Spain has develop into one of the crucial sought-after locations for US nationals seeking to work remotely because the introduction of the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa in 2023. Now a brand new survey reveals the primary elements drawing American digital nomads right here.
In response to a survey by the Expatsi web site, an organization which helps Individuals transfer overseas, over the previous yr greater than 113,000 respondents stated they had been contemplating leaving the US to work remotely from different areas all over the world.
Sixty-eight p.c of them most well-liked a European vacation spot and Portugal and Spain ranked first and second place when it got here to selecting a favoured nation to work from.
It’s value protecting in thoughts that the profile of the digital nomad seeking to depart the US isn’t the standard sort of distant employee that stays in a rustic for a couple of months after which continues travelling. Lots of them need to keep in Spain for a number of years.
In reality, 44 p.c are professionals with companions and 39 p.c are between 25 and 44 years outdated. There’s additionally a excessive variety of staff between 55 and 65 years outdated.
And 30 p.c of them have confessed that they intend to remain indefinitely of their chosen international locations, during which case they can not technically be thought-about digital nomads in any respect, even if they work remotely.
So why is Spain such a preferred vacation spot for Individuals to return to dwell and work?
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A extra steady political local weather
A complete of 56 p.c of respondents stated that the US has develop into too conservative and that the political local weather is just too polarised (53 p.c) – these each being the explanations which have grown most over the previous yr for these wanting to depart the US. Though Spain has had its justifiable share of divisive politics, many consider that the nation is at the moment in a greater and extra steady place since than the US beneath President Donald Trump.
READ ALSO: Trump, safety and quality of life – Why our American readers are moving to Spain
Much less gun violence
Forty-eight p.c of respondents say that considered one of their causes for desirous to dwell exterior the US is to keep away from the specter of gun violence. In response to web site Nation Grasp, the US ranks first on the earth on the subject of gun crime, whereas Spain ranks 59th, and the murder charge was 9 occasions increased within the US than in Spain. This makes Spain a a lot safer vacation spot and one of many causes individuals need to transfer right here.
Common healthcare
Two thirds or 68 p.c of respondents stated that they wished to maneuver to a rustic with common or public healthcare. Spain has an excellent public healthcare system, which is ranked eighth on the earth by the Well being Care Index. It’s essential to recollect although that solely self-employed digital nomads in Spain who pay their very own social safety will have the ability to entry it. Those that are employed by firms overseas will both need to get their firm to register with social safety and pay it for them or get non-public medical insurance. Having stated that, each social safety and personal medical insurance are less expensive than medical insurance within the US.
READ ALSO: How does Spain’s healthcare system compare with the US?
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Larger acceptance of gay relationships
The fourth hottest purpose (48 p.c) of respondents gave for wanting to depart the US is that they’re allowed “totally different freedoms”. A complete of 60 p.c stated they had been on the lookout for a rustic the place gay relations (60 p.c) and same-sex marriage (56 p.c) are permitted. In 2005, Spain turned the third nation on the earth to legalise homosexual marriage, following the Netherlands and Belgium. Spain is a progressive nation on the subject of LGBTQIA+ rights and customarily individuals listed below are very open and accepting of homosexuality.
Language
Language is another excuse why many Individuals select Spain. A complete of 51 p.c of these surveyed stated that they might be prepared to study Spanish, whereas solely 27 p.c stated French and 23 p.c stated Italian, even fewer stated they might be prepared to study German. Spanish is the second most typical non-English language spoken within the US and based on Forbes, the US additionally has the 2nd largest inhabitants of Spanish audio system on the earth. Round 43 million individuals converse it the US already.
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Panorama
In the case of landscapes, Spain appears to tick all of the bins for Individuals too. A complete of 55 p.c of these surveyed stated they wished seashores and coastlines of their new chosen international locations, whereas 47 p.c stated mountains. Spain has each of those in abundance with a protracted shoreline and probably the most Blue Flag beaches on the earth, awarded to these seashores that meet calls for of hygiene, water high quality and accessibility. Spain can also be dwelling to numerous mountain ranges, from the Pyrenees within the northeast to the Sierra Nevada within the south and the Picos de Europa within the northwest. Lots of them boast wonderful mountaineering trails, ski resorts and epic landscapes.
Proper to self-determination of gender
A complete of 58 p.c of respondents stated they wished to maneuver to a rustic the place they’d the liberty to find out their very own gender. In early 2025, President Donald Trump signed an govt order proclaiming that the US will solely recognise two sexes – female and male. Whereas in early 2023, Spain handed its Ley de Trans or Trans Regulation, which states that “No particular person could also be pressured to cover, suppress, deny, modify, or forcibly make seen their sexual orientation, gender expression and/or identification, sexual traits, or membership in an LGBTQIA household”. The regulation recognises the best of trans individuals to self-determine their gender identification, and depathologises trans individuals in order that it’s not seen as an sickness, however a private choice.
