Digital nomad visas — has anyone actually gone through the process?

I went through an actual digital nomad visa process — noticeably more paperwork than a tourist entry, but worth it for the peace of mind given how long I was planning to stay.

Still just doing tourist-entry hops myself, hadn’t seriously looked into the visa route yet.

Great question and useful answers. One important caution: digital-nomad visa rules — income thresholds, eligible nationalities, whether you can bring family, tax implications — vary enormously by country and change often. Please treat any specific figure in this thread (including mine) as a starting point only, and check the Visa section of your destination guide for the current official requirements before you build a plan around them.

Similar position to Pavel — sticking with tourist entries for now, though reading this thread is making me consider actually looking into the alternative properly.

For the ones who did the full visa process — was the income or proof-of-funds threshold the actual sticking point, or was it something else entirely?

Isabella, to your question about the sticking point: for me it wasn't the income level, it was proving the income was stable and would continue. I had the money, but my clients paid irregularly and one of them was a new contract.

What made the difference was a combination of things: statements for a longer period than the minimum, contracts showing ongoing work, and a letter from each main client confirming the relationship. The officer asked one follow-up question, about a client I'd only worked with for two months, and I answered it with that client's letter.

The rest of the process was more tedious than hard: a certified criminal record from Argentina, health insurance that met their conditions, and a lot of translations. The whole thing took about three months from starting the paperwork to having the visa. If I did it again I'd start the criminal record certificate first, because that's the one with the longest queue.

Spain was exactly like that for me. The income wasn't the problem, showing it would continue was. The client letters did most of the work, and I'd ask for them before you even start the forms.

Thanks, Diego. Continuity rather than the amount is a useful way to think about it.

Criminal record certificate first is good advice for almost any visa, I think. It's the one document you can't speed up with money or charm, and it's always the one holding everything else back.