Digital nomad visas in 2026, ranked by income requirement

Every threshold here comes directly from official government sources. 'Monthly income' means what the program's published rules require you to demonstrate — typically via bank statements, employment contracts, or client invoices. Where a savings alternative exists, it's noted in the table below or in the savings section. Family add-ons (where the bar rises per dependent) are called out in the notes.

Two things the income bar doesn't tell you: how affordable the country actually is to live in, and whether the visa builds toward permanent residency. Both matter enormously for planning. The full ranked list (every route, always current) covers all the routes we track, with filters for both.

The table covers the programs with published monthly income thresholds. Permit length and the residency path column tell you what you're actually buying.

Colombia's $900/month bar makes it the lowest published threshold among dedicated nomad programs. The cost of living backs that up — major cities remain affordable by any standard. The catch: as a V-type visa, time spent in Colombia does not count toward residency or citizenship. It's a clean two-year stay, nothing more.

Serbia's route is the outlier here. It's not a dedicated nomad visa — it's temporary residence via self-employment or company registration under the 2024 Law on Foreigners. That distinction matters because this route does count toward permanent residency and eventually citizenship, unlike almost every other program on this list. The income bar is the lowest of any route with a residency path.

Brazil and Mauritius share the $1,500/month mark. Mauritius adds a notable detail: the fee is free, foreign income is untaxed unless remitted locally, and the per-adult bar applies separately (children carry a lower bar of $500/month each). Cape Verde sits just above at $1,615/month but restricts eligibility to citizens of Europe, North America, CPLP countries, and ECOWAS — check that before planning.

At the $2,000/month level, four countries cluster together: Georgia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Namibia. Georgia is worth a separate note — many nationalities can already stay visa-free for 365 days, so the program is most useful for those who need formal status or want the documented proof of legal stay. Sri Lanka's program launched in February 2026; the verified requirement from the official immigration document is $2,000/month for the main applicant, plus $500/month per dependent beyond 2.

Italy at $2,900/month is the only program in this range that leads to citizenship — on a 10-year track. It also requires proof of highly qualified work and roughly 6 months of professional experience, plus health insurance. Croatia sits at the same income level but explicitly does not count time toward residency, and you must leave for 6 months before reapplying.

A few programs let you substitute a lump-sum savings balance for the monthly income requirement. This matters if your income is irregular — freelancers, investors, and people between contracts often find savings easier to document than a consistent monthly figure.

• Brazil (VITEM XIV): $1,500/month income OR ~$18,000 in savings. Same 12-month permit, renewable once.
• Georgia (Remotely from Georgia): $2,000/month income OR $24,000 in savings. Same 12-month permit.

Both programs treat the savings route as a direct substitute — meet either threshold and you clear the published bar. The free visa & residency finder lets you filter by income type if you want to see which other routes across all categories accept savings in lieu of income.

Most nomad visas are explicitly dead ends for residency purposes. Two programs on this list are different.

Serbia's temporary residence via self-employment counts toward permanent residency after roughly 5 years and citizenship after roughly 5 years. The income bar is $1,100/month — the second-lowest on the list. The trade-off: this isn't a dedicated nomad visa with a streamlined application. You're registering as self-employed or forming a company under Serbian law, which involves more administrative steps than a standard nomad visa application.

Italy's Digital Nomad / Remote Worker Visa feeds into the standard Italian residence track, which leads to citizenship after 10 years. The income bar is $2,900/month, and the program targets highly qualified workers. If long-term EU residence or an Italian passport is the actual goal, this route is worth the higher bar. For everything else on the Italy side, see the broader routes available through the free visa & residency finder.

All but one program on this list allows family members to join. Argentina's Digital Nomad Visa is the exception — the published rules do not include a family provision.

Where family is allowed, the income bar often rises. Costa Rica's published threshold goes from $3,000/month for a solo applicant to $4,000/month with family. Cape Verde's savings bar rises from EUR 1,500 (~$1,615) for individuals to EUR 2,700 (~$2,900) with family. Namibia adds $1,000/month for a spouse and $500/month per child. Check each program's official source for the exact dependent figures before you apply.

Meeting the income bar gets you the visa. What happens to that income once you're there is a different question entirely. Several programs on this list explicitly exempt foreign-sourced income from local tax: Georgia operates on a territorial basis, Mauritius doesn't tax foreign income unless it's remitted locally, Montenegro charges 0% on foreign-source income, and Croatia and Cape Verde both offer local tax exemptions for nomads.

None of that changes your obligations to your home country. Americans, for example, owe US tax on worldwide income regardless of where they live. The tax picture for each country is worth researching separately from the visa eligibility question.

Find your income level in the table, then look at what that actually buys: permit length, family eligibility, tax treatment, and whether the time counts toward anything long-term. A $900/month bar in Colombia is a different proposition from a $2,900/month bar in Italy — not just because of the income requirement, but because of what each visa does and doesn't build toward.

The full ranked list covers all the routes we track across all categories — including routes that didn't make this article. Each government makes the final determination on your application; the published thresholds are the bar you need to clear, not a guarantee of approval.