I got a digital nomad visa — I’m working and living large abroad

In November 2022, Kian Sheik, a search engine programmer based in San Diego, decided he wanted to move in with his girlfriend Júlia, a dentist who was living in her hometown of Sao Paulo.

So Sheik applied for a digital nomad visa and relocated to Brazil, where he’s able to work remotely for his San Diego employers.

“My profession is such that you can pretty much work anywhere in the world as long as there’s an internet connection,” the 25-year-old said.

Sheik spent around $200 to get the visa, which required he prove that he makes at least $1,500 a month.

He also had to provide Brazil with a notarized copy of his birth certificate, pay $75 for an FBI criminal background check and supply three months of bank statements and proof of health insurance.


Sheik at the "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Kian Sheik went through various channels in order to secure a digital nomad visa for temporary residency and remote work privileges in Brazil.

Lastly, he had to get a letter from his employer granting him permission to work remotely abroad. 

That was one of the easier parts of the complicated process.

“I told my job, ‘Hey, if you value me as an employee and want to keep me [on staff], you’ll support my decision to work from Brazil,’” said Sheik, who will pay taxes in both countries but get a credit with the US for what he pays in Brazil.

(For digital nomad visa holders, tax requirements vary by country.)


Sheik and Juila enjoying a night on the town in his new home country.
Sheik’s main objective for securing a digital nomad visa was to be able to live with his girlfriend Júlia, who’s a dentist in Brazil.
Kian Sheik

Sheik officially immigrated to Brazil this past February. He’s loving immersing himself in Brazilian culture and learning Portuguese.

But, “the biggest pro for me is that I can spend more time with my girlfriend,” he said.

In January 2022, Brazil joined the dozens of countries around the world — from Barbados to Estonia — that offer digital nomad visas, which cost $200 to $2,000 and grant globetrotters temporary residency to work remotely from their country of origin.

Unlike the formerly favored D7 visa, which forced remote workers and freelancers to establish plans for long-term residency, the digital nomad visa is specifically tailored to transients who wish to live overseas for the short term.


Over 54 countries, including Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Croatia have recently instituted digital nomad visas for remote workers.
Over 54 countries, including Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Croatia have recently instituted digital nomad visas for remote workers.
Getty Images/iStockphoto

It’s become increasingly trendy thanks to its relative permissiveness and the proliferation of work-from-home jobs.

The TikTok hashtag DigitalNomadVisa has racked up a staggering 10 million views, with Sheik and others touting the benefits of the visa and how they got it.

Toman Ford, 29, an infrastructure engineer at an IT firm in Atlanta, is also on the visa.

He and his wife Risha Hill-Ford, 28, relocated to the small town of Spata, Greece, just outside of Athens, with their two toddler daughters in February. 


Toman and Risha with their toddlers in their three bedroom home in Spata, Greece.
Toman Ford and wife Risha Hill-Ford secured four digital nomad visas for themselves and their two daughters, and relocated to Athens, Greece, in February.
Risha Hill-Ford

Risha taking her social media followers on a virtual tour of Athens.
Online, Risha shares her daily life experiences as an expat in Greece with her more than 50,000 viewers.
headovrhill.com/TikTok

The most challenging adjustment Ford has had to make is acclimating to the six-hour time difference between Greece and the eastern United States.

Ford now works from 4 to 10 p.m. to be on at the same time as his colleagues in Georgia.

He spends the first part of his day tending to his daughters.

Hill-Ford, a fine artist, paints in the mornings and and sells her pieces online around the world.


Aerial view of Monastiraki Square.
Exploring Greece’s rich culture, stunning architecture and kind-hearted people have been some of Risha and Toman’s favorite aspects of their move.
Getty Images/iStockphoto

It’s a schedule that’s working for them.  

“The work-life balance of living in Greece on the digital nomad visa makes life so much easier,” said Hill-Ford, noting that her family’s once $4,000 monthly overhead for housing, food and amenities has been chopped down to a palatable $1,200.

The couple resides in a three-bedroom home for less than $1,000 a month, and shops with local grocers and vendors to help boost the region’s economy. 

“The cost of living in Atlanta was eating up all of our funds,” she said, “but here in Greece, I can work half the amount of time that I worked in the US, and I’m more than able to sustain myself financially.”


Risha and Toman are able to live in Greece for two years before having to renew their visas to extend their stay.
Although Toman, an IT specialist, and Risha, a fine artist, enjoy the financial benefits of being expats, the pair works diligently to avoid raising the cost of living in their now home country.
Risha Hill-Ford

The couple isn’t required to pay taxes to Greece, but pay income taxes to the US, as well as on the property they own in Atlanta. 

Hill-Ford, who promotes ethical expatriation to her over 50,000 TikTok followers, says it’s important that Americans avoid contributing to the gentrification of disenfranchised areas. 

In Greece, as well as in Portugal, where the digital nomad visa was introduced in October, natives are said to be facing evictions and unpredictable rent increases due to the influx of American transplants.

“It’s our responsibility to do our research to ensure that we’re not taking away housing that was originally priced for the average Grecian, but is now double or triple the cost because people from the US, who earn a lot more money, are moving here,” she said. “That’s absolutely wrong.”


Ramiee Iacofano plans to relocate to Barcelona, Spain for one year beginning in  the late summer of 2023.
To reduce the risk of ousting residents, Iacofano plans to shop locally as a way of sowing wealth into the smaller communities of Barcelona.
Raimee Iacofano.

Raimee Iacofano, 28, a Los Angeles social media manger for a tech startup company, agrees.

She’ll be moving to Barcelona, Spain, on the digital nomad visa this summer, and she’s aiming to be socially responsible about it.

“It does bother me that I’ll be living somewhere and be making a pretty good US salary, while my Europeans neighbors are making less,” she said.

“But I’m not renting a place through Airbnb or shopping at big chain stores — every dollar I spend will be towards strengthening the local economy.”

But Sheik says, no matter their best efforts or intentions, Americans on the digital nomad visa, including himself, can’t escape their role in gentrifying their new homelands. 

“You can speak the language and learn the culture, but it’s important to remember that you’re still an American, and to recognize how that privilege affects other people around you,” he said.

“Live like the locals as much as you can so that you’re not changing their lives.”