Clear search
๐ŸŒ Join Nomads ๐Ÿ‘‹  Log in
General
Nomads.com Frontpage ๐ŸŒ—  Dark mode โค๏ธ  Your favorites ๐Ÿš‘  Nomad insurance ๐Ÿš€  Shiplog ๐Ÿ›๏ธ  Merch ๐Ÿฅ  About
Community
โค๏ธ Dating app ๐Ÿค  Friend finder ๐Ÿ’ฌ  Chat on Telegram ๐Ÿ’ˆ  Host meetup
new
๐Ÿน  Attend meetup ๐ŸŒŽ  Members map
Tools
๐Ÿœ  Explore ๐ŸŽ’  NomadGPT ๐Ÿ“ธ  Vote on photos ๐Ÿ—“  Residence calendar ๐Ÿ’ธ  FIRE calculator ๐ŸŒค  Climate finder ๐Ÿ’ฅ  Fastest growing ๐Ÿ“Š  Nomad stats
new
๐Ÿงช State of remote work new ๐Ÿ“œ  History of nomads
new
๐Ÿ•ธ  Network graph ๐Ÿ”Œ  Fastest internet ๐Ÿ†  Best place now ๐Ÿ”ฎ  Random place ๐Ÿ”ฎ  Random good place
Misc
๐Ÿ“ˆ  Pageviews (222K/mo) ๐Ÿ—ณ  User rating 9.0/10 (n=7,004) ๐Ÿฉ  Hotel List ๐Ÿ›ฐ  Remote jobs โœˆ๏ธ  Airline List ๐Ÿ—บ  Neighborhoods ๐Ÿก  Rebase ๐Ÿ  Coworkations โ˜•๏ธ  Nomad Cafe ๐Ÿก  Interior AI ๐Ÿ“ธ  Photo AI โœจ  Applicant AI ๐Ÿ“‘  JSON.pub ๐Ÿ†˜  Support
๐Ÿ‘‹ We've discontinued the forum. You can still read the posts archive but not post. To ask questions, please use the Nomads.com Chat
Title
Be specific and imagine youโ€™re asking a question to another person. You can also post non-question posts of general interest

Body
Include all the information someone would need to answer your question or reply to your post
Cancel

You won't be notified by email when a reply is posted, to change your notification settings. Posts must follow the TOS: No ads, self promotion, commercial posts, surveys etc. For customer support questions, don't post here but use the feedback box in the bottom right of this page instead.

๐Ÿ‘
173
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How to do without permanent address nor local bank?


by @tradeaway 7yr  | 2 comments

I am soon to find out one way or another as I will leave my residency to become a nomad myself. I have not found a good solution for Bali or Asian countries on the internet.

I read our existing Nomadlist posts under Money tag. Money handling and charges around accessing it seem to be a big issue for nomads, soon my issue. As a post I read said, accessing money for a Nomad can be harder than making money. I am more worried about accessing money than having some.

Iโ€™ll use Transferwise Borderless account to keep my day to day living money. I am opening a Pte Ltd corporate, that only goes for business-related expenses.
My Canadian credit card will charge me an arm and a leg in fees and currency conversion for me to get Indonesian Rupiah in Bali from Canadian dollar account. Then at some point, my credit card will complain I am not in Canad anymore.
Not knowing better, Iโ€™ll try that. If that works good and still live me short on how to go for smaller and random daily expenses.

Thanks for your help!
Enjoy your Nomad living!!

๐Ÿ‘
173
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
2
๐Ÿ‘Ž
@hoperto 7yr

Hi! Had similar problems very recently. Making a local bank account might leave you with the same problem after you leave that country(still useful thing to have of course).

Anyways, i came up with working solution - Swiss personal bank accounts. Almost all banks there allow you to open an account & control it absolutely remotely. Works for most of the passports. You can also change the address when you move.

