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Can you create a foreign company and hire yourself as an employee?

by @matthieudrula 9yr 9yr | 8 comments

Tricky or really dumb question ahah.
So … I know that you can create a company in order to get the nationality but you need to invest a lot (depending the country 20K$ +).
I also know that you can get a visa if a company hires you.
So can you go in a country (picking Colombia as an exemple), pay 100$ to create a company and hire yourself after?
Or can you ask somebody (a friend) to create a company and hire you in order to give you a visa.
Does this visa last until you quit your job or is it just temporary (6 months)?
If you already have a company (let’s say you paid 20£ for a UK company), can you just create a branch in a foreign country and give yourself a job there?

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@brad_medellin 9yr 9yr

You can’t create a company for $100 in Colombia it will cost you about $1000 with all government/legal fees but it will get you a visa renewable for 2 years. If you want help email me [email protected].

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@matthieudrula 9yr 9yr

You could share your knowledge here so everybody can have access.

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@itinerantdev 9yr 9yr

As everyone has said it varies from country to country. In Thailand for example I believe you can’t start a business as a foreigner unless you hire 5 Thais and a bunch of other stuff like that.

I’m also pretty sure you couldn’t do this in the UK, you have to show your passport to become a company director.

And also just because you have a company doesn’t mean you have a visa personally, you’d still have to go through a bunch of paper work and expense.

My instinct is that in 9/10 cases visa runs are much easier, if it was as easy this everyone would be doing it!

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@matthieudrula 9yr 9yr

It’s the same as getting rich, some try and succeed, you have to master the game ;).

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@alih 9yr 9yr

I’m pretty sure you can do that in Poland and I think in Slovakia too. But you need to pay for accounting, for insurances, taxes as the employer and taxes as the employee. The bottom figures ain’t pretty.

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@martinrvillalba 9yr 9yr

My understanding is that you can more or less do that in some countries. Belgium, for example. You still have to pay yourself a pretty decent salary and go through a rather stringent application process.

Others don’t allow for such visas. I asked a couple of immigration consultants in New Zealand and as it turns out you are not allowed to “self-sponsor”.

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@levelsio 9yr 9yr

It really depends on which country. Every country has different rules.

In general, you can let your limited company hire yourself and pay yourself salary.

However, that doesn’t mean you’re not taxable on the entire profits of your foreign company in your own country. Many times you still are.

In terms of visa, it extremely depends on country again. Most developed countries will have closed this loophole. And most countries will ask for a substantial sum of investment (in your own company) to get a visa there. I think for U.S. it’s $500,000 at least. Not sure.

IANAL.

So we really need to know what’s your end goal here. What are you trying to get from this?

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@matthieudrula 9yr 9yr

I’m trying to see if there is a loophole to avoid this fee, get 1$ salary a month and be able to stay in the country until I want to move.
As you said it depends of the country, I was thinking about Colombia.
But I don’t think that creating a thread ‘Loophole for free unlimited visa’ is going to stay long on the forum (legally speaking).

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Read and participate in 14,117 discussions on Nomads.com

What features would you like to see on Nomad List?

by @levelsio 4yr 4 years ago | 3 comments

Hi everyone,

I would love to hear what you'd like me to build next on Nomad List, or any other product/feature feedback ideas you have.

It's been 6+ years now but I'm in this for the long term and with the boost remote work got last year it's even more exciting to work on Nomad List than ever.

Current roadmap is here: twitter.com/levelsio/status/1363204985488572417?s=20 and pbs.twimg.com/media/EusS9PKXEAUR8xp?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

The next products/features I have planned:

- 🛂 Rebase: visa, residency and immigration services for remote workers

- 🎓Courses: learn the steps how to go remote and travel/relocate

- 🏛 Gov liaison: diplomacy services to the governments to help us lobby for nomads and for them to attract remote workers

Thanks a lot!

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What are the best places right now in the Caribbean/LatAM? (Also cheapest flights/accommodation?)

by @orangutan3 4yr 4 years ago | 1 comment

What are the best places right now in the Caribbean/LatAM? (Also cheapest flights/accommodation?) Asking from the US.

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List of Visa/Residency Information in Table/Spreadsheet format?

by @innovatelife 4yr 4 years ago | 2 comments

As part of signing up for this website I was hoping I would come across a list of Visa and/or Residency requirements by country ideally in a table format to assist with decision making. Does anybody recommend any other websites that might present the information in this format (or Google Spreadsheet)?

