Chiang Mai ranks 5th on travel site’s list of best places for digital nomads

Chiang Mai, a city which some say is a “rite of passage” for digital nomads, is a top location in the world to work remotely, according to the global travel site Big 7 Travel. In the list of “50 Best Places for Remote Working in 2021,” Chiang Mai ranked 5th out of 50 places. The site says the city has the “perfect makeup of affordability, visa flexibility, fast internet speed and overall atmosphere.”

The travel site also notes that Chiang Mai is very affordable with studios for rent in the city centre at around $300 to $400 USD. There’s also various co-working spaces.

There’s no visa in Thailand for digital nomads… yet. At the moment, many digital nomads living in Thailand are on volunteer visas or education visas, which can both get fairly expensive. The Thai Board of Investment, or BOI, recently proposed changes to the Smart Visa to allow foreign freelancers to apply, allowing an up to 4 year stay, but are not any new developments.

As the global shift to remote working shows no sign of switching back, workers across the world are leaving behind the traditional office setup to work from home. For many, that means they can relocate. In the United States, at least, 20% of the current workforce are freelance workers and that number has been predicted to grow to 40% by the mid-2020s.

Other best places to work remotely in 2021 include Tallinn, Estonia; Bali, Indonesia; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Rankings took into account core data of affordability and internet access that is gathered from Nomad List alongside other variables, including countries offering specific Digital Nomad visas, and where to find the coolest co-working spaces and expat-friendly communities.

SOURCE: Big 7 Travel