๐Ÿ‘
2
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
2
๐Ÿ‘Ž
@tradeaway 7yr

Iโ€™ll reply to myself. I found what Iโ€™ll do.
Staying long enough, open a local bank account allowing meto transfer money to it.
Boarderless to bank will work.

๐Ÿ‘
2
๐Ÿ‘Ž
Read and participate in 14,117 discussions on Nomads.com

Suggested topics

๐Ÿ‘
1
๐Ÿ‘Ž

Tax advisor for permanent nomads?


by @eljaques 4yr 4 years ago  | 1 comment

I'm in need of a tax advisor who understands "our" typical situation. I'm all good on being legal on taxes at this point, but as I'm doing more investing and there's more compliance and KYC and such, it's getting more complicated to deal with this topic. Not living in my country of citizenship, company in another country, resident in yet another country, banking in a different country ... you know how it is, a pile of red flags.

Would be great to find a good tax advisor to sort things in a way that makes my situation as "explainable" and easily dealt with as possible. Any leads?

๐Ÿ‘
1
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
1
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How to learn a language without taking a formal class?


by @zakamercury 4yr 4 years ago  | 5 comments

How to learn a language without taking a formal class, while traveling in different countries?

What advice can you give me?

๐Ÿ‘
1
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
29k
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How to get a UK residence address without renting/buying?


by @pavel_maximov 5yr 5 years ago  | 17 comments

Background:
Iโ€™m an EU national IT specialist, recently decided to become a digital nomad. I just left my permanent job in Germany and opened a UK based LTD (for a better taxation) to start a new career as remote working IT contractor. I also want to become a UK resident and pay personal income tax there BUT I donโ€™t want to rent/buy a place because I have no interest in physically living in the UK, as a nomad I will be traveling abroad 100% of the time.

So I just need a UK address where Iโ€™m registered as a resident and could receive mail, but I would never actually be there. I could rent a place and keep it empty but that would be a total waste of money.

Question:
How do I find somebody who could give me an official residence at his/her address and keep my name on the door? Iโ€™m ok with paying a reasonable monthly fee for this โ€œserviceโ€ (but not as high as a rent), and give assurance in whatever form that I will never pretend to physically live there. I have no close friends in the UK to ask for this favor, and trying to propose this to a random landlord would be just weird since they are not familiar with the needs of a digital nomad.

Maybe you guys can suggest me somebody who understand the situation and want to make some extra cash every month to pay the bills? Iโ€™m ready to meet in person, provide full proof of identity or any other document, and to make a written agreement that gives the landlord the freedom to cancel this โ€œsituationโ€ at any time.

Note:
This is NOT for tax evasion, itโ€™s the opposite! I WANT to pay full tax as UK resident, I just donโ€™t want to waste money on a rent which I will literally never use.

I would be very grateful for any advice!

Pavel

๐Ÿ‘
29k
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
1
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How do you deal with โ€œproof of addressโ€ for banking and investing and other random stuff?


by @eljaques 5yr 5 years ago  | 6 comments

How do you guys deal with the dreaded โ€œproof of addressโ€ for banking and investing and other random stuff?

I donโ€™ have the option to have a family member do this for me, sadly (not wanting to use that country as residence for tax implications).

This has to be a pretty regular problem for most who arenโ€™t doing the old timey โ€œlive in one place and pay bills there foreverโ€ thing. Suggestions? Services? Hacks? Workarounds?

๐Ÿ‘
1
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
9
๐Ÿ‘Ž

Best way to connect with "local" nomads using Nomadlist?


by @migueltic 5yr 5 years ago  | 4 comments

Hi, Iโ€™ve seen that Nomad List offers different options that could work for connecting with other nomads that are in the same place as me (forum, Slack, user maps, matches and maybe even more options I havenโ€™t seen), but Iโ€™m not sure what is the best/recommended way to use all these options.

Should I use all of them? Start with a message in the forum and/or Slack?

