International Opportunities

Work Remotely as a Digital Nomad

Learn how to work remotely and become a digital nomad

Do you dream of working from a tropical beach town? Or living in a van in the Canadian Rockies? Or working from a café in a hip neighborhood of Lisbon? Why not do all three in one year? Instead of saving money for months on end and then spending it all while travelling on a long-term backpacking trip, why not keep on working and travel at the same time as a digital nomad?

On this page:
What is a Digital Nomad?
Challenges of Being a Digital Nomad
How to Become a Digital Nomad?
Type of Remote Work Opportunities
1- Work From Anywhere as an Employee
2- Become a Freelancer
3- Start Your Own Business
Skill Assessment & Career Change
Other Ways to be a Digital Nomad
Digital Nomad Hubs
Finding Accommodation as a Digital Nomad
Digital Nomad Travelling Communities, Retreats and Workation
Other Things to Consider as a Digital Nomad
Other Digital Nomad Resources

What is a Digital Nomad? 

The term digital nomad started appearing around the early 2010s and is a lifestyle that has been becoming popular really quickly. A digital nomad is usually someone who travels the world, living in different cities or countries for a limited time, whilst working remotely either for a company, as a freelancer, as an entrepreneur or simply spending most of their time working on their professional or personal projects. Since the pandemic, there are more and more companies willing to let their employees work remotely. New types of remote experiences are now common, for example remote studies from a prestigious institution, remote professional internships and remote volunteering. Lots of people want to take advantage of the low cost of living in some countries and move there temporarily to start their business, study or simply work in a lower paying job but with less stress and a better work-life balance. 

The difference between a digital nomad and a traditional backpacker is that a backpacker travels the world whilst living on their savings, spending most of their days visiting and exploring. They rarely stay in one place for a very long time. A digital nomad, on the other hand, usually works full-time on their computer, and will stay in one place for a longer duration, moving from city to city every few weeks or few months. Digital nomads get to live in a city like a local, and they visit the sights during the evenings and on weekends. 

It’s also common to hear the term “remote worker”. A remote worker is someone who can work from anywhere, but who doesn’t necessarily travel the world at the same time. It can be a digital nomad, but also someone who simply works remotely from home, or from a coworking space or café in the city where they are hired. Basically, they don’t need to go to an office, and can choose to work from anywhere as they please. Both terms are usually used interchangeably. Another popular term used in the digital nomad world is “location independence”, which means that you have the freedom to work from anywhere, that you’re not tied down to one location. 

Being constantly on the move can be exhausting and it’s definitely not for everyone. There are more and more digital nomads that decide to settle down in another country while keeping their remote job, after having been on the move for a while. 

Do you want to know more about the digital nomad lifestyle? You could start by attending digital nomads meetups in your hometown or join digital nomad Facebook groups. And don’t forget to check out our section about Networking as a digital nomad. 

Challenges of Being a Digital Nomad

Being a digital nomad doesn’t mean being on vacation 24/7 and working with your feet in the sand. There can be many challenges to being a digital nomad and not everyone enjoys living this way. Make sure to define what your goals and objectives are before going on this journey.

Common Challenges Faced by Digital Nomads

Personal Challenges

  • Loneliness
  • Having to make friends over and over again in every destination
  • Lack of deeper connections with people that you meet
  • Not being able to develop long-lasting friendships or romantic relationships
  • Planning exhaustion, especially if you change city or country every few weeks or months (deciding where to go next, searching for flights, researching cities (which neighborhood to stay in, finding an apartment, choosing a gym, restaurants, etc.) 
  • Decision fatigue (staying longer or not, choosing where to go next, etc.)
  • Not having enough time to relax by being constantly working, planning and exploring
  • Difficulty getting back on to a routine when arriving in a new city
  • Difficulty adapting to a new culture or environment
  • Jetlag
  • Hard to keep in touch with loved ones due to time zone difference
  • Nowhere to call home

Professional Challenges

  • Time zone constraints
  • Time management: It may be hard to show up for work if you’re not going to the office or if no one is tracking your working hours. There are also lots of temptations to explore every day. 
  • Possibly missing on promotions if you’re not at the office
  • Lack of benefits and paid vacations for freelancers and entrepreneurs
  • Travel delays: You can miss meetings or important deadlines if you don’t plan enough time for when you’re moving from one country to the other. 
  • Unreliable internet in some destinations

Don’t get put down by these challenges. With proper research, planning and with all the resources available in our Planning & Resources section, you can live a happy and fulfilling life as a digital nomad! 

