This Week in Global Mobility: Digital Nomads Rise, Start-Up Visas Fade
Digital Nomads Gain Ground Sri Lanka and South Korea both launched new digital nomad visas, joining an expanding global trend. Meanwhile, several jurisdictions tightened digital nomad requirements—suggesting standards are crystallising around income thresholds, health insurance, and residency durations as these programmes mature.
Start-Up Visas Face Headwinds Multiple start-up visa programmes closed this week, signalling a potential retreat from government-backed entrepreneurship visas. This contrasts sharply with investor and skilled worker pathways, which remain active but under scrutiny through requirement updates.
Golden Visa Adjustments Portugal's Golden Visa and Greece's property-linked visa both saw changes—Portugal tightening requirements, Greece adjusting its property transfer tax framework. Qatar's new Entrepreneur & Executive Golden Visa and updates to Jordan's citizenship-by-investment programme suggest Middle Eastern and North African jurisdictions are competing aggressively for high-net-worth individuals.
Residency & Tax Innovation Oman introduced a Zero-Tax Residency programme, while the Maldives launched the Pearl Residence. Lebanon's new Golden Residency Program and Sri Lanka's expansion signal fresh competition in the residency market. Simultaneously, visitor visas, student permits, and skilled worker visas saw requirement changes across multiple jurisdictions—reflecting tighter compliance and vetting standards.
Programme Discovery Surge Our systems flagged significant new programme discovery activity across citizenship-by-investment routes, suggesting multiple governments are launching or formalising CBI schemes. Several pages underwent structural updates, particularly around South African citizenship by descent and Slovenian ancestry pathways.
Bottom Line This week reveals a market in flux: established entrepreneurship routes are contracting while remote work and investment-linked residency expand. Requirement tightening across skilled worker and visitor categories indicates governments are raising bars, not lowering them. Those exploring relocation should expect longer processing timelines and stricter documentation demands across most major jurisdictions.
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