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No need for a visa as I am an EU citizen.”Īfter falling in love with the Balkan country, Sol decided to apply for the newly rolled-out Digital Nomad Visa, which would allow her to stay longer than three months.
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To enjoy nature and the freedom….I decided to come to Albania for three months last year in March. I missed travelling a lot, and when I had the opportunity, I went to Albania. “Unintentionally, I suddenly had an online business and worked from home. Digital nomad visas in Europeĭutch citizen Andrina Sol was forced to shut her travel business when COVID-19 struck in 2021, and she started helping students write their thesis online as their university classes shifted online and libraries shuttered. Out of those who call themselves digital nomads, almost 60% have worked remotely just in the last two years, since the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, visas from 19 countries are available across Europe. Statista found that Europe leads the way globally by granting the highest number of digital nomad visas, predominantly to third-country nationals such as Americans, Brits, Russians and Canadians. There is currently no EU-wide legislation to harmonise standards on remote working or protections for workers, but Kalfin said negotiations are underway, and a positive result is expected by the summer. “Governments should not only support the social partners but also spare a thought for these professions where teleworking is not possible and where working conditions should be additionally improved to address the labour shortages.” Ivalio Kalfin, the executive director of Eurofound, told EURACTIV that teleworking is here to stay but that working conditions need to be taken into account. The report found it is becoming increasingly clear that this new world of work needs new regulatory frameworks, taking into consideration existing legislation and social partners’ agreements. While numbers decreased slightly in 2022, the trend is set to climb again due to technical advancements and employers’ preferences toward remote working.
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Realising they can work from anywhere, millions of people have chosen to replace their dreary commute with the beaches of southern Europe, quaint Balkan cities, or the snowy slopes of Bulgaria’s Pirin Mountains.Īs some employers now expect workers to actually turn up at the office, what has happened to the teleworking trend and which countries are seeking to capitalise on Europe’s digital nomads?Īccording to data from Eurofound, some 41.7 million employees teleworked across the EU in 2021, twice that of 2019. But after restrictions were lifted, many were reluctant to return to the office. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a seismic shift in how we work, with millions of Europeans switching to working from home.
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