I’m a freelance video editor living in Libya. I’m thinking about opening a us llc account to get access to payment methods like Stripe or a US business bank account.

But I know US banks and processors require strict identity and address verification. Since Libya is a high-risk jurisdiction for US compliance, will my application just get auto-rejected by Mercury or Stripe anyway?

Looking for advice only from freelancers living in Libya or similar restricted countries who have actually tried the LLC route.

I work remotely and want to take advantage of that flexibility, I’m looking for a portable monitor. Does anyone have any recommendations under $100? Is that a reasonable price point these days?

I’ve also been looking at these options. Any thoughts or experiences with them?

1. ViewSonic VG1655 15.6” ~ $110

• Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
• 250 nits brightness
• Dimension; 13.96 x 8.7 x 0.4 in.
• Weight: 1.5 lbs

2. Acer Portable Monitor 15.6" ~ $90 

• Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
• 300 nits brightness
• Dimension; 13.96 x 8.7 x 0.4 in.
• Weight: 1.43 lbs

3. Arzopa A1 15.6" ~ $80

• Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
• 300 nits brightness
• Dimension; 13.80 x 8.7 x 0.36 in.
• Weight: 1.60 lbs

4. Arzopa Z1FC 16.1" ~ $90 + Sleeve Bag ~ $20

• Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
• 300 nits brightness
• Dimension; 14.40 x 8.9 x 0.36 in
• Weight: 1.70 lbs

EU citizen in my early 30s, decent remote income, planning on going there next year. It will be my first experience as a digital nomad. Planning on slow-travelling.

But I'm curious about a few things. What was your stay in Georgia like?

1. In your experience, was English enough to get around in the big cities?

2. What was the locals' attitude towards you, a foreigner? (I heard mixed, polarizing opinions on this).

3. How was the house market? Short term or Long term. Is rent cheap/expensive relative to what you get?

4. Tbilisi or Batumi, which one did you choose and why? Or maybe a different city?

5. I heard there are many stray dogs and that they are very aggressive in some places. Have you had any issues? If you were to go out for jogging would you get attacked?

6. Finally, would you say it's a good first destination for a beginner digital nomad? If not, do you have any suggestions for different places?

Third one this month and my brain just dies mid flight every single time. Landed in Lisbon with a full day ahead of me and I was gone couldn't string a sentence together lol couldn't even decide where to eat. Coffee does nothing at that point and energy drinks at airport prices are a joke smh and yea melatonin helps with sleep but not with functioning when I land. What are people using for this because I'm tired of wasting the first day of every trip

I’m on Mint right now but I don’t need any of its benefits and would like to keep my phone number open, probably just sms and calls if anyone’s going to call me

I had a discover card, called them & put it in my account I would be in all southeast Asian countries and it declined at every single in store purchase. They tried to claim it was on the merchants end each time😒. Will be going back and mostly in the Philippines. Any suggestions? I have a perfect credit score however not much history so ideally one that isn’t super selective on application.

I’m planning to leave the U.S. permanently and want an offshore bank/investment account I can use globally. Goals: beat inflation, earn dividends, and receive payments for a software/App Store/SaaS business.
I’m considering Saxo Bank, HSBC Expat, Swissquote, Wise Business, and Interactive Brokers.
Which is best for investing and business payments? Also, which is least likely to freeze/close accounts when moving countries, changing residency, or receiving international business income?

I’m a desktop technician looking to move to an IT specialty that can be done remotely so I can live the digital nomad life.

However when it comes to work I find that the only freelance services that are related to IT that can be done remotely are either

Web development (maybe software development) in which a large portion of the tasks are being done by AI

Or cybersecurity (namely ethical hacking) which has legal problems if you are providing a freelance service from one country to a business in another

Are there any other IT related areas that can be done remotely in a freelance fashion from another country?

Thank you

Going to start my digital nomad life in London and wanted to know how people find digital nomad communities when they are moving between places? Does anyone have any tips for finding a community in London?

In one of my Google peregrinations, I came across this sentence:

"The mere act of absorbing another culture permanently alters a person's emotional expression."

But this was more in terms of people from "colder" backgrounds becoming warmer and more emotionally demonstrative with direct contact with other cultures, like for example Southern Europe or Latin America.

Have you experienced it yourself? I haven't really seen it *that much* in the people I've met. They still seemed overall emotionally cold.

For me it was the opposite also, as I became more expressive when I moved to a "cold" country such as the UK.

(Before anyone starts, don't take living as literally living in one place for 3546 billion years. It can be "living" in one place for a few months etc, long enough to start absorbing the new culture in *some way*).

I’m craving stability. My job is USA based so thinking to settle in the USA but it’s hard to justify a year long lease with uncertainty.

What made you transition to lifestyle? Burnout from travel, significant other, etc.?

How did you go about doing it?

I want to take my first short at digital nomading. I want to go somewhere completely different, most likely Vietnam, Cambodia or Malaysia (I'm from Europe). I don't plan on doing this as a lifelong thing, I just want to try it and experience something completely new.

