From Bali to Iceland, 165,000 Britons work remotely from another country

Inside, there is little to distinguish this co-working space from the UK’s smartest offices. There are bare brick walls and Crittall-style windows; potted plants dotted around a long communal wooden table where Mac-tapping British entrepreneurs hot-desk on ergonomic chairs; German executives and American freelancers sit in meeting rooms; and video-conferencing booths stand near a café serving cappuccinos.

Outside, though, it’s a long way from a Waterloo WeWork. Palm trees shade a tropical garden where workers sip from fresh coconuts. The view is rice fields and black sand beaches — and the rent is £55 a month.

This is the Tropical Nomad co-working space in Canggu, once a quiet Indonesian village in Bali but now a popular home for “digital nomads” — workers who do a job connected to their home economy, using technology to work remotely overseas.

Bali is a popular destination for the new breed of workers

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About 165,000 British citizens work as digital nomads, with 7 per cent of the adult population claiming they are “very likely” to do so in the next three years, according to the consultancy Public First. Its report, Digital Nomads: how many, why and does it matter?, released this year, is the first attempt at counting Brits in this amorphous crowd. It found that the UK’s digital nomads spend, on average, seven months a year overseas, collectively earning £5.2 billion while away.

With many Britons jetting off this weekend after the break-up of schools, the temptation to turn a holiday into a permanent way of life may be very strong.

Helen Pamely is one of this growing tribe. The former corporate litigation partner at City law firm Rosling King quit after Covid and started a coaching business in 2022. “I realised I didn’t need to be in the UK to work. Initially, I just started going to Spain quite frequently. I tried to stay, but the digital nomad visa process was onerous, and the 90-day Schengen rules [which limit stays to a maximum of 90 days within any 180-day period] meant I had to leave by winter.”

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So Pamely became a digital nomad, with spells so far in Cyprus and Bali — where she is now. “Here it’s a playground for British entrepreneurs like me — cheap accommodation and transport, a lovely culture, perfect co-working spaces, and all the cafés in Bali have a plug socket for every table and superfast wi-fi anyway. It’s so much better than Europe.”

Have laptop will travel: Canggu, below, in Bali

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Initially, Pamely — whose clients are mostly from Britain and include partners at “magic circle” law firms — worried that being based in holiday resorts would diminish perceptions of her professionalism. “But I’ve had no negative comments; if anything, it feels like an advantage. Currently, my time zone is seven hours ahead of the UK, so I wake up ahead of everyone and can easily work with US clients, too.

“People are now used to a global world; the idea that a job is location-specific is outdated. In ten years’ time, I think there’s going to be a huge number of people like me.”

Increasingly, there already are. The UK is the world’s second-most popular nation for digital nomads (to flee from, rather than live in), according to Citizen Remote, an online platform that organises digital nomad visas, relocation services, immigration lawyers and tax advisers.

Traffic from British digital nomads has doubled each year since 2020, said Tim Marting, chief operating officer at Citizen Remote. “More UK nationals are looking to work abroad in a post-pandemic, post-Brexit world,” he said. “The weather is the No 1 thing Britons mention, then high living costs and Brexit; they are excited that a digital nomad visa provides a pathway to work in Europe. I believe the number of UK remote workers abroad has nearly doubled in the past three years.”

Although the term “digital nomad” first entered parlance in the late 1990s, when Tsugio Makimoto and David Manners wrote a book with this title that predicted a future workforce of international travellers logging in from abroad, it took Covid’s acceleration of remote working trends to truly popularise the movement.

Ben Savours, a senior economist at Public First who wrote its digital nomad report, said: “People thought the movement might die down after that initial post-pandemic surge, with concerns about rootlessness and career-building — but actually, interest is growing.

The largest sector of digital nomads are young entrepreneurs starting very mobile, usually online businesses. They don’t have enough money for an office in London, but they can travel somewhere much cheaper, find a network of others just like them and do the same work.”

If you have received an “out of office” email from someone saying they’re spending August working from a sun lounger, you will be familiar with the concept of “working from anywhere”. But this flexible working policy, adopted by many firms after Covid, is on the retreat as “return to the office” mandates bite.

Digital nomadism is an altogether more permanent version of this concept, implying an almost constant life on the road. Its use is most prevalent in the tech industry and other sectors with talent shortages. “In professions where businesses are battling over new employees, it’s a nugget to attract talent,” Savours said.

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Eight per cent of UK workers — or almost three million people — work entirely remotely, according to Work from Anywhere, a report from the professional services firm KPMG. It found that just over 50 per cent of UK companies have, or are working on, policies allowing employees to work remotely from a foreign country for up to 90 days. Meanwhile, 10 per cent of businesses are offering this option for longer spells, or permanently.

These figures could rise as Gen Z workers, who are more inclined to work flexibly, grow in seniority and management roles.