Do you want to go live abroad and you’re not sure being a digital nomad is for you? Consult our International Opportunities section to find out about dozens of other ways that you can live abroad!

How to Become a Digital Nomad?

Here are the basic steps to become a digital nomad.

  1. Find a remote work opportunity and quit your in-person job
  2. Decide where you want to go to work remotely
  3. Plan your stay abroad
  4. Go to your first destination
  5. Start living your new digital nomad life!

Type of Remote Work Opportunities

Do you want to become a digital nomad or remote worker and live a location independent lifestyle? There are different ways that can allow you to work remotely.

  1. Work as an employee for a private company or organization
  2. Become a freelancer
  3. Start your own business

1- Work From Anywhere as an Employee

To work remotely as an employee, you will need to have your current employer allow you to work remotely, or apply to a new job that will allow you to work remotely.

In an ideal world, every job would allow you to switch to a fully remote environment, allowing you to work whenever you want, but it’s not always possible. Companies might allow you to work remotely, but might impose some limitations on how long you can be abroad, or where you can work from or when you need to be working. 

Restrictions imposed by the employer

Employers can impose all kinds of constraints in their remote work policies.

Duration Limitations

Here are some examples of limitation on the durations of remote work that employers can impose in their remote work policy:

  • Year-long remote work abroad 
  • 6 months of remote work abroad per year
  • A few months of remote work abroad per year
  • 3 weeks of remote work abroad per year
  • 1 week company workation or retreat abroad

Geographical Limitations

Here are some examples of geographical limitations that employers can impose in their remote work policy:

  • Remote work allowed from anywhere in the world
  • Remote work allowed from anywhere in your country
  • Remote work allowed only in certain country or provinces
  • Remote work allowed up to a certain distance from the office
  • Remote work from anywhere but you need to come to the office a few times per year

Time Zone Limitations 

Here are the different types of time zone limitations that employers can impose in their remote work policy:

  • Asynchronous work (work whenever you want)
  • Work EST or PST business hours
  • Overlap a few hours per day with the office’s business hours
  • Only need to be present during meetings and can work whenever

Luckily for North Americans, there are plenty of interesting destinations in the Americas to work from where the time zones are the same or very close. If you want to work elsewhere, try to negotiate with your employer to have your work schedule overlap only a few hours every day, in order to attend meetings, for example. Or make yourself more flexible by working evenings. If you work from Europe and you need to work EST hours, you’ll be 6 hours ahead.  So a 9AM to 5PM work day in EST will become 3PM to 11PM in Europe. Try to have your team have their meetings with you at the start of their work day, so that you can finish not too late. 

How to Find a Remote Job?

Transform Your Current Job Into a Fully Remote Job

Some people are lucky, and have been working for a company that had changed their remote work policy, and now allow them to work full time remotely from anywhere! 

If that’s not your situation, you will have to start talking about it with your boss! Before you start discussing it with your employer, carefully research your arguments, and prepare for any counter argument answers that they might have. You will need to explain how working remotely will be valuable for them and for you. 

1- Explain What is Remote Work and How You Will Work From Abroad

Some people might have never heard of the term digital nomad or are not familiar with people who work remotely outside of their homes. You will need to ease them into the concept of remote work and the popularity of digital nomads and explain why you want to work this way. 