Sending private messages to a lot of people feels a little bit โ€œaggressiveโ€. And matches are not based on current location if I understood it correctly.

By the way, I just arrived at Budapest :slight_smile:

๐Ÿ‘
9
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
5
๐Ÿ‘Ž

Co-working space in Shanghai WITHOUT monthly payment


in Shanghai , China by @katrin 6yr 6 years ago  | 0 comments

Daily/hourly pass needed.
Canโ€™t work in normal cafรฉ because having clientโ€™s laptop for security reasons, canโ€™t use open networks. Working for R&D. Also laptop is so huge it doesnโ€™t fit normal cafe environment because itโ€™s far from discreet.

๐Ÿ‘
5
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
3k
๐Ÿ‘Ž

International health insurance without having a permanent residence?

 

by @fabyliechti 7yr 7 years ago  | 30 comments

Hey Nomads!

Iโ€™m a Swiss Citizen but full time traveler (living a few month there and there) and therefore donโ€™t have a permanent residence/home anywhere in the world.

For this reason, Iโ€™m as well not registered in Switzerland and therefore donโ€™t have medical care since I would have to pay at least 200$ monthly for medical care which I wonโ€™t use since Iโ€™m not living there.

As a in Switzerland unregistered Swiss Citizen I donโ€™t have medical care in Switzerland but, however based on Swiss Law Iโ€™m always allowed to return to Switzerland, register and then get medical coverage (f.e. in a medical emergency).

So now I was looking for both, an international health insurance with good coverage and an additional travel insurance for my trips. Unfortunately every insurance I check, I got asked for a permanent residence - which I donโ€™t have and donโ€™t want to. So I donโ€™t know what to fill out and if I still can get insurance without having a permanent residence.

I was wondering if there are any nomads here with a similar situation like me and (not registered anywhere and without a permanent residence)? If so, what health insurance, travel insurance you have and where?

PS. As well Iโ€™m not sure if it is kind of illegal not having a permanent residence anywhere plus where do I have to pay taxes?

Would be extremely grateful for any help on those matters - thanks so much!

๐Ÿ‘
3k
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
223
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How do you manage receiving mail without a permanent address in the Philippines?


in Philippines by @kaizenpreneur 7yr 7 years ago  | 3 comments

Hello all,

I have a mail management service in the UK which all my mail gets sent to. This works fine 90% of the time and most can be dealt with digitally.

The other 10%, I need the mail sent on to me, which they do offer as a service. However, where I struggle is giving them an address to send it to in the Philippines, namely Manila.

Iโ€™ve used DHL for really important stuff, like bank cards, but it would be nice to have an address where I can forward certain mail. Anyone been able to set something up like this in the Philippines? Would a virtual office allow me to receive mail?

Thanks in advance

๐Ÿ‘
223
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
172
๐Ÿ‘Ž

Can I fly into Budapest without a return flight?


in Budapest , Hungary by @austindean 8yr 8 years ago  | 1 comment

Hey everyone - Iโ€™m new here, and this may be a dumb question, but I need some help! As a U.S. citizen, can I fly into Budapest from London without a return ticket?

๐Ÿ‘
172
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
306
๐Ÿ‘Ž

Best places for local, organic food and strong internet outside of South East Asia?


by @jmacattak 8yr 8 years ago  | 8 comments

Where can I find locally sourced, organic (or at least non-GMO) and also be able to work with strong internet?
I did a search but didnโ€™t find much info. We love Bali and the food here is amazing, we are just looking to try somewhere else out (preferably somewhere in Europe) after a long time in Asia. We also loved the Northern Rivers area in Australia and want to find similar food offerings and compare our options!

๐Ÿ‘
306
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
31
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How do you communicate with locals when ordering food?


by @nene 8yr 8 years ago  | 6 comments

Hello everyone,
I spent quite a few months in Asia last year, especially China. I am a foodie so I always want to try small local restaurants. Unfortunately the language barrier made it difficult/impossible quite often, especially when asking for ingredients (I am good with body language and gestures but not everyone and every culture engage).
So, I was wondering: how to do communicate in restaurants when no one speaks English?

