This rural destination is paying people $16K to move there, work remotely
A rural region in Spain is paying remote workers $16,000 to relocate and conduct business in a rolling green valley, just under three hours from Madrid.
And it’s not the only country offering workers and entrepreneurs money to move — the list of countries seeking “digital nomads” is growing.
Last month, the Regional Government of Extremadura, an autonomous community located in the central-western Iberian Peninsula, announced its new “Live in Ambroz” program, designed to attract remote workers by offering about $16,620 in grants if they commit to living and working there for at least two years.
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“This phenomenon is going to change where people live, and it’s going to change the spatial distribution of talent,” Prithwiraj Choudhury, a professor at Harvard Business School in Boston, told Fox News Digital.
Choudhury has studied innovation, remote work and the concept of “work from anywhere” for more than a decade.
“Many economists thought that talent would all flock to the megacities and that megacities were the future of the world,” Choudhury said.
“I think that’s changing to some extent now. So, of course, megacities will remain important, but some people will live in communities outside the cities, especially if they can work remotely. There’ll be a diverse range of places where talent will be found.”
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The people with that talent — plus the ability to work remotely and a desire to see the world — are called digital nomads.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve formed a sort of symbiotic relationship with countries around the world, trading consumption of goods and services for a lower cost of living in a new and often beautiful environment.
Surrounded by mountains, the Ambroz Valley is made of lush green pasture lands, charming villages with diverse accommodations and local artisan cuisine.
But its largest village, Hervás, has a population of just 3,907, and some municipalities have less than 200 residents.
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It’s an issue known as “Empty Spain” which “Live in Ambroz” aims to combat.
The main objective is to prevent depopulation in rural areas, and the Ambroz Valley is one of the areas that is suffering from a constant loss of population and services, according to a press release from the Regional Government of Extremadura.
“The obvious benefits to the community are that when digital nomads come and spend time in that community, they spend consumption dollars,” Choudhury said.
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“They go to restaurants, they stay in hotels or [an] Airbnb. But I think the much bigger benefit could be to facilitate connections between locals and the nomads in a way that the community can then gain knowledge and even entrepreneurship opportunities.”
Digital nomads are getting their fair share, whether financial or experiential, Choudhury added.
“Some people are just looking for a place they can relocate to and live, which is cheaper than where they [currently] live,” he said.
“You could move to a cheaper place, and if you’re allowed to work remotely, then you can have the same income but spend much less on housing and other things, and then you have more savings.”
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Others are in it to see the world, he said.
“There are many people who like making connections in different communities, gaining experiences, life experiences from different places,” Choudhury said.
“In terms of culture, you can create a portfolio of diverse connections and experiences.”
For Dave Williams, an entrepreneur from Atlanta, it’s a little bit of both, he said.
“It’s not so far to get here from the U.S., it’s a nice time zone, the weather’s great, and it’s very affordable,” Williams told Fox News Digital of living in Portugal.
“But it’s also about this concept of geo arbitrage, the idea being that you can take your wealth or your income and live in a country where it’s a lot less expensive. For example, health insurance policies may only cost like $1,000 a year, whereas in the U.S. it might be $1,000 a month. The cost of living is about half as much or less than half as much as the U.S.”
He and his wife moved to Portugal in 2017 and now run a business called NomadX, which works with local governments to build communities for remote workers while boosting economies.
Choudhury said that before the pandemic, there were just two countries, Estonia and Barbados, offering specific visas for remote workers.
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Since the pandemic, that number has grown to more than 60, which Choudhury highlighted in an article for Harvard Business Review.
The Ambroz Valley program will award up to 200 digital nomad grants, which can be used for “available housing, arable land, and everything necessary to expedite their arrival,” according to the press release.
Candidates must first obtain Spain’s digital nomad visa and official residency before they can apply to the Live in Ambroz program. Applications will go live this month and can be submitted online through the Extremadura General Electronic Access Point.
A host of other countries, like Italy, Switzerland, Ireland and Chile, offer financial incentives for workers looking to make a global move and even start a company.
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“Chile has had a program for more than a decade called Start-Up Chile,” Choudhury said.
“It was not announced as a digital nomad program because that is much more recent, but what Chile offered and still offers is a year, year-long visa for foreign entrepreneurs to come and start their companies there. Chile also offers $20,000 equity free capital to each of these foreign entrepreneurs.”
Choudhury noted Williams’ program in Madeira, Portugal, as one of the success stories.
“They’ve even created a digital nomad village,” Choudhury said.
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“The increased geographic mobility of remote workers is shaping communities and leading to potential reversal of brain drain in places that have maybe lost talent for decades.”
Williams said the experience of being a digital nomad has been life-changing.
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“When we moved here to Portugal — or any time I went through a life transition or a move — it really helped me kind of innovate and break through to the next level,” Williams said.
“I think it’s easy to kind of be comfortable and stay in the same place and live where your work is or live where your family is. While the governments may not always be able to get along, it seems like the people generally are able to get along with each other and are very supportive. It really kind of gives you a lot of faith in humanity,” he added.