How the world is changing for digital nomads and remote work 

Is the world ready for the next generation of digital nomads?

With all the changes to how and where work gets done in recent years, it may be surprising to know just how much the world of hypermobile work has evolved. You may know them as permanent remote workers, or the more colorful “digital nomads,” untethered by geographic location. There’s a temptation to think that permanent remote work equates to logging on to work from beach huts, hotels, or hiking trails anywhere in the world. That’s not often reality, with mobile employees having to meet deadlines and productivity metrics with regularly changing backdrops of client sites or conference rooms.  

While workers may see more geographic flexibility, for companies, governments and employees themselves there can be serious strings attached.  

Risks and realities of hypermobile work

Maureen Flood: "For the most part, I can do some of these things as extended business trips, as extended vacation, and I don’t realize the risk I’m creating for the company whether it be regulatory or other legal risks, and I’m doing so much via video call. There’s this notion that it doesn’t matter where I am because people don’t understand and appreciate the different kinds of risks."

Maureen Flood is an EY Partner in workforce mobility.

Flood: "There is a need to enable flexibility because certainly people want it, and employers accept that. But we need to do so with open eyes to what we’re saying yes to."

For Flood, the digital nomad example cracks the door to the vast evolution of work generally, and workforce mobility specifically. Organizations need to think about how they build and nourish healthy culture and wellbeing with employees in the office and on the road. They need to keep an eye on tax, legal, immigration and regulatory compliance depending on where employees are and for how long. And they need to have a digital infrastructure that doesn’t create operational roadblocks for employees from afar.

Shawn Orme: "There’s what I call the doctrine of unintended consequences: you can solve for an immigration issue, but create a tax consequence that was not anticipated, or wasn’t expected."

Shawn Orme is the EY Global Immigration Markets Leader. 

Orme: "The laws around all of this are so fluid and changing that you have to have a very constant lens on all that’s going on. You may have a permanent establishment which creates tax consequences by having a bunch of people together and start doing work."

How work-from-anywhere regulations are changing

The past fluidity of fully remote work regulations has maybe reached a kind of stability after the COVID-19 pandemic. An EY analysis of global immigration policy showed that as of the end of March 2025, 43 jurisdictions offer digital nomad or remote worker visas and permits. A person often needs to show proof of employment, meet income requirements, hold insurance policies to cover medical expenses and other things. But it remains a viable option for those who qualify.

Ben Willis is the EY Global Immigration Leader.

Ben Willis: "If you’re a gig economy, or freelance, then maybe there’s some opportunity there. But as companies look towards taking advantage of these programs, there’s further considerations that complicate things: is a permanent establishment being created? Is social security being met? Is tax — personal and corporate — being impacted? Do they have work authorization? There’s a whole host of complications or regulatory requirements which are going to impact that ability for free movement and work authorization."

The complications increase with geopolitical uncertainty, or global health crises, which highlight the need to know exactly where employees physically are, their status at any given time, and whether evacuation insurance is valid in that location. Willis says it’s also worth considering compliance, digital and data security for remote workers. 

This might affect what data and digital activity can be logged in a jurisdiction without running afoul of data privacy regulations. Or maybe employers need to pay certain allowances for remote workers staying an extended period in a certain jurisdiction—how are those obligations being met? 

Flood: "The rules don’t contemplate digital nomads. Someone who goes ‘I want to work here for a bit, and here for a bit’—right, permanent remote work. I think it will take time for the rules to catch up with that. In that period of time, we will find out what does the true next iteration look like. Companies don’t have the infrastructure to keep up with tracking where people are, to be compliant with all these rules. The rules don’t exist to be compliant with."

Shaping the future of remote work with confidence

So, is the working world ready for the next generation of digital nomads? There have been big steps showing it’s entered a new phase of sophistication. The increase of countries and jurisdictions building out the infrastructure for permanently remote workers shows promise, and there are signs that global organizations are more and more conscious about the need for integrating how mobility functions operate with overall workforce strategy.

Again, here’s Shawn Orme.

Orme: "This only heightens the complexity, and I would argue the value proposition around having it all integrated and thought through from an A-Z perspective, and not as individual pieces of a broader solve."

Workforce mobility has changed relatively quickly in recent years, and global digital nomads are no longer rare exceptions. Companies, governments and individuals will need to evolve to be ready for the new reality, and not whatever lingering myths might exist about permanent remote work.

Here are some thoughts for the phase ahead:

1. Organizations should realize that although the world of work is maturing, the infrastructure for digital nomads needs to follow. This is not a new phenomenon to manage, but modern talent, risk and technological challenges may need new strategies. 

2. Organizations should be aware of risks that can exist for either themselves or mobile employees, whether intended or not. Any work across borders or jurisdictions should be done with awareness of compliance, rights, risks and responsibilities for all involved.

Willis: "You can have a tax risk from day one if the rules of relevant countries are impacted. So kicking off on day one, you suddenly have liabilities that are unintended and unplanned for."

3. For international work especially, immigration systems are not universal, and policies can change seemingly overnight. This requires better planning and integrating internal functions and external vendors to help mobile employees thrive abroad and remain compliant.

4. Another important part of the planning is around technology and data, both around the security of tools and systems, and making sure it’s able to do what employees need it to do, anywhere they are operating. All this while also staying connected to the broader team while on the road and when reconnecting to the office. 

These situations of increased workforce mobility, with increased complexity, may very well represent a glimpse into the future of work. They require new policies and procedures to meet regulatory and legal hurdles, but they also require new mindsets for helping a distributed workforce thrive. 

Maybe the question is not so much “Is the world ready for the next generation of digital nomads”, but “Is your workforce?”

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