Best Visas to Apply For Now

This listing changed shape in the last month: it now models Montenegro's official digital-nomad temporary residence permit rather than the old visa-free workaround. The permit runs up to two years and can be extended for two more, family members can join through reunification, and there's a real path to residency and, eventually, citizenship. The income bar is a formula — three times the national minimum wage, about EUR 1,800/month without a degree or EUR 2,400/month with one — and foreign-sourced income generally isn't taxed. No fee is published for the permit itself.

Note: The application must be lodged in person after you've already entered the country — there's no filing from abroad — and the enabling programme is currently authorised only through 31 December 2026, so confirm it's been extended before you plan a multi-year stay around it.

At $1,446/month — three times the 2026 basic salary — Ecuador's Professional/Rentista visa clears a lower bar than almost anything else in the database. The initial grant runs 24 months, renews every two years indefinitely, and permanent residency is available after three years with citizenship possible on the same timeline, well ahead of the decade-plus most European programmes require. Non-resident foreign income isn't taxed.

Note: The $450 fee and 60–90 day processing window are steep for the income level, applications can't be filed online, and Ecuador taxes worldwide income once you cross the 183-day residency threshold — the foreign-income exemption depends on staying under it or getting a tax advisor involved.

The F-1-D stopped being a trial programme this summer and is now a standing visa category, with a new concession attached: applicants aged 18–34 who base themselves outside Seoul, Incheon or Gyeonggi (or in a population-decline area) qualify at one times Korea's GNI per capita instead of two. The standard bar is still roughly $62,000/year, but the regional tier brings it down substantially for younger applicants willing to work from Busan or elsewhere. Foreign-sourced income isn't taxed for the duration.

Note: The standard tier's income requirement is among the highest of any programme on this site, there's no path to residency, and the application has to go through a Korean consulate abroad — it can't be filed online or fully completed inside the country.

The permit cap rose from 500 to 1,000 in October 2025, on top of an earlier increase from the original 2022 ceiling — meaning an applicant who clears the requirements is far less likely to be turned away purely on numbers this year. The visa is filed fully online, the fee is a modest $70, and the stay renews to three years total. Foreign-sourced income is exempt for non-domiciled tax residents.

Note: The €3,500/month net income threshold is high for the region, there's no path to permanent residency on this route, and the published 60–90 day processing time means an August application won't clear before October at the earliest.

Namibia's Digital Nomad Visa clears in as little as seven days, the whole application is online, the fee is $180, and the income bar is a modest $2,000/month. Foreign-sourced income isn't taxed, by design — the six-month cap keeps holders under the 183-day tax-residency threshold rather than through any special exemption.

Note: The visa is capped at six months and is explicitly not extendable — you have to leave and file a fresh application to return — and internet outside Windhoek and the main coastal towns is noticeably weaker than the country's headline connectivity figures suggest.