WFH Bliss
Digital nomads who want a reprieve from their monotonous lifestyles, Dominica has an offer for you.
The Caribbean is a proud host to the island of Dominica, a visually stunning island where sperm whales frequent the shores of its golden-sand beaches. Now the government of Dominica wants to incentivize foreign tourism under its Work In Nature (WIN) visa, Forbes reports. Through this visa, tourists from other countries will have the chance to live on the island for up to 18 months as they manage their digital work-from-home lifestyles, which shot up due to the COVID-19 pandemic and may not end anytime soon.
The island has encouraged both singles as well as families to consider applying for the WIN visa. As long as you don't have a background with a criminal conviction, the island will consider your application, which costs $100. The visa will run you $800 if you’re single. For a family application, the visa costs $1,200 (though Forbes doesn’t specify how many members per family are allowed). You have to be over the age of 18 to apply and prove that you are earning a minimum of $50,000 in annual income. It typically takes a week for an application to resolve.
Digital nomads, gather here — WIN is a tempting offer given Dominica's global reputation as an island aggressively interested in winning the attention and commitment of foreign investors. It would be hard to say no to the promise of living a digital nomad’s life on the island. Dominica boasts some of the highest mountains in the eastern sphere of the Caribbean, offers recreational entertainment with live events and mouthwatering international cuisines, and relaxing times by way of its waterfalls, invigorating hikes, and dramatic vistas of its active and extinct volcanoes.
According to Forbes, Dominica's minister of tourism, Denise Charles, explained the plans as "one of the initiatives which will help boost our tourism industry in our phased tourism recovery approach, while providing a safe environment for persons to work remotely in a tropical environment.”The visa initiative is part of Dominica's efforts to recover financially from the COVID-19-caused decline in tourism.
The island has worked on cultivating a status of being the "world's first climate resilient nation," per Forbes, and as such, sources food locally and has its own plastic ban that National Geographic dubs effective. If digital nomads also want a say in the island affairs, Dominica offers foreign investors a chance to apply for citizenship through the Citizenship by Investment Program. Sounds like a sweet deal.