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Most Walkable Neighborhood / City In The World ?

by @dannybooboo 4yr 4 years ago | 1 comment

I love living in walkable areas of town. I can always find them. But now I'm wondering where in the world are the most walkable places? I'm imagining walk streets (no cars), zoning allowing both business and residential, parks or beaches ,etc.

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Any nomads in Arizona, US?

in Netherlands by @info132 4yr 4 years ago | 4 comments

Hi guys,

After the Netherlands, the Bay Area, Colorado and being on the van life for 8 months, I am now in Sedona, AZ with a few other digital nomads. We are sharing a home here and are wondering if there are more like minded people in the area.

We do a bunch of hikes and campouts in the northern of Arizona. If you would like to connect with us, please do so :)

Val

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International number & internet?

by @leobassam 4yr 4 years ago | 1 comment

Has anyone figured out a way to get setup with a virtual number and internet connection anywhere you go?

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Are there any tax issues I have to be aware of?

in Germany by @clara 4yr 4 years ago | 0 comments

Hi everybody. I live and work in Germany and want to go to Canary Islands for 6 months to work from there. I'm going to keep my current job, just change the "home" in the home office part of things. Are there any tax issues I have to be aware of? I was reading about becoming a residence after 183 days, thus having to pay taxes there plus my employer having to register there. Does anybody know how it works exactly? Thanks a lot!

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Chiang Mai accommodation

in Chiang Mai , Thailand by @bertieb 4yr 4 years ago | 0 comments

Can anyone recommend a good accommodation website for Chiang Mai?

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Is anyone travelling right now?

by @viktor 4yr 4 years ago | 3 comments

Winter is coming and I’m feeling the ache of travelling after being stuck in the same place since the Pandemic started. Wondering if anyone is travelling right now? If so, where are you currently located and how is the situation where you are?

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102k

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Introduce yourself — who are you, where are you and what do you do?

by @coffeeshopceo 4yr 4 years ago | 672 comments

tl;dr: introduce yourself in this thread.

We must all get sick of the same backpacker travel questions when we meet new friends, I know I do.

You know the ones - where are you from, where’ve you been, where are you going, what do you do, how long have you been doing it - etc.

The novelty of answering these questions wears off after maybe a week, but they’re nonetheless insightful and no matter how much we hate them, we find ourselves asking others.

So let’s bring the dreaded backpacker questionnaire to NomadForum and introduce ourselves shall we?

what’s your name?
where are you from?
how long have you been away from home?
what do you do?
where are you currently?
where are you going?
what has been memorable for you so far?
will you go home anytime soon?
what have you learnt during your time as a nomad?
[insert your own question here]

No need to answer them all if you don’t want to
But the more you share… The merrier!

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Do you "out" yourself as a digital nomad?

by @larsheather 5yr 5 years ago | 2 comments

When you meet new people or reconnect with old friends, do you “out” yourself as a digital nomad? The simple question “where do you live?” makes us uncertain now. We wonder if some places may be less welcoming to digital nomads, or if “digital nomad” has a negative connotation in some places. If you are forthcoming from the start, does your status as a digital nomad make it hard to form friendships?

We would love to hear how other people navigate this… how to balance being authentic in relationships vs. withholding the context (and allowing people to assume you’re on vacation, for example).

Thanks!

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Foreigner owned Coworking business in Malaysia

in Malaysia by @newyam 6yr 6 years ago | 0 comments

Heyo folks! The idea to open up an own coworking space in Malaysia has been on my mind for quite a while and I would like to reach out on foreigners being a business owner/co working space owner in Malaysia, there are a lot of questions that would follow up but most importantly is to reach out to someone with experience.

Ideally would be someone who runs a coworking space in Malaysia, second best would be to just come in touch with a foreign business owner in Malaysia.
Cheers
Yamin

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Anyone know good foreign currencies to hold?

by @worldtravel 7yr 7 years ago | 22 comments

I’ve done a lot of research on foreign currencies and which are good to hold… its pretty complicated. it seems obvious, swiss franc, hong kong dollar… but when you look at if you want to open a swiss bank account they require a very high minimum balance, can charge you just to hold swiss francs, etc… anyone have a deep understanding of this stuff?

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How much is scooter hire in Ubud?

in Ubud , Indonesia by @jameswander 8yr 8 years ago | 3 comments

Hi,

How much should I expect to pay for scooter hire in Ubud?