2- Explain How it Will be Beneficial to You
  • Increased motivation and productivity
  • Feeling more relaxed
  • Better work-life balance
  • Reduced cost of living
  • Reduced commute time
  • Increase your satisfaction towards your job
  • Higher sense of belonging with the company
3- Explain How it Will Be Beneficial to Them
  • Employee retention
  • Happier and more productive employee
  • Lower operating cost
4- Come Up With a Plan 
  • Explain where you will be working and what your work set-up will look like (for example in a coworking space, where there will be private rooms for calls, or from an Airbnb with fast internet).
  • Tell them how you plan to communicate and collaborate with the team, which tools you will use.
  • Offer to give regular updates on your work more often than normal. 
  • Explain how you plan to resolve issues or challenges if they arise. 
  • Give examples of people that you know who have had positive remote work experience. 
  • If you plan to go back home every year to visit friends or family, offer to come work from the office during that time. 
  • Suggest your working hours schedule
    • It might be easier to start off going somewhere where you’ll be able to work within the same time zone. If you plan to be in a different time zone, offer to overlap at least half a day. With time, and when they know that your performance hasn’t decreased and they have more trust in the situation, ask to work different hours, maybe overlapping only when the meetings require it. 
5- Prepare for Any Objections That They Might Have
  • Think of what kinds of objections they might have and find a good argument to negotiate in your favour! 
  • Let them time to think about it. Bring it up many months before you plan to work remotely. 
  • If they are hesitant, offer to do a trial and work remotely for only a few weeks or a few months at first. 
  • If all fails, you can start looking for other opportunities that will let you work remotely. 

Apply to a Remote Job

There are more and more companies that switch to a fully remote workforce, or that allow their employees to work remotely if they request it. 

If you think that you have very in-demand skills, you can try to get hired at a regular non-remote job, but negotiate that you want to work fully remotely when they make you an offer.

There are many places where you can find a remote job. Bear in mind that the pool of candidates looking for a remote job is infinite, thus it is very competitive to land a fully remote job! Also, don’t limit yourself to companies in your country. You can apply for remote positions with international companies, even though you don’t live there. Often they can hire you as an independent contractor. It is often the case with American companies.

When you see a remote job offer, it might list a specific city. Usually it’s because the platform doesn’t have “remote” as a location, therefore they have to put a city name in the location field. Also, recruters will want to make sure that as many candidates as possible see the position, so they might make a lot of job postings in many different cities, even if it’s for a fully remote position. You should still apply even if you don’t live in that city, unless it’s clearly listed that the applicant needs to reside in that city. 

Popular Remote Jobs as an Employee
  • Software engineer & Web Developer (programmer)
  • SEO Specialist
  • UX/UI Designer
  • Email Marketing Specialist
  • Affiliate Marketing Specialist
  • Product Manager
  • Project Manager
  • Account Manager
  • Customer Support Representative
  • Customer Success Manager
  • Business Develpment Manager
  • Sales Representative
  • Human Resources Manager
  • IT Support Specialist
  • Business Analyst
  • Legal Assistant
  • Translator
  • Graphic Designer
  • Copywriter 
  • Virtual assistant (a virtual assistant is a broad term now used to describe someone who can do a variety of tasks, but most of them are : social media management, inbox management, planning online events, scheduling meetings, customer service, administrative assistant, conducting research and market analysis, data entry, planning travel and logistics, managing finances, etc.) 
  • Social Media Manager 
  • Community Manager
  • Digital Marketing Coordinator
  • Accountant
  • Consultant
  • Data Entry clerk
Find a Remote Job Advertised on Remote Job Boards

There are plenty of remote job boards. Usually they offer “worldwide” remote work opportunities, but certain positions might restrict their employees to live or work from a specific country or a specific time zone or region.

It’s never really clear when they state a country if it is that they want someone who is a citizen of that country, or if they want someone who is going to physically be working from that country, or if you only need to be working during their time zones. You should still apply regardless as it’s something that can be discussed if you get an offer.

Once you see a company posting on these job boards, you can assume that they are open to remote workers for other positions. You can then go directly on their website to see other opportunities as not all positions might be advertised on these remote job boards.  

Popular Remote Job Boards

→ These online job boards are also most likely remote companies themselves. Try to see if they are hiring! 

Other Resources:

Find a Remote Job on Generic Job Boards

You can find remote opportunities on the generic online job boards, such as LinkedIn, Indeed and SimplyHired. 

Put “remote” in the search bar, and your country in the location. 

You can also search “remote + your field”. For example “remote sales” or “remote account manager”.

Try this tactic with generic job board platforms specific to your country or industry. For example, in Australia: Seek Remote Jobs

Apply for a Fully Remote Job at a Remote-First Company

A remote first company is a company that is fully distributed globally and that usually doesn’t have a head office or any offices at all. They are used to having employees working from many different time zones and use tools for asynchronous communications. 

