (2026): USD 1,400/mo

• Duration: Up to 2 yrs

• Official source: cancilleria.gov.co

Ecuador 🇪🇨

• Visa: Rentista Trabajador Nómada

• Min. income (2026): USD 1,446/mo

• Duration: 2 yrs, renewable

• Official source: gob.ec/mremh

Costa Rica 🇨🇷

• Visa: Nómadas Digitales

• Min. income (2026): USD 3,000/mo

• Duration: 1 yr (+1)

• Official source: migracion.go.cr

Panama 🇵🇦

• Visa: Digital Nomad Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 3,000/mo

• Duration: 9 months (+9)

• Official source: migracion.gob.pa

Mexico 🇲🇽

• Visa: Temporary Resident Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 4,400/mo

• Duration: 1 yr, up to 4

• Official source: gob.mx (SRE)

Argentina 🇦🇷

• Visa: Nómada Digital

• Min. income (2026): No fixed minimum

• Duration: 180 days (+180)

• Official source: argentina.gob.ar

Uruguay 🇺🇾

• Visa: Permiso de Trabajador Remoto

• Min. income (2026): No fixed minimum

• Duration: 180 days (+180)

• Official source: gub.uy/tramites/hoja-identidad-provisoria

Please keep in mind that the minimum income figures are approximate and based on exchange rates at the time of writing.

Colombia and Ecuador both moved their bars in 2026 because they peg to the local minimum wage. Colombia’s minimum wage rose about 23 percent in pesos, though a weaker peso means the dollar figure barely moved. Mexico does not market a digital nomad visa by that name, but its Temporary Resident Visa is the route remote workers actually use, and you apply at a consulate outside the country. Redditors claim that the Argentina process is long-winded and perhaps complicated, and Argentinian expats I talked with agree that this description sounds credible. Canada belongs in this section only by a footnote: it has no formal digital nomad visa, and remote workers enter as ordinary visitors, for up to a year since a January 2026 update, with proof that the income comes entirely from abroad. A dedicated stream has been talked about, but it is not live, so do not plan around it. I even developed around this idea (Canada doesn’t have a digital nomad visa because you don’t even need one) in my Employer Not Required posts.

Asia

Asia has two different ideas about who these visas are for. Some countries set the bar high and aim at senior earners. Others, like Sri Lanka and Malaysia, set it low enough for mid-career people. Sri Lanka is the headline this year.

Sri Lanka 🇱🇰

• Visa: Digital Nomad Visa (new Feb 2026)

• Min. income (2026): USD 2,000/mo

• Duration: 1 yr (5-yr option)

• Official source: immigration.gov.lk

Thailand 🇹🇭

• Visa: Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)

• Min. income (2026): USD 15,200 in savings

• Duration: 5 yrs, 180-day stays

• Official source: thaievisa.go.th

Thailand 🇹🇭

• Visa: Long-Term Resident (LTR)

• Min. income (2026): High income

• Duration: 10 yrs

• Official source: ltr.boi.go.th

Malaysia 🇲🇾

• Visa: DE Rantau Nomad Pass

• Min. income (2026): USD 24,000/yr tech, 60,000 non-tech

• Duration: Up to 24 months

• Official source: mdec.my

Indonesia 🇮🇩

• Visa: Remote Worker KITAS (E33G)

• Min. income (2026): USD 60,000/yr

• Duration: 1 yr

• Official source: evisa.imigrasi.go.id

South Korea 🇰🇷

• Visa: Workation Visa (F-1-D)

• Min. income (2026): USD 66,000/yr

• Duration: 1 yr (+1)

• Official source: mofa.go.kr

Japan 🇯🇵

• Visa: Digital Nomad (Designated Activities)

• Min. income (2026): USD 62,000/yr

• Duration: 6 months

• Official source: mofa.go.jp

Taiwan 🇹🇼

• Visa: Digital Nomad Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 40,000/yr (age 30+)

• Duration: 6 months, up to 2 yrs

• Official source: talent.nat.gov.tw

Please keep in mind that the minimum income figures are approximate and based on exchange rates at the time of writing.

Japan’s version is short and high, six months with no renewal and no residence card, which makes daily life like opening a bank account harder than you expect. South Korea turned its pilot into a permanent visa. Thailand’s DTV, launched in 2024, is the flexible one most people pick, with five years of validity and stays of up to 180 days at a time, while the LTR is the premium route for high earners and got easier to qualify for in 2026. Indonesia is the cautionary tale: the E33G is real and useful, but the Bali enforcement sweep in 2026 (just in case, since I read some skeptical remarks about the veracity of this, yes, this really happened, and independent creators confirmed it) is a reminder that the rules are enforced now, so any local payment on this visa is a fast way to get deported.