Thanks!

๐Ÿ‘
31
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
3k
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How do you work without multiple monitors? I can only carry a MBP 15"

 

by @tschentscher 8yr 8 years ago  | 39 comments

Hi Nomads!

Starting January 2016 Iโ€™m going to be starting a year as a Digital Nomad.
The last 5 years Iโ€™ve never worked with less than 2 monitors in front of me.
Sure, Iโ€™ve done some cafรฉ and hotel-room work. But all my biggest project has all been done in front of a stationary setup.

I do webdesign and development and have created a working habbit with several monitors on a large desk. Funny enough this is my biggest concern getting closer to January.

How do i teach myself to work from a 15" screen?
Do you find working from a 15" screen enough or do you have some kind of magical folding screen in your backpack?

If you have any ideas for me keeping a dual-monitor setup (The laptop being the first monitor) Iโ€™m all ears!

Regards! And thank you for this delightful Forum!

๐Ÿ‘
3k
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
463
๐Ÿ‘Ž

Working remotely in New Zealand and getting permanent residency?


in New Zealand by @mmorris 8yr 8 years ago  | 4 comments

Soโ€ฆ Trump is Prez. The world looks to the US as a role model. He doesnโ€™t think Climate Change is real. Weโ€™re !@#$ed.

Canadian Citizen here. Was considering Costa Rica for a long term solution, but they wonโ€™t deal with the impact as well. We were always fond of NZ and my parents spend at least 3 months of the year there along with knowing some citizens.

Questions:

  1. How can we gain a Permanent Residency Visa? It seems the Skilled Migrant Category makes the most sense as I am a Systems Analyst (by NAFTA requirments) and my wife could probably qualify as a Nutritionist/Naturopath/Counsellor. Anyone have experience with this path?
  2. I currently work for a US non-profit remotely. Does NZ allow for this? do I need a job in NZ to be considered for the Skilled Migrant Category? Can I work for the US org while my Permanent Residency is processed?

Thanks!

๐Ÿ‘
463
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
383
๐Ÿ‘Ž

Permanent virtual Legal Domicile for mail forwarding and tax declaration


by @youarehere 8yr 8 years ago  | 1 comment

I am looking for a best virtual Domicle to declare as permanent legal USA address and Legal Domicle where I can receive Virtual mail and have it mailed to my current geography. Please inform if you have recommendations or experience. Thanks!

๐Ÿ‘
383
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
117
๐Ÿ‘Ž

Permanent Worldwide Health Insurance with no reimbursement policy


by @senseless 8yr 8 years ago  | 3 comments

Hello,

Iโ€™ve been living outside the USA (my original home) for the last 10 years. I only go back occasionally to see family for a short period of time. Iโ€™m looking for a health insurance provider that is willing to provide global coverage (USA excluded) with no reimbursement policy that will also cover preexisting conditions.

In the philippines, they will let us die if we canโ€™t work out a payment arrangement (or at minimum pay a deposit). If the bank is closed and I canโ€™t get the money for the deposit, we die.

My current provider (here in the philippines) is blue cross philippines . Iโ€™ve grown tired of their incompetence and general ineptitude and am searching for a replacement outside of the philippines.

There is one thing I really like about our health insurance provider. They provide us with a visa card for which we use to charge all of our necessary medical expenses. Itโ€™s not a โ€˜health care credit cardโ€™ but our actual โ€˜proof of insurance cardโ€™. The card is issued from our health insurance provider and has all of their markings / logo / information on it as well as a 16 digit visa number, magnetic stripe and visa logo on the card.

Does anyone know of a health insurance company that will direct settle by giving the insured a visa / master / amex / etc card to charge their related medical expenses to?

