Nomad visas
Digital nomad visas for Indian passport holders: where to apply
Seven remote-work visas Indian passport holders can use as of October 2026, with where to file from India, the income bar and fee each government states, and the India-side steps: Passport Seva PCC, MEA apostille, income proof and the day counts for tax residency.
By EzyHop teamPublished Last updated 11 min read
As of October 2026, Indian passport holders can apply for remote-work visas in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Mauritius. Four of them are filed online, Portugal and Spain go through visa centers in India, and Croatia goes through a Croatian embassy or consulate.
Every figure below comes from the government's own page or the visa center it appoints, checked on 28 October 2026. Where an official page gives no processing time or fee, we say so instead of guessing.
Where Indians file, as of October 2026
| Program | Where you file from India | Money you must show, as officially stated | Government fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand: Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) | Online at thaievisa.go.th. The Royal Thai Embassy in New Delhi says every applicant must use the e-Visa system, which started on 1 January 2025 | A balance, not an income: at least 500,000 baht or 10 lakh rupees (embassy checklist, July 2024) | 30,000 rupees (embassy fee table) |
| Indonesia: E33G remote worker visa | Online at evisa.imigrasi.go.id. You apply yourself, with no Indonesian sponsor | Income of at least 60,000 US dollars a year, plus a balance of at least 2,000 US dollars over the last three months | IDR 7,000,000 for one year |
| Malaysia: DE Rantau Nomad Pass | Online with MDEC at malaysiadigital.mdec.my | 24,000 US dollars a year for tech roles, 60,000 US dollars for the listed non-tech roles | RM1,080 processing, non-refundable, plus an immigration pass fee of RM360 a year (MDEC FAQ) |
| Portugal: residence visa for remote work | VFS Global. The embassy in New Delhi covers most of India; residents of Goa, Maharashtra, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli file at VFS Mumbai, Pune or Goa, and the Consulate General in Goa decides | Four times Portugal's monthly minimum wage, averaged over the last three months. In euros, that wage is 920 in 2026, so the bar is 3,680 a month | In euros, 110 (visa fees) |
| Spain: digital nomad visa | BLS International. The embassy in New Delhi or the Consulate General in Mumbai, depending on your state | 200% of Spain's monthly minimum wage | 9,599 rupees, plus a BLS service charge of 1,802 rupees (BLS national visa page) |
| Croatia: temporary stay for digital nomads | A Croatian embassy or consulate, because you need a visa to enter | In euros: 3,622.50 a month, or a lump sum of 43,470 for 12 months (65,205 for 18) | In euros, 55.74 for the stay and 93 for the long-stay D visa, both paid at the mission (Ministry of the Interior) |
| Mauritius: Premium Visa | Online at residency.mu. India is on the list of countries that can apply before traveling | 1,500 US dollars a month per adult, 500 US dollars per child (EDB FAQ) | Free |
A quick filter before you read further
Start from the documents you already have, not from the country you like most.
- Salaried by a company outside India, 60,000 US dollars a year or more: Indonesia's E33G fits the document list as written. Malaysia, Portugal and Spain also list documents for employees.
- Tech freelancer or contractor with foreign clients: Malaysia's DE Rantau asks 24,000 US dollars a year for tech roles and accepts invoices plus PayPal, Stripe or Wise receipts as proof.
- Savings rather than a steady salary: the Thai DTV asks for a balance, not an annual income, and it lists freelancers alongside remote workers.
- You want EU residence: Portugal and Spain. Both need an apostilled police certificate, and both want you to have lived for six months in the area covered by the consulate (for Spain, BLS states this for Mumbai's district).
- A free visa and a year by the sea: Mauritius asks 1,500 US dollars a month per adult, earned outside Mauritius, and charges no fee.
- Up to 18 months on the Adriatic: Croatia, filed at a Croatian embassy or consulate, with a monthly bar close to Portugal's.
What each program asks of you
Thailand DTV
The embassy's visa page lists the DTV as a five-year, multiple-entry visa with stays of up to 180 days per entry, open to digital nomads, remote workers and freelancers, and to the spouse and dependent children of DTV holders. Its DTV checklist asks for an employment contract or a portfolio showing your remote or freelance work, proof of where you live now, bank statements, confirmed tickets in and out of Thailand and an accommodation booking in your name. That checklist is dated July 2024 and still shows a fee of 25,000 rupees, so the two embassy documents disagree. Go by the fee table on the visa page and the amount the e-Visa portal charges.
Indonesia E33G
The eVisa portal describes the E33G as a visa for employees of companies abroad. It asks for a passport valid for at least six months, an employment contract with a company established outside Indonesia, a CV, a travel itinerary and bank records. You get up to one year in Indonesia and must enter within 90 days of the visa being issued. Selling goods or services, or taking pay from any person or company in Indonesia, is prohibited. If you freelance and have client invoices but no employment contract, you do not match the document list as written, so look at Malaysia or Thailand first.