Middle East and Africa

UAE (Dubai) 🇦🇪

• Visa: Virtual Work Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 3,500/mo*

• Duration: 1 yr, renewable

• Official source: gdrfad.gov.ae

Mauritius 🇲🇺

• Visa: Premium Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 1,500/mo

• Duration: 1 yr, renewable

• Official source: govmu.org

South Africa 🇿🇦

• Visa: Remote Work Visitor Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 39,700/yr

• Duration: 1 yr, up to 3

• Official source: dha.gov.za

Kenya 🇰🇪

• Visa: Class N Digital Nomad Permit

• Min. income (2026): USD 24,000/yr

• Duration: 1 to 2 yrs

• Official source: immigration.go.ke

Namibia 🇳🇦

• Visa: Digital Nomad Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 2,000/mo

• Duration: 6 months

• Official source: nipdb.com

Cape Verde 🇨🇻

• Visa: Remote Working Program

• Min. income (2026): USD 1,725/mo (6-mo avg balance)

• Duration: 6 months (+6)

• Official source: visit-caboverde.com

Seychelles 🇸🇨

• Visa: Workcation Permit

• Min. income (2026): Sufficient funds

• Duration: Up to 12 months

• Official source: seychelles.com

Please keep in mind that the minimum income figures are approximate and based on exchange rates at the time of writing.

*The UAE asterisk is deliberate. Dubai’s long-standing floor was around USD 3,500 a month, and in early 2026 the emirate tightened the program hard: six months of bank statements instead of three, and a much higher health-insurance requirement. The floor runs about USD 3,500 a month for employees and around USD 5,000 a month for business owners and the self-employed after the April 2026 update. This is the clearest case on the whole list where you must read the official GDRFA page for the current figure, since I’m doing my best here but you should always trust the updated, official sites. Kenya is the good-news story here. From what I was able to gather, it cut its bar from USD 55,000 to USD 24,000 a year since launch.

The Caribbean

The Caribbean programs cost the most in fees and tend to ask for a high yearly income rather than a monthly one. They are also the least stable, so check the official link before you plan around any of them.

Barbados 🇧🇧

• Visa: Welcome Stamp

• Min. income (2026): USD 50,000/yr

• Duration: 1 yr, renewable

• Official source: barbadoswelcomestamp.bb/applynow

Dominica 🇩🇲

• Visa: Work In Nature (WIN)

• Min. income (2026): USD 50,000/yr

• Duration: 18 months

• Official source: windominica.gov.dm

Curaçao 🇨🇼

• Visa: @HOME

• Min. income (2026): No fixed minimum

• Duration: 6 months (+6)

• Official source: athomeincuracao.com

Montserrat 🇲🇸

• Visa: Remote Workers Stamp

• Min. income (2026): USD 70,000/yr

• Duration: 1 yr, renewable

• Official source: montserratremoteworker.com

St Lucia 🇱🇨

• Visa: Live It (Non-Immigrant Visa)

• Min. income (2026): Sufficient funds

• Duration: 1 yr

• Official source: stlucia.org

Grenada 🇬🇩

• Visa: Remote Employment Visa

• Min. income (2026): USD 37,000/yr

• Duration: 1 yr (+1)

• Official source: gov.gd

Please keep in mind that the minimum income figures are approximate and based on exchange rates at the time of writing.

One note on stability. The island programs move faster than the European ones. Antigua and Barbuda closed its Nomad Digital Residence in November 2025, and Anguilla has gone quiet, which is why neither sits in the table above. Also, Forbes ran a piece about the Cayman Islands launching their own visa in 2020, but the official site currently 404s. For any of the rest, write to the official channel and get the current status in writing before you spend a dollar.

Three 2026 entries with the best income-to-cost balance

If you want the clearest value on this list, look at where the income floor sits, well above what daily life actually costs. Three new programs stand out on that math, and none of them appeared in last year’s Top 21 or in the finding a remote job first article.

• Ecuador asks for about USD 1,440 a month, the lowest real bar here, while a single person in Quito gets by on roughly USD 1,000 a month including rent, per Numbeo. The visa runs two years and renews.

• Moldova sets its bar near USD 3,100 a month, and Chișinău is, perhaps, the cheapest capital in Europe at around USD 1,400 a month including rent, per Numbeo. You also get a full two years, longer than most European permits.

• Sri Lanka opened in February 2026 at about USD 2,000 a month, and Colombo runs close to USD 1,100 a month all in, according to Numbeo, with a five-year option once you are settled. According to an expat I checked with, and Numbeo more or less agrees with this, you’d need more than double than that to live as an expat in Montevideo, Uruguay. So that’s how good Sri Lanka is looking in 2026.

These three look attractive for the same reason: the income the government wants to see is comfortably clear of what you will spend on the ground, so the margin stays with you. Run the same check on any country that catches your eye before you commit.

How to actually choose

Start with your real income, after tax, in the currency you are actually paid in. This is the same groundwork I keep pushing in my piece on how to prepare months before you move.

Look wider than one country. People fix on Lisbon or Bali, and then the income bar or a closed program shuts that single door. The same trap shows up when people fix on one city in a job search! A digital nomad visa is also a good way to test a country for a year before you chase a local job there. That is the sequence I keep recommending: live somewhere on a remote income first, then use a job seeker visa to look for local work once you know you want to stay. If a job that moves you permanently is the real goal, start with how a tech job search with relocation looks in 2026 and our earlier piece on finding a remote job first and relocating after.

The visa is the door! And there are doors and doors to choose from. So treat this list like the World Cup of digital nomad visas. A wide field, more contenders than any year before, brackets open across every region, and your one job is to back the country that fits your life. Pick your side, do the homework on the official page, and start the paperwork.

I publish relocation-friendly tech roles every week at The Global Move, the internet’s most complete resource of jobs that offer relocation. If you are getting ready for your move, subscribe and start building your path now.