What could be better than working remotely? Work remotely while living in a great place.
The COVID-19 pandemic has paved the way for many people to do their jobs from home, or if rules allow, from an entirely different country. While digital nomads once existed, greater acceptance of them by companies has given people more incentive to try them out — so much so that from 2019 to 2022, only the number of digital nomads in the US more than doubled.
Right now, Canada wants a slice of the digital nomad pie. The country is seeking to attract this group of professionals through new immigration programmes.
The current system allows digital nomads to move to Canada for up to six months while working for employers based elsewhere. The new system, details of which are still being worked out, will aim to further facilitate this process and will be launched later this year.
“We anticipate that some of the digital nomads who initially entered Canada to work remotely will decide to seek opportunities with Canadian employers,” says one government. press release said Wed. “When they receive a job offer from a Canadian company, they will be able to transfer their skills to a Canadian employer by applying for a temporary work permit or even permanent residence.”
The main driver behind Canada’s push to attract digital nomads is the labor shortage it faces in “key technical occupations,” according to Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser. Other countries have launched such programs in the past – including Portugal, Germany, Brazil and Thailand. It is seen as a way to boost the local economy and even inject new talent into the country, as it is in Canada.
Canada has also announced two additional initiatives to attract overseas talent — one targeting individuals who can contribute to the country’s innovation industry and another that will allow US work permit holders to easily immigrate to Canada to work.
Calling all digital nomads
Employees have sometimes become digital nomads incognito by traveling without telling their employers while continuing to work remotely.
Digital nomads are certainly different from remote workers – or rather, a sub-category. They work remotely, sure, but they also travel while doing so, and they differ from the traditional worker because they have geographic mobility. Bedouins can be involved in a range of occupations – be it entrepreneurship or freelancing. Data from MBO Partners, the talent provider, shows that since 2019, there has been a significant year-on-year increase in the number of people adopting a digital nomad lifestyle.
Countries with strong tourism industries have seen their economies take a hit during the pandemic, when people’s ability to travel was limited. In an effort to recover from this slump, popular travel destinations such as Bali have started programs that support the new age of work. The Indonesian island had a healthy tourism industry before, but its new visa that allowed foreigners to stay for five years has attracted a different breed of tourist.
Companies have had to adapt, too. Airbnb, the short-term rental property company, has shifted its model to a “permanent work from anywhere,” which has seen an increase in interest from potential employees. Meanwhile, e-commerce company Shopify offered new employees the option to work from anywhere around the world for 90 days.
As tempting as it sounds, there have been downsides to liberal digital nomad programs. Portugal’s golden visa program has been so popular that as of March, nearly 12,000 investors and 19,433 family members had taken advantage of it, since it was introduced in 2012, according to the advisory firm. Global Citizen Solutions. But the influx of affluent residents has caused real estate costs in Portugal to skyrocket, making it difficult for locals to buy homes. This eventually led to the program’s cancellation in February.
