Relocation
Digital nomad visa countries in 2026: six compared at source, from no income floor to €3,680 a month
Six digital nomad visas, each read from the instrument that sets it. Argentina asks for no income at all and lasts a year at most. Dubai asks US$3,500 a month and taxes nothing. Malta asks €42,000 a year gross and five months on the island, and stops at four years. Greece and Cyprus both ask €3,500 a month net of tax. Portugal asks the most, €3,680, and is the only one of the six whose nomad route leads to permanent residence and citizenship. The difference that matters is rarely the income; it is what happens when the permit runs out.
Checked against PortugalGreeceMaltaCyprusUAEArgentina
Jurisdictions pt · gr · mt · cy · ae · ar
Contents
- Digital nomad visa countries: the income each one asks for
- Digital nomad visa cost and how long each permit lasts
- What a digital nomad visa leads to when it ends
- How digital nomads are taxed in each country
- Digital nomad visa in Europe: Portugal, Greece, Malta or Cyprus
- Digital nomad visa outside Europe: the UAE or Argentina
- Frequently asked questions
- Each country's digital nomad visa, in full
- If you are choosing where to work remotely
- Sources: where each figure comes from
Most lists of digital nomad visa countries compare one number, the income. This page compares the six this site reads at source on the thing that decides whether the route is worth taking: whether the income is net or gross, what the permit costs, how long it lasts, and what it leads to when it ends. Every row comes from a country page that quotes the instrument it rests on, and each country links to that page.
Spain, Italy, Thailand, Costa Rica and Mexico have popular nomad visas and are absent here because we have not yet read their law. They will be added when we have.
Digital nomad visa countries: the income each one asks for
| Country | Income test | Net or gross | Roughly, per month in US dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | None in the text | — | — |
| UAE, Dubai | US$3,500 a month, salary certificate | Not stated | US$3,500 |
| Malta | €42,000 a year | Gross | about US$3,920 |
| Greece | €3,500 a month | Net of tax, for employees | about US$3,920, after tax |
| Cyprus | €3,500 a month | Net of contributions and taxes | about US$3,920, after tax |
| Portugal | Four minimum wages, €3,680 in 2026, three-month average | Not stated as net | about US$4,120 |
Euro figures are converted at the European Central Bank's 1.1193 dollars of 23 October 2026.
Net or gross changes the order. Greece and Cyprus both say outright that the €3,500 is after tax. A salaried nomad paying 30% at home needs about €5,000 gross to clear it — more than Malta's €42,000 a year. Read gross against gross, Malta is the cheapest of the four European routes.
Portugal's figure moves every January. It is four times the national minimum wage, not an amount, so the same law gives a different euro figure each year.
Digital nomad visa cost and how long each permit lasts
| Country | Government fees | First term | Most you can stay on it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 32,000 pesos, renewal 40,000 | 180 days | 360 days |
| Cyprus | €70 permit, €70 registration | One year | Three years |
| UAE, Dubai | AED 300 visa, AED 740 permit lines | One year | Renewable |
| Malta | €300 application, €100 card | One year | Four years |
| Greece | €75 visa, €1,000 permit | Visa up to 12 months | No cap: moves into the general income permit |
| Portugal | Residence visa, then the permit | Two-year permit after the visa | No cap: permanent residence at five years |
What a digital nomad visa leads to when it ends
This is the column most lists leave out, and the one that separates the six.
- Argentina: one renewal and nothing after it. Staying longer needs a different category, such as rentista, whose rules exclude earnings from work.
- Cyprus: one year plus a renewal of up to two, and the Migration Department's page names nothing beyond.
- Malta: four years and a wall. The agency states that the permit leads to no permanent residence and no citizenship.
- UAE: one year at a time, renewable while the conditions hold. Long residence comes from other routes.
- Greece: after the visa, a two-year permit of the general type Ι.8, which then renews under the rules for people living on their own resources — an open-ended route.
- Portugal: only one of its two D8 variants, the residence visa, leads to a permit, permanent residence at five years and the naturalisation clock. The temporary-stay variant lasts under a year and goes nowhere.