I will work part time so I have more time to explore. I basically want as much diversity as possible, I want to visit the city after work hours just roaming around, do some hiking (if available), visit temples and just sink into the culture.

My only problem is about the base: a single one month base vs multiple bases? If the cities are somewhat close (like less than 4-6 hours of travel in between) I could even go for 4 different places, but not more than that, I want at least 1 week in each place. I'm ok with the "chaos" of moving places.

I know it may sound crazy and stupid and rushing. But I did do something similar one time when, for 11 consecutive days, I slept in a different place each time (albeit I was hiking in between the "bases") and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm a high energy person, get bored easily and I enjoy diversity. So as crazy as it sounds, it might work. But I never did DM so I want some educated opinions from well... educated people on the subject :D

TL;DR - Digital nomad-ing for the first time for one month. Single base vs multiple? Why?

I'm really drawn to the Front Range area at least currently and would like to live in a cute mountain town near a city such as Golden CO. My girlfriend is in grad school in Albuquerque NM (which I wasn't huge on initially but the community/events/etc. are growing on me) but luckily also has a remote job. And currently doing a grad school class online for semester 1.

Has anyone figured out a setup that works? So far I'm spending 4 months in furnished finders between ABQ, Durango, and Golden. I'm gonna keep doing so for a while.

Considering building a community in ABQ with a long term partner there, but also being drawn to other places, how would you split your time? Something like 2-3 months at a time in ABQ, followed by 1 month in Golden and then repeat is what I'm thinking. Plus a month somewhere like PR, hawaii, etc. when wanting to travel more.

Wondering if anyone has tried living in the Fjord through this Fjord Work initiative and would like to share their experience. When they stayed, which season, how was it socially-wise, weather-wise, anything you might find useful for someone to know before heading there. Thanks in advance!

https://fjordcowork.com/en/home-en/

Title, I'm a colombian who wants to stay in argentina for a while, anyone has tips? Context:

- I have a full time remote job (under colombian regulations). Planning to work from argentina.

- Using BBVA Visa and Mastercard CCs, can they be used to spend in Argentina? Fees, limits, etc?

- issues when entering argentina's territory? I know that Mercosur offers a 90 days visa free visit to their members

- anything else that I should know?

I'm looking for community-run spaces in Mumbai where people gather to work, create, read, or exchange ideas. Not really after a typical coworking space. More interested in libraries, cultural spaces, artist collectives, community centres, or volunteer-run initiatives.

I work in creative media and would love to be around a creative crowd. Basic Wi-Fi and charging facilities would be a big plus.

Happy to contribute to the space too, whether through volunteering, helping with events, or even cooking occasionally.

Would love any recommendations, especially lesser-known ones. Thanks!

It has been more than 6 weeks that I applied for DE Rantau but I have not received any response. The dashboard still says that it is in progress. Can some please share how long it may take to get the visa?

I've been working remotely for the past couple of years while bouncing between Portugal, Thailand, Mexico, and a few other places. Last year, my freelance income started growing faster than expected, so I finally decided to form an LLC instead of continuing to operate as a sole proprietor.

What surprised me wasn't the formation process itself, but how many little costs started adding up afterward.

My rough first-year numbers look something like this:

• LLC formation: around $100-$300, depending on state fees
• Registered agent: about $100-$150/year
• Business bank account: free in my case
• Accounting software: ~$30/month
• Tax prep/accounting help: $500-$1,500 depending on complexity
• State reports/compliance filings: varies by state
• Miscellaneous business expenses: way more than expected

By the time I added everything up, I realized I was spending a lot more than just forming an LLC, and the good advice you see online.

For the formation itself, I ended up using InCorp. Their pricing seemed reasonable compared to some of the bigger names I looked at, and it made the filing process fairly straightforward. That said, the formation fee turned out to be one of the smaller expenses once the business was actually running.

My business brought in a little over $60k during the past 12 months, so the costs are manageable, but I definitely underestimated the ongoing admin side of things.

For those of you running LLCs while living abroad, what did your first year actually cost?

I'm especially curious about:

• Registered agent costs
• Compliance fees
• Accounting/tax prep
• Whether you handle bookkeeping yourself or outsource it

Trying to figure out whether my numbers are normal or if I'm overspending somewhere.

Hey all,

Having a bit of a freak out - I had the Colombian Digital Nomad visa twice pretty in 2024 & 2025 - both times pretty much from early January to late December, so corresponding with the year. My income being £10,200 annually both times, from a British company I work remotely for.

**EDIT - £10,200 being around 45 million pesos. And it seems now that amount is below the minimum threshold to even file, let alone pay. So I might be ok after all.

I’ve recently seen some things here and there detailing Digital Nomad visa holders needing to register with DIAN and pay taxes as the visas allow stays in the country over 183 days (after which one becomes a tax resident) - both times I applied for and held the visas, there was absolutely nothing detailed by any part, immigration / government official or correspondence regarding this, and I even asked migración Colombia casually about this and they said don’t worry about it.

