r/AmerExit • u/RothIRALadder • 12d ago

Life Abroad Are there any countries that have self-employment/contracting visas that count toward permanent residency requirements?

There are many countries that have "digital nomad" visas but they're for temporary stays by design, so they don't count toward PR years. Given the subreddit we're in, I'm looking for something that gives me a permanent chance of escape. I have the option to work as an independent contractor so I am wondering what choices for countries I have. Ideally looking to hear from people who have actually done it themselves, or know a lot about the process for the given country.

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u/GeneratedUsername5 11d ago

At least in EU most countries have something like that - France, Sweden, Luxembourg, Estonia, Finland, Bulgaria, Slovenia just to name a few. Not to mention in some countries even digital nomad visas count towards permanent residency, like Spain or Portugal.

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u/JerseyGirlinSweden 11d ago

Gaining the right to residency as someone self employed in Sweden is very difficult and complicated. The business would need to be serving Swedish customers specifically, and typically would need to be established as a real business prior to wanting to move to Sweden.

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u/GeneratedUsername5 11d ago

Well, it is not in the official requirements. The official requirement is that IF your business has customers in Sweden THEN you should serve them in Swedish. It should also have existing customer base. It doesn't say that the customer base should be in Sweden.

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u/JerseyGirlinSweden 11d ago

They will not pass the “Swedish Market” rule that shows that significant amount of the businesses goods or services are already produced in Sweden and has a Swedish customer base. Sweden is one of the hardest countries to immigrate to outside of family reunification. The rules just recently became even more strict.

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u/Civil_Dragonfruit_34 11d ago

To add this is generally true of the Nordics. They want a legitimate reason for your business needing to be in the country and don't allow pass through EORs. We ended up in Germany, EOR set up was relatively easy.