๐Ÿ‘
117
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
1k
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How do you get paid abroad without paying tons of fees?


by @waterlooalex 9yr 9 years ago  | 18 comments

What method do you use to get paid by your employer abroad? Iโ€™ve used wire transfers and PayPal, but come to realize there are lots of fees some more obvious than others.

For example, with PayPal, often there is an international transfer fee of 3.4% or more, then on top of that PayPal takes a 2.5% spread on the currency exchange rate.

๐Ÿ‘
1k
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
2
๐Ÿ‘Ž

Dealing with "winter" and "summer" local hours when setting up international calls


by @baia 9yr 9 years ago  | 2 comments

When setting up international calls I typically google โ€œ[city] timeโ€, or I google โ€œEST timeโ€ or โ€œPST timeโ€. But depending on which website gives the answer it can take into account local hour (winter/summer) or NOT!

Any universal app/solution you people use to solve this confusion?

๐Ÿ‘
2
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
1k
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How to get into the zone without caffeine?


by @panoramica 9yr 9 years ago  | 17 comments

Iโ€™m recovering from a stomach bug so caffeine and sugar, the two staples of late night development, are off the menu. As a result Iโ€™m finding it quite hard to get motivated!

Does anyone have some alternative techniques to wake my brain up and plug me in?

Currently Iโ€™m indulging in music but itโ€™s not having quite the same effect as the killer combo of coffee/music/chocolate :cry:

๐Ÿ‘
1k
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
7k
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How to handle problems with US Address Verification


by @simplgy 9yr 9 years ago  | 10 comments

Iโ€™ve been a Traveling Mailbox member for about a year. My last yearโ€™s tax return, all financial institutions, vehicle registration, and driverโ€™s license all reflect this address.

It looks like an apartment address: 75 N Woodward Ave #####, Tallahassee FL.

In the last few weeks, Iโ€™ve been having problems.

  1. I requested a voter registration renewal in Florida and it was denied on the grounds that I am using a business address
  2. My bank (Ally) contacted me, saying that my address was a โ€œmaildropโ€ location, and needed to be a physical domicile.

My theory is that this Traveling Mailbox location has been flagged as a maildrop in whatever database these agencies use and will continue to be a problem, so Iโ€™m looking for a new strategy.

Questions:

  • What am I supposed to do? I donโ€™t have or want a permanent home.
  • If these agencies object to my address, will the IRS or the California tax board? (audits? residency challenges?)

Some ideas:

  • Use a โ€œnext of kinโ€ address for legal reasons, and traveling mailbox as a mailing address. My bank allowed this. I think this means I need to declare residency in the state of my next-of-kin, which is not preferred.
  • Find a smaller mail services provider that is less likely to be flagged as a business/maildrop location (They may be flagged later and Iโ€™ll have to change addresses. Iโ€™ll miss the digital scanned mail feature. Also, is any mail service legal to use as a residence now?)

@nickdanforth, you had this same problem in Apr 2015, any solutions work well for you?

@nomadicme, sounds like youโ€™ve had the same problem, too.

What can we do about this, folks? Seems like as full-time travellers we should be able to pick any state in the US to be our residence, but banning certain types of addresses is really making it difficult.

๐Ÿ‘
7k
๐Ÿ‘Ž
๐Ÿ‘
216
๐Ÿ‘Ž

How to earn income without programming or writing skills?


by @andrewshin7 9yr 9 years ago  | 5 comments

Hello,
Iโ€™m currently residing in Seoul, Korea working at a corporate office job. Iโ€™m having hard time finding a remote job or freelance job besides programming or article writing related jobs.
Are there options to do a remote job or freelance job for somewho who has no programming background?

๐Ÿ‘
216
๐Ÿ‘Ž
โ€น โ€บ
×
USD โ”€ $
ยฐC
Nomad cost
โœจ To see all results
Join Nomads
by @levelsio
๐ŸŒ Join a community of remote workers living around the world
×
388ms