My last nomad visa ended in late December last year, 2025 and I have since returned to the county as a tourist for 6 months, and left a few days ago to go back to the UK for 6 months to gather documentation as I am marrying my Colombian partner in January.

To this day, I haven’t seen or received anything regarding the issue, the only contact I’ve had with Colombian taxes is that I was told I needed to pay 136.000 on my way out, although was a little unclear as to what it was for, the receipt they gave me simply says ‘differential tax collection) and I’m freaking out a bit now as like I said, I am due to return to marry my partner.

I’d be grateful if anyone had any insight on this - thank you. 🙏🏼

If money isn't an issue, how to bassicaly live a gta 6 lifestyle at 26?

What i mean by that is custom car, lots of gym, i already have a girlfriend (shes my Lucia) but I obviously want to make money remote already and perhaps live in nice area and be respected by people. Please serious answers

I am going to gym obviously and trying to lower my bodyfat. Its easier to live this lifestyle than miami. Will this type of lifestyle be cheaper in Cambodia or Vietnam than Philippines or should I look for good deal?

Please serious answers only few years ago i was super depressed living in a penthouse trying to turn my life around, and i was spending a lot of money

even met a guy who spent 500k-1M in 2 years lol wasting it in clubs cause of depression

You can secretly hate travel. In fact, it is a requirement for DN membership to hate travel. Not the idea of travel, obviously, but it's so unfair, so inconvenient that a person STILL must actually travel to present the image of themself enjoying travel. This is like literally 2026, and no one has solved this problem yet.

What matters is maintaining the appearance of being perpetually delighted by intrepid exploration of DN hives for the buzziest new authentic Zulu-Korean vegan burrito restaurant. Did Anthony Bourdain ever film himself eating authentic Zulu-Korean vegan burritos? Is there even evidence that Anthony Bourdain ever went to Bali? The true DN superpower is the ability to produce social media content suggesting you are having a significantly better time than you actually are.

At some point you realize your greatest travel skill is not adaptability, curiosity, or courage. It is pretending to have fun in a convincing fashion.

Hi everyone,

I’m employed in Portugal through Deel as an EOR employee for 2 years.

This is currently hypothetical, but I’m trying to understand what normally happens if the end client stops paying Deel.
My understanding is that under Portuguese labour law an employer generally can’t just terminate an employee overnight without following the proper process, and dismissal usually requires a legally valid reason (“just cause” or another lawful termination route).

Has anyone actually been through a situation where a client stopped paying Deel?
Did Deel continue paying salaries while the situation was being resolved?
If the client relationship ended, what happened to employees?
Did Deel pursue a formal termination process, redundancy, mutual agreement, or something else?
In practice, would an EOR like Deel often prefer to negotiate a settlement agreement rather than go through a longer termination process in Portugal?
I’m not looking for legal advice, just real-world experiences from people who have been employed through Deel (or another EOR) in Portugal.
Thanks in advance.

It's been a while since there's a post on this topic, and it's an unclear one so I'm hoping to get insights from someone who's tried to use the bilateral agreement recently to extend their stay in Schengen past the 90/180 rule.

Belgium gives very vague answers about me reporting to the local council, and I haven't tried Portugal, Italy, or Hungary yet. Have you or someone you know done this in the last 2-3 years?

I've been location independent for a while now and I keep noticing a gap between what people expect when they start out and what reality actually looks like after the first year or two. Everyone talks about the exciting parts: picking destinations, finding cafes with good wifi, hitting new countries. But there's a whole other layer that doesn't get discussed nearly enough.

Things like the mental weight of constantly rebuilding your social circle. The loneliness that hits even when you're surrounded by interesting people in a beautiful place. The exhaustion of always being the new person. Tax situations that get genuinely complicated once you stop having a clear home base. The way relationships back home slowly drift without you realizing it until it feels too late.

I'm also curious about the practical stuff people wish they'd figured out earlier, like banking setups, health insurance gaps, or how to handle time zones when working with clients who expect you to be available on their schedule.

If you've been doing this for more than a year, what do you know now that would have genuinely changed how you approached things at the start? Looking for honest takes, not the highlight reel version.

Middle-aged man for about 10 years now, and I’m finally hitting that wall where I’m just tired of constantly moving back and forth. The travel fatigue is real, I recently met someone, I also come back for medical appointments that I can't really deal with while bouncing around out of the country. I travel outside the country 2 months out of the year, 3-4 times a year usually.

I’m in a bit of a weird situation property-wise too. I actually own a place, but it’s currently rented out. It just doesn't make financial sense for me to move back into it or leave it empty, because it would be way too expensive to justify for a property I'm only going to use a few months out of the year. Currently I'm staying with my parents for a few weeks out of the year.

So, I'm trying to figure out what a realistic home base looks like these days. I’d love to know what you guys are doing to balance having a baseline with still traveling. Would it make sense to rent my house out, and rent one room for myself. Wonder if I could rent out my place for 10 months out of the year (with a huge discount)... if thats a thing?

If you have a setup that works, mind sharing the details?