Thanks,
James

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Has anyone got a mortgage in a foreign country, as self-employed nomad?

by @davidmumfordmusic 8yr 8 years ago | 3 comments

Have any of you nomads been approved for a mortgage in a foreign country?

I am a UK citizen, and now that I work online I’m interested in maybe buying a property somewhere else in Europe. I don’t particularly want to live in the UK, and house prices are ridiculous here anyway. I would much rather buy a little apartment in one of any number of European cities; just somewhere to have as a base in between travelling.

Has anyone ever done such a thing? How did the process work? Which country did you buy property in and how straight-forward was the process?

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Health Insurance with a preexisting condition: how do you insure yourself?

by @dpt 8yr 8 years ago | 0 comments

I’m wondering how Digital Nomads with pre-existing conditions insure themselves.

I’m German and most of the German DNs I know keep their primary residence in Germany and go with private health insurance (~150-250€/month) + travel insurance (<50€/month). Sadly that’s not possible for people with pre-existing conditions; those (at least in Germany) are required to voluntarily insure themselves with the governmental healthcare providers at 15.7% of pretax revenue (min. ~350/month, max. ~850€/month).
Probably most other European states work in similar fashion?

The last few years I have gotten along by tricking a little (staying registered as a student), but I’m soon hitting the age limit where that’s not possible anymore and am now looking at either incorporating and paying myself a fixed salary or getting a residency in another European country with a (for self-employed people) more accessible public health system (my main focus is on Portugal’s NHR regime).

Does anyone else here have/had a similar problem? I wonder how others have solved this issue.

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Any experiencie airmailing your stuff to yourself when moving from one place to another?

by @chelocoach 8yr 8 years ago | 5 comments

Hi there!

I’m going Nomad in about 3 months. Mainly I’ll stay in some places for at least 1 month, but I’m planning some backpacking trips in between movings. So I’m planning to travel carry-on only on this trips. But I also would like to carry with me some non-indispensable stuff that helps me to keep up with my lifestyle and work on the places where I’ll stay for a longer period. For example a blender, coffee and an Aeropress to prepare my bulleproof coffee. Also my guitar, some camera gear, a good quality screen to work, etc…

Except for the guitar, everything fits into a medium size luggage.

I know I can check in this stuff when moving. But if I’m going to backpack I don’t want to carry this stuff around.

Is airmailing this stuff to myself a good option?
Any experience on this?

I’m a newby on this lifestyle so any advice is welcome . Many thanks!

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Do foreign contractors get treated any differently tax-wise?

by @lightmotif 9yr 9 years ago | 5 comments

I’m an American who has been a sole proprietor (freelancer) for a long time. I’ve occasionally hired American subcontractors, who I send 1099s in January. What do I need to consider tax-wise or in any other way financially if I want to hire a subcontractor from abroad?

I’m also interested in knowing more about any roadblocks potential clients from other countries would have in contracting to me. I haven’t done business across borders yet. Thanks.

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How can you avoid foreign banking, ATM, and transaction fees?

by @danielgenser 9yr 9 years ago | 52 comments

What’s the latest on how to avoid ATM/bank/foreign transaction fees? How do you keep track of money spent when you’re never quite sure of the exact exchange rate? I normally use YNAB to keep on top of my budget here at home, but I’m dreading keeping tabs on all the minute foreign transaction adjustments abroad…

I’m looking at this to check out some of the banking options: http://thepointsguy.com/2014/02/the-top-11-checking-accounts-for-avoiding-foreign-atm-fees/

Have you used any of these?

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Nomad List

Can you create a foreign company and hire yourself as an employee?

Suggested topics

What features would you like to see on Nomad List?

What are the best places right now in the Caribbean/LatAM? (Also cheapest flights/accommodation?)

List of Visa/Residency Information in Table/Spreadsheet format?

Most Walkable Neighborhood / City In The World ?

Any nomads in Arizona, US?

International number & internet?

Are there any tax issues I have to be aware of?

Chiang Mai accommodation

Is anyone travelling right now?

Introduce yourself — who are you, where are you and what do you do?

Do you "out" yourself as a digital nomad?

Foreigner owned Coworking business in Malaysia

Anyone know good foreign currencies to hold?

How much is scooter hire in Ubud?

Has anyone got a mortgage in a foreign country, as self-employed nomad?

Health Insurance with a preexisting condition: how do you insure yourself?

Any experiencie airmailing your stuff to yourself when moving from one place to another?

Do foreign contractors get treated any differently tax-wise?

How can you avoid foreign banking, ATM, and transaction fees?