Politics heavily affects digital nomad trends: Citizen Remote said its US web traffic was 50 times higher than usual the day after Donald Trump won the US presidential election.

Policy shifts worldwide have also seen countries offer “digital native visas” to encourage entrepreneurs and workers to their shores. In January, New Zealand changed its visa requirements to allow visitors to work for foreign employers for up to three months without paying local taxes, hoping it would “lead to more money being spent in this country”.

South Africa announced a similar scheme this spring, joining Japan, Georgia, Mauritius, South Korea and swathes of Europe — while Indonesia and Thailand’s remote worker visa schemes have helped Bali, Chiang Mai and Bangkok become major nomadic playgrounds in southeast Asia.

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“There are now 35 visas specifically labelled ‘digital nomad’ or ‘remote worker’, plus at least 80 countries that now have visa options that allow the self-employed or contractors to work,” added Marting at Citizen Remote. He has bounced between Australia, Italy, Spain and now Iceland over the past eight years, describing himself as a “digital slowmad”.

“I try new places, but slowly,” he said. “Typically visas that work for digital nomads span 12 months or less, and you don’t have to pay tax in that country.”

Tim Marting, chief operating officer at Citizen Remote, is living in Iceland

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There are other complexities, though. The European Union does not have one unified visa, for example, and countries can adopt very different approaches. “For simplicity, Czech, Malta, France, Croatia, Greece, southeast Asia and South America are the easiest visa applications,” Marting said. “But Portugal, Spain and Italy are notorious for their complexity.”

Hayley Knight, communications director at PR firm Be Yellow, went travelling after the Covid lockdowns and “didn’t want to stop”, she said. She now works remotely, and has visited more than 30 countries in four years; Kosovo, Ecuador, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Turkey were her last four bases.

She picks her next location by prioritising wi-fi connection, community, walkability and time zone suitability: “There is no point in going to the depths of the Amazon when you need to work and build your business.”

She advised others considering the digital nomad lifestyle to “stabilise your income first, make sure you are earning enough to support yourself, and build yourself a three to six-month safety financial buffer for things that go wrong”. Knight needed hers after breaking an ankle in Costa Rica while surfing, and getting stuck in Sri Lanka and Peru during protests that put the countries on lockdown.

But she said none of her clients mentions her overseas work base, and that she has a UK team to call on if needed. Spain, Australia and southeast Asia are on next year’s agenda. “I mainly follow 90-day tourist visas that allow entry and work without paperwork, and that are low-friction zones.”

Bangkok, Thailand

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Digital nomadism is not universally popular: protests have sprung up around the world over remote workers pushing up local housing and living costs. And from an economic perspective, Savours flags that the trend may not benefit UK Plc. “These nomads are running lots of young businesses whose customers are predominantly in the UK. At the beginning, the start-up may still be registered in the UK, but as it grows, it often needs to hire staff, use local supply chains and equipment, and accountancy and legal services, and ultimately register the business abroad and pay taxes in another country.”

Public First estimates that the British economy loses £3.1 billion in consumer spending, and £320 million in VAT revenue, from its digital nomads working overseas.

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And to those thinking of selling up and moving overseas, the Bali-based Pamely warned that it’s not all sunsets and sundowners. “This isn’t a dream, it’s real life,” she said. “I rarely go to the beach, because I work so hard.”

Knight at Be Yellow conceded the same. “I miss the stability of having my own space and home, and it can get quite lonely,” she said. “Life moves on when you’re away.

“After working abroad for several years now, I don’t really feel like I have a place I can call home.”

Tools for digital nomads

CitizenRemote.com and Nomads.com for co-working spaces, accommodation, visa information and more
MeetUp.com to find local networking and digital nomad events
ClickUp.com and Slack for organisation and communication
WorkAway.info for work and volunteer opportunities
Google Translate for the obvious translating tasks

Tax implications for digital nomads

Digital nomads criss-crossing multiple countries can face both the UK and host nations claiming tax rights over their income. “Double taxation can be mitigated through relief under a double-tax treaty, if one exists between the UK and the host, but the specifics of these vary,” warned Elissavet Grout, partner in tax at law firm Travers Smith.

“In addition to tax, local social security obligations must be considered. Although the UK has social security agreements with some countries, these are not always designed for individuals working in multiple countries at the same time and are often limited in duration.”

Digital nomads who are employees need to be aware of potentially triggering local payroll and reporting obligations for employers, “who will also be concerned that the arrangement does not create a taxable presence for their business in the host country”, Grout added. “If a digital nomad is selling a product or service, local VAT or sales tax obligations might arise.

“Nomads and their employers will also need to comply with local regulatory, labour, pension and immigration laws. While some countries operate specific digital nomad visa regimes, this is not the case everywhere. Those working in financial services (or a similar regulated environment) may need to be authorised before they can work in a particular jurisdiction.”