The top remote-first companies

To find more fully remote companies, you can see which companies post job offers on the remote job boards, or see which companies have participated in the Running Remote Conference or other digital nomad conferences. 

Find Remote Job Opportunities on Online Communities

Networking online is a great way to find remote jobs. There are plenty of digital nomads groups on different platforms. Some of these communities are more generic and some more specific to a particular country, city, field of work or demographic. You can make a post in many of these groups looking for tips about companies hiring in your industry, or simply look at the job offers that people will post there.

Facebook Groups*

*Look for Facebook groups in your industry. For example, by searching groups with the keywords “virtual assistant” or “social media”.

LinkedIn Groups
Reddit
Slack Groups
Networking

The easiest way to find a remote job is definitely with your network. Make sure to tell your friends, family and colleagues that you’re looking for a remote job, as they might know someone who can hire or refer you. And don’t hesitate to tell your professional network on LinkedIn and to make a post on social media! 

Even if you already have a big network, it’s always a good idea to extend your network.

Meetups and Networking Events

Go to digital nomad meetups, or even start-ups or entrepreneurs events to network with people who are already working remotely. By meeting people who are working remotely, you will find out about other companies that hire remote employees, and even maybe be referred. You might even get a job offer by meeting someone who is hiring! 

You can find these meetups or events on these platforms: 

  1. Meetup
  2. Eventbrite
  3. Facebook groups (for example “Digital Nomad + your city or country)
  4. Whatsapp groups specific to a digital nomad city
Reach Out to People Online

You can reach out online to people who have a fully remote job in the industry that you are interested in and ask them for tips on how to get a position like theirs. You can find them on LinkedIn, on other social media platforms, or by looking at the employee list of a fully remote company. 

Also, you can directly contact the companies that you would like to work for, or even recruiters, and show your interest in working for them. 

Participate in a Digital Nomad or Remote Work Conference

There are many digital nomad conferences or remote work focused events around the world. It’s a great way to network, to make contacts, make new nomad friends and of course to find ways to get a remote job.

2- Become a Freelancer

A popular way to work remotely is by working as a freelancer or as an independent contractor. Being a freelancer usually doesn’t require you to work on site, so that’s why it’s one of the easiest ways to start working remotely! Your clients can be anywhere in the world, and so do you! As long as you can agree on meeting time, it’s the perfect way to be a digital nomad. 

You can work full time for one company, or do a combination of many contracts with different clients. Working as a freelancer definitely allows for the most freedom in terms of schedule and work hours. You decide how many hours you want to work . Note that it can also bring times of work overload, or some periods with very little work if your contracts don’t have consistent work hours, which can be stressful. 

Note on Independent Contractors

You don’t usually need a work permit to work for a company located in another country if you don’t work from that country. For example, many people from all over the world apply for fully remote positions at American companies, and they are hired as an independent contractor and not as an employee. In the tech sector, working as an independent contractor for an American company can be very lucrative. 

Popular Roles for Remote Freelancers

  • Translator
  • Graphic Designer
  • Online Teacher & Tutor
    • Language Teacher (You might need to do a TEFL course) 
    • School Teacher (Math, science, etc.)
  • Copywriter 
  • Virtual assistant (a virtual assistant is a broad word now used to describe someone who can do a variety of tasks, but most of them are : social media management, inbox management, planning online events, scheduling meetings, customer service, administrative assistant, conducting research and market analysis, data entry, planning travel and logistics, managing finances, etc.) 
  • Social Media Manager 
  • Community Manager
  • Digital Marketing Coordinator
  • Software engineer & Web Developer (programmer)
  • SEO Specialist
  • Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Specialist
  • UX/UI Designer
  • Email Marketing Specialist
  • Product Manager
  • Project Manager
  • Photographer
  • Videographer
  • Transcriber
  • Writer
  • Editor
  • Proofreader
  • Blogger
  • Podcaster
  • Content Creater (photographer or videographer that makes money on social media)
  • Online Yoga Teacher
  • Online Coach
    • Fitness Coach
    • Life Coach
    • Business Coach
  • Accountant
  • Consultant
  • Voiceover Actor
  • Data Entry clerk
  • Financial Advisor

How to find freelance roles? 

