MIGRATION OF “DIGITAL NOMADS”: GLOBAL TRENDS AND STATES’ APPROACH

The practice of working online that has become widespread in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and unstable geopolitical situation in the world in the last years, has shown representatives of different professions, incomes, ages, and life situations an opportunity to live in one state and at the same time work in another, to experience even freer and easier lifestyle, change their location several times a year. New generation of such professionals is more mobile, as they tend to move more often through state borders seeking for the most attractive place for relocation in the momentum, using alternative methods to transfer capital, and working via the Internet. In many states, the status of remote workers has rapidly received a legal implementation, so now they can be identified as “digital nomads”. Immigration programs often allow highly qualified and efficient online workers to be legalized in a new host country literally by a simplified procedure: the key criteria are their level of earnings and the lack of a prior criminal record, which opens a variety of directions for “nomads”. Although each region and country is attractive to foreign workers in its own way, “digital nomadism” poses a number of risks for travelers: the rapid and serious increase in the number of “remote workers” is forcing government agencies in many countries to be more careful in revising already approved migration and other requirements for “digital nomads” and their families. Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that in the near future, a race between some of the most forward-looking countries may begin in order to attract the most qualified and wealthy foreign professionals, which will entail the formation of more attractive conditions for “remote workers” in these countries.