How digital nomads are taxed in each country
| Country | The rule that applies |
|---|---|
| UAE | No personal income tax; proving UAE residence to a home country needs the tax residency certificate (183 days, or 90 with a permit and a home or job) |
| Malta | 10% on income from authorised work under S.L. 123.210, with nothing charged for the first twelve months |
| Cyprus | Tax resident after 183 days in a tax year, if not resident elsewhere |
| Greece | Tax resident after 183 days; the 50% break for newcomers requires a Greek employer or a Greek establishment, which the nomad visa rules out |
| Portugal | The ordinary rules; IFICI covers income from qualifying activities only |
| Argentina | Tax resident after twelve months on temporary permits; two nomad terms come to 360 days |
Digital nomad visa in Europe: Portugal, Greece, Malta or Cyprus
- For a short stay at the lowest cost, Cyprus: €140 in fees and up to three years, applied for after arrival — if the scheme's 500 permits have not run out.
- For the lowest tax, Malta: 10% on the work income after a free first year, for a price of five months a year on the island and an end at four years.
- For a route that keeps going, Greece or Portugal. Greece's nomad visa turns into its general income permit at the same €3,500. Portugal's residence variant is the only nomad route of the six that leads directly to permanent residence and citizenship.
Digital nomad visa outside Europe: the UAE or Argentina
Dubai is the simplest high-income route: US$3,500 a month, a year at a time, and no income tax — on the condition that your home country accepts you have left. Argentina is the opposite: no income test at all, nationals of visa-free countries only, and a hard end at 360 days.
Frequently asked questions
Which countries offer a digital nomad visa?
Of the countries this site reads at source: Portugal (the D8), Greece (type Ζ.1), Malta (the nomad residence permit), Cyprus (the Digital Nomad Visa scheme), the UAE (the virtual work permit) and Argentina (Disposition 758/2022).
Which digital nomad visa has the lowest income requirement?
Argentina's, which sets none. Among those with a figure, Dubai's US$3,500 a month is the lowest in dollar terms; among European ones, Malta's €42,000 a year gross is lower than Greece's or Cyprus's €3,500 a month net.
Which digital nomad visa leads to permanent residence?
Portugal's D8 residence visa, which leads to a residence permit, permanent residence at five years and citizenship. Greece's opens into its general income permit. Malta's states that it leads to neither permanent residence nor citizenship.
Which digital nomad visa is cheapest to apply for?
Argentina's, at 32,000 pesos, and then Cyprus's, at €70 for the permit and €70 for registration.
Do digital nomads pay tax in the country of the visa?
Usually only once they become tax resident, which in Greece and Cyprus means more than 183 days in a year. Malta taxes work income on its nomad permit at 10% after the first twelve months; the UAE has no personal income tax.
Can I work for local clients on a digital nomad visa?
Each of the six is granted for work for employers or clients abroad. Greece and Cyprus expressly forbid work for local employers or clients, Malta forbids any economic activity with companies registered in Malta, and Greece and Cyprus also bar the holder's family from working.
Each country's digital nomad visa, in full
- Portugal: the D8 and its two variants.
- Greece: the Ζ.1 visa and the two-year permit after it.
- Malta: the nomad residence permit and the four-year wall.
- Cyprus: the scheme, the €3,500 net and the cap of 500.
- UAE: the Dubai virtual work permit.
- Argentina: Disposition 758/2022 and its 180 days.
Every figure on this page is traced to its instrument on the sources page.
If you are choosing where to work remotely
We do not give legal or tax advice. What we do is put a person who knows what they are asking in front of a licensed adviser in the country they have chosen. If two routes on this page both fit, the question to bring is rarely the income. It is where you want to be when the permit ends, and which country will tax you in the meantime. Send it through the enquiry form. We take no part in the fee.
Sources: where each figure comes from
- Portugal: Lei 23/2007, articles 54(1)(i) and 61-B; Decreto Regulamentar 84/2007, articles 18-B and 31-A; as recorded on our Portugal D8 page, September 2026.
- Greece: Law 5038/2023, article 68; ministerial decision 95391/2024, article 10; Law 4172/2013, article 5C; read 25 October 2026.
- Malta: Residency Malta's nomad residence permit pages and S.L. 123.210; as recorded on our Malta nomad page, September 2026.
- Cyprus: Migration Department, "Digital nomads and family members", 31 December 2025, and its list of accompanying documents of 19 March 2025; read 26 October 2026.
- UAE: GDRFA, ICP and u.ae pages on the virtual work permit; read 25 October 2026.
- Argentina: Migraciones Disposition 758/2022 and the fee table under Decree 584/2024; read 25 October 2026.
- Exchange rate: European Central Bank, 23 October 2026.
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