Turn Your In-Person Freelance Contracts Into Remote Contracts

If you are already a freelancer, just make sure that your clients agree that you’ll be abroad or that you won’t have to come to the office for meetings. If they hesitate, suggest doing a few weeks or a few months of trial.

Turn Your In-Person Job Into a Freelance Contract

In some sectors, if you currently have a job as an employee, you can ask your employer to hire you as a freelancer or independent contractor. That way, you’re not constricted to stricter HR rules, such as presence at the office. Although this will allow you more flexibility, it’s also more risky. You will also need to manage and cover the costs of all of the benefits, holidays, sick days, retirement fund, etc. that you won’t be getting as a freelancer. Make sure to adjust your rate accordingly! Freelancers usually charge a higher hourly rate to compensate for these missing benefits.

Apply for Freelance Contracts on Global Freelance Job Boards

There are more and more websites dedicated to short term or ongoing freelance work. These websites allow you to apply or to bid on contracts and offer your services. Note that these platforms can take a high percentage of your hourly rate. Also, they can be quite competitive, as the pool of talent is worldwide. This means that some people will offer their services for a fraction of what you charge. Don’t let that deter you! If you have the qualifications and experience, people will definitely want to hire you at your going rate!

Popular freelance job boards
Look for Freelance Websites in Your Country or City

There are probably a few platforms that advertise freelance opportunities in the country or city where you are from. To find these freelance agencies, it’s best to do a Google search based in your country of residence as there are no major agencies of this type. 

Look for Freelance Websites in Your Industry

Some websites can specialize in freelance opportunities in specific industries, with or without being specific to a particular region. For example, you can find specialized websites to find freelance contracts for tech roles, social media management, virtual assistants, teaching online, and many more industries! 

If you work in the tech or creative field (for example web development, graphic design, advertising, digital marketing, etc.), reach out to agencies in these domains as they frequently hire freelancers. 

Networking

The easiest way to find freelance contracts is with your network. Make sure to tell your friends, family and colleagues that you’re available to take on freelance contracts, as they might know someone who can hire or refer you. And don’t hesitate to tell your professional network on LinkedIn!

And don’t forget to go to networking events! 

Find Freelance Contracts on Online Communities
  • Facebook groups for freelancer in your country or city
  • Facebook groups for Digital Nomads in your country or city
  • Facebook groups for Digital Nomads (globally)
  • Facebook groups for Digital Nomads in a specific location
  • Whatsapp groups for digital nomads (usually in a specific location)
  • LinkedIn groups for digital nomads
  • Reddit

3- Start Your Own Business

Being an entrepreneur is definitely not for everyone. Starting your own business can be risky, challenging and stressful, but it can also bring you lots of rewards, like being able to work from anywhere, during the hours that you want. 

Lots of people decide to go abroad to start their business, because the cost of living is lower than in their home countries, the climate better or because they want to network with other entrepreneurs and remote workers. 

Popular Businesses Run by Digital Nomads

  • Selling a product on an e-commerce store
  • Creating an online product (ebook, online course, etc.)
  • Starting an agency (ex. Web agency)
  • Dropshipping
  • Amazon 
  • Remote Real Estate Investing/Management
  • Digital Marketing Agency
  • Running a blog
  • Being a social media influencer/content creator
  • Software/App Development
  • Any business that can be run from anywhere
  • Managing Airbnb apartments

Skill Assessment & Career Change

Not sure what kind of remote work to do? 

In some fields of work, it’s just not possible to work remotely. It might not be ideal for you to quit your lucrative career that you’ve put lots of effort into building. But if you really want to travel and work at the same time, why not take a few years off and get a job in another field that would allow you to work remotely either as an employee or as a freelancer.

Here are some career transitions that we’ve seen:

  • A nurse becoming a web designer
  • A bartender becoming an online English teacher
  • A gardener becoming a freelance copywriter
  • An elementary school teacher becoming an instructional designer
  • A waitress becoming a social media manager

These are all popular remote careers that can be started without getting a long-term degree or by learning the skills online quickly. 

If you don’t have much work experience, or you don’t know what kind of work you can do, start by doing a skill assessment and think about what kinds of tasks you would like to do. Look on the remote job platforms or freelance work platforms to see what kinds of roles are in high demand, and what kind of roles companies are looking for. If you have no idea what you want to do, you can consult a professional career advisor or do a personality test like the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator which will give you a detailed report on the type of tasks and professions that are best suited for you in regards to your personality type. 

