Spain, one of the best destinations for digital nomads

spain digital nomads

Since the burst of the pandemic, many who had not ever worked from home are now completely used to it. The idea of not having to move to the office as a habit, and not as an exception, is somehow still new. Especially in Spain, where only a 4,8% of employed people worked from home in 2019, a number that has grown to a 16% right now.

The acknowledgement of many employees that all they need to develop their work is a laptop and a high, stable Internet connection has helped many make the decision to become digital nomads.

Digital nomads, professionals that change the rules

The movement of digital nomads didn’t start last year. There were already a bunch of people that decided to look for experiences they couldn’t enjoy by staying permanently in the same place. Nevertheless, the newest digital nomads have just realized, during this last year, they could work anywhere, and that their homes or other countries are equally suitable places to do it.

Professionally, they look for places where they can enjoy a high quality Internet connection, and where there are places apt for their professional development (whether they are co-working areas or free-wifi establishments). Of course, locations where there are little requirements with their visa are also among the favorite ones.

What are the benefits of Spain as a remote working destination?

The quality of life is also a main characteristic looked for in a destination. And Spain’s offer is between the most complete ones. Together with the cost of life, especially the quite affordable medium rent prices (in comparison with other European countries), the sunny, warm climate and the cheap prices attract many foreign employees.

Based on several factors, such as rent, Internet, transportation or food costs, the British consulting company CIA Landlord Insurance named Madrid the best city in the world to remote work‘ last year. Also, other Spanish locations like Canary Islands or Málaga have created a strategy to attract talent. The goal of both governments is to mobilize international workers to live in these places while they work for their companies. And they have spent money and resources with this purpose.

The few drawbacks of Spain and how to overcome them

Together with the important advantages of remote working in Spain, there are some cons. Bureaucracy is more complicated than in countries like Estonia or Portugal. Both examples of countries where there exist national strategies to attract digital nomads, in opposition to Spain.

And those administrative and bureaucratic deficiencies can cause big headaches both to remote workers and the companies they work for. That is one of the reasons why an intermediary can make things easier.

The figure of an Employer of Record (EOR), which acts as a third party between remote workers and the companies they work for, becomes very useful. You might be wondering how do Employer of Record companies work. Well, imagine you want to remote work from Gran Canaria or Madrid for a foreign (not based in Spain) company. That foreign company doesn’t want to deal with changing regulations in Spain, payroll or taxes. So they hire an Employer of Record, a company that operates in Spain and deals with all the administrative tasks.

The remote worker will legally become an employee of the company providing the EOR services, while actually working for the foreign company. Easy, right? Besides, the foreign company avoids wasting time in administrative chores. Digital nomads can enjoy all the benefits of working from Spain, while companies like New Tandem make things easier.

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