If you need to improve your skills or learn new skills, you can consider going back to school, or learning new skills online. Nowadays, in many sectors, especially for the roles that you can do 100% online, having a proper degree is not essential. Sometimes, just a portfolio is enough. Many people have successful careers by having learned a profession online for free. Here are some jobs you can learn online for free or at a low cost: Programmer (front end, back end, full stack), graphic designer, social media manager, community manager, SEO or SEM specialist, web copywriter, affiliate marketing specialist, etc.

Platforms Where you Can Learn New Skills for Free (or for a Low Cost)

Other Ways to be a Digital Nomad

Being a digital nomad doesn’t necessarily mean working for someone or for yourself. Why not take advantage of the lower cost of living and good weather in other countries to do your internship, online studies or volunteering abroad as a digital nomad? 

Remote Internships

Apply for a remote internship (either by interning for a company based in another country or for one based in your home country) and do your internship remotely able to do it by living and traveling in other countries at the same time.

Remote Studies

Since the pandemic, lots of universities have maintained online courses or are offering online degrees. There are way more options now to do online studies from respectable schools worldwide. Why not do it from a country that you’ve always wished to spend time in? 

If you decide to focus on learning new skills from online ressources for a few weeks or months, why not do it remotely from anywhere you wish? 

Remote Volunteering in International Cooperation

If you would like to do some remote volunteering in developing countries to give back to a cause or community that you cherish, or because you want to get some new professional experience, you can do it remotely for certain types of positions. 

Digital Nomad Hubs

There are many cities around the world that became hubs for digital nomads, usually for their climate, rich culture, cheap cost of living and multiple cafés and coworking spaces to work from. You can usually find many remote workers, freelancers or entrepreneurs in these cities. It’s a great starting point to network, make friends and learn more about this lifestyle. These cities usually have many tools in place to facilitate community events and the coworking spaces will organize frequent networking events or skill share workshops. 

Once you’ve been to one of these hubs, it can quickly become lonely to go to another place that doesn’t have that many meetups, networking events or communication channels to meet other digital nomads. You will soon realize that digital nomads often gravitate towards these places, as they long for friendship and community. Many digital nomads also plan months in advance to meet up with their nomad friends in other cities around the world. 

In some of these digital nomad hubs, there can even be too many events and activities, as it can easily become distracting and hard to focus on work! The events are usually advertised on Facebook groups, Whatsapp Group, Slack groups, on Meetup.com or on some platforms like Nomeo.io (currently active in Asia). Don’t want to go for dinner alone? Just ask who wants to join you on one of the nomads Whatsapp groups! Read some more tips about making friends when you move to a new city.

For example, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, as we speak, there are over a dozen Whatsapp groups for digital nomads. There are groups to ask general questions, to meet up for dinner, to go have drinks, to play board games, to go hiking, for entrepreneurs to network, etc. 

There are definitely drawbacks to going to a digital nomad hub. You might find it so easy to meet other foreigners that you don’t get immersed in the local culture and don’t meet as many local people as you would somewhere else. Also, as each of these cities get more and more popular with foreigners, it can drive up the price of rent, and make that place that initially attracted digital nomads for its affordability, now unaffordable for locals and foreigners. This is what happened in Lisbon and to some neighborhoods of Mexico City. If there are no proper city planning and development regulations, a neighborhood or town can become overdeveloped to cater to western taste, and lose its original appeal. It’s definitely something that happened to many places in Bali. 

You can find digital nomads in all major cities in the world and in most tourist destinations. But the main digital nomad hubs are the following: 

Smaller communities:

  • Da Nang (Vietnam)
  • Puerto Escondido (Mexico)
  • Thailand (Koh Lanta & Bangkok)
  • Costa Rica (Tamarindo & Santa Teresa)
  • Bulgaria (Bansko) – Because of the popular Coworking Bansko
  • Portugal (Madeira)
  • Spain (Tenerife)

Other popular destinations with digital nomads are anywhere where there is a coliving or many coworking spaces. 

Finding Accommodation as a Digital Nomad

When you’re a digital nomad, you may want to stay just a few weeks or a few months in one place. Read our page about finding accommodation abroad to get all the tips about finding a place to stay in another country, for a short term or long term. 

As a digital nomad, you might also be interested in staying in accommodation catered for digital nomads: colivings.

Colivings

A coliving is a new type of accommodation that was created to cater to the needs of digital nomads of having a place to live for a few weeks or months, but also a community and a place to work remotely efficiently.

A coliving is a mix of a coworking space and a hostel/hotel. There are usually private rooms and shared dorms, as well as a coworking space and a common kitchen, a living room, and other facilities like a cinema room or a gym. In some colivings, the accommodations are a few minutes from the actual coworking, and in some others, everything is in the same building . The coworking sites are generally open to the public who are not staying there. There are usually many activities organized every week or even daily by a community manager, for example networking activities, skill sharing workshops, excursions, dinner clubs, movie nights, etc. 

By staying in a coliving, you are guaranteed a great close-knit community from the day that you arrive! Make sure it’s a “real” coliving, as people have been using that term to describe a shared apartment or a regular hostel. 

Popular Colivings Around the World

  • Selina (Worldwide). Selina is an international chain which is a mix of hostel vibes and coliving. Some branches are more like a party hostel and others are very remote work focused. Make sure to read the reviews before settling down for one of their locations. 
  • Outpost (Bali & Sri Lanka)
  • Outsite (Worldwide)
  • KoHub (Koh Lanta, Thailand)
  • Atl Coliving (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
  • Tribal (Bali, Indonesia)
  • Sundesk (Taghazout, Morocco)
  • Sun and Co. (Javea, Spain)
  • Nomad Coliving (Montreal, Canada)

You can find a complete list of colivings worldwide on Coliving.com. 

Although colivings are usually more expensive than renting a room and paying for a coworking space, they are more convenient and come with the community aspect. It’s a great way to start off your digital nomad journey! 

Digital Nomad Travelling Communities, Retreats and Workation

There are many companies that organize digital nomad group “trips”, either travelling the world for many months (for example living in 12 countries in 12 months) or going to a specific destination for specific dates (usually a week or a month). It’s a great way to work remotely with other like-minded digital nomads without worrying about any of the logistics or having to make friends. 

These companies usually provide accommodation, a coworking membership, networking events, skill share workshops, organized weekend trips, social activities, customer service, crisis management, and for the programs that go to more than one country, transport between locations.

Popular Digital Nomad Communities 

Other Things to Consider as a Digital Nomad

Planning to go to all the destinations that you’ve always dreamed of is fun! But there are many not-so-fun parts of being a digital nomad, and that is all of the administrative aspects! 

Visas

Which visas to get as a digital nomad is a tricky question and most of the time a gray zone. Until a few years ago, digital nomads were not common. Most people simply got tourist visas and made sure that the job that they were doing online was not taking a local person’s job in the country that they were in. This is sometimes tolerated in some countries but it is recommended to have a proper visa.  Nowadays, many countries have started coming up with digital nomad visas. Some people also use student visas that allow them to study at the same time as working online, or working holiday visas in order to stay longer than the tourist visa allows. People with high income or lots of investment will often get investment or retirement visas, even if they are not retired yet and work online. It’s important to research from official sources which kinds of visas work best for your personal situation in the country that you want to go to as a digital nomad. 

Residency Status

If you leave your home country for an extended period of time, this can impact your residency status. It’s important that you make the proper verification beforehand as this could impact where you pay your taxes, your social security, your government’s benefits, some legal status (right to vote, etc.), if you can keep on investing in your retirement’s fund, your banking, retiring  from your investments, your medical insurances, etc. 

Taxes

Taxes are directly linked to your residency status both at home and in the country where you are living. Make sure to speak to an accountant or tax specialist to determine where you need to pay your taxes, and if you need to file taxes in multiple countries. Some countries will offer you work visas with a very low tax rate in order to attract digital nomads. Also, be careful when you are travelling as a digital nomad because you might need to pay taxes in the country that you’re in if you become a resident for tax purposes. 

Please consult our Planning & Resources section to find out everything you need to know to prepare your trip as a digital nomad, from medical insurances to booking flights, banking, and a lot more! 

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