Malaysia DE Rantau
MDEC's FAQ (version 10.0, dated 28 August 2026) says processing takes six to eight weeks. The pass runs three to twelve months and can be renewed for another twelve, up to twenty-four months in total. Your contracts must have started at least three months before you apply. A tourist pass cannot be converted into DE Rantau. If you are approved while you are in Malaysia, you must leave and come back on the entry stated in your approval letter. At endorsement you need health insurance covering Malaysia and an income tax e-registration slip from the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN). Dependents pay their own processing fee.
Portugal
The residency documents page asks employees for a work contract or employer declaration, and freelancers for service contracts or proof of services provided. Everyone needs proof of average monthly income over the last three months and a document attesting where you are tax-resident. The general list adds travel insurance and a criminal record certificate from your country of nationality, apostilled or legalized where applicable. The embassy in New Delhi says you should have lived legally in its jurisdiction for at least six months, and that VFS is the only provider authorized to file Portuguese visas in India.
Spain
The Consulate General in Mumbai's digital nomad checklist is the most India-specific document in this guide. Read it line by line, because it asks for more than most summaries mention:
- an NIE number obtained before you apply
- at least three months of work for your foreign employer or clients, certified by them
- a degree, or three years of experience in your field
- proof of registration with Spanish Social Security, or a certificate that your home system covers you under a bilateral agreement
- a passport valid for at least one year and issued within the last ten years
- a police clearance certificate covering every country you lived in during the past two years. The Indian one must come from the Regional Passport Office, carry an MEA apostille and arrive with a sworn Spanish translation
Freelancers should read the Social Security line twice: if you are self-employed, the checklist asks for affiliation to RETA, Spain's self-employed regime.
Croatia
The Ministry of the Interior page grants up to eighteen months. Documents must be in Croatian or English, and the criminal record certificate must be legalized. India is on the EU's visa-required list, and the ministry rejects applications filed at a Croatian police station by nationals who need a visa. No processing time is published. Plan your exit too: after your stay ends, you can apply again only six months after it expired.
Mauritius
The Premium Visa page says the visa is free, issued by email, valid for up to one year and renewable. Your income and main place of business must stay outside Mauritius, and you cannot enter the local labor market. The EDB's Premium Visa FAQ adds that once the visa is issued you have six months to travel, and the year starts on the day you arrive.
Indian paperwork to start first
These steps take the longest, and none of them depends on the visa portal.
- Police clearance certificate (PCC). Apply on Passport Seva. Its FAQs say the fee is 750 rupees, one application covers one country only, and the PCC is posted to you once a clear police verification report arrives. No processing time is given. Passport Seva sets no formal validity but says a PCC is generally considered valid for six months, which matches Spain's checklist. Apply close to your filing date.
- Match your passport first. Passport Seva also says your name, parents' names, date and place of birth on the PCC must match your passport. If they differ, you have to reissue the passport before the PCC. A change of address is allowed.
- Apostille. The MEA's attestation and apostille page describes two routes: e-Sanad for documents it covers, or authentication at a Regional Authentication Centre followed by deposit with one of the ministry's outsourced agencies. Spain asks for an apostilled PCC by name, and Portugal's list asks for apostille or legalization. Croatia asks for a legalized certificate, so ask the mission whether the MEA apostille is enough.
- Income proof. The official lists ask for contracts, payslips or invoices, and three months of bank statements that match them. None of the pages above names an Income Tax Return or Form 16, so use those as extra support, never as a substitute for the listed documents.
- Consistency. MDEC warns that names and income figures must match across documents. Check the spelling of your name on your passport, bank statements and contracts before you scan anything.
Tax residency: the day counts India uses
A foreign visa does not change how India counts your days. The Income Tax Department's page for non-resident individuals (assessment year 2026-27) says you are resident in a year if you are in India for:
- 182 days or more, or
- 60 days or more, plus 365 days or more over the previous four years.
For an Indian citizen who leaves India for employment abroad, or who lives abroad and visits, the 60 days become 182. If your income other than foreign-source income exceeds 15 lakh rupees, the visiting threshold drops to 120 days. An Indian citizen with that level of income who is not liable to tax in any country is deemed resident. That last rule matters if you plan to move every few months and pay tax nowhere.
As of October 2026, tax years that begin on or after 1 April 2026 fall under the Income-tax Act, 2025. The department's Non Resident FAQs say the 182-day and 60-plus-365-day tests and the deemed-residency rule carry over, with new section numbers.
Whether remote work for a foreign client counts as leaving India "for the purpose of employment" is a question for a chartered accountant. If you become tax-resident in Portugal, Spain or elsewhere, the tax treaty (DTAA) between India and that country decides who taxes what, so read it with your adviser before you file in either country.
Thailand DTV vs Portugal: where the waiting happens
| Step | Thailand DTV | Portugal |
|---|---|---|
| Police certificate | Not on the embassy's DTV checklist | Required, apostilled |
| Where you file | Online portal | VFS appointment in India |
| Decision time stated | Three working days on the embassy checklist (July 2024, before the e-Visa system) | 60 days for residence visas, the stated deadline |
| What you get | Five-year multiple-entry visa, up to 180 days per entry | A residence visa to move to Portugal |
With the DTV, the slow part is gathering bank statements and a work contract or portfolio. With Portugal, the critical path is your PCC, which has no published processing time, then the apostille, then up to 60 days for the consulate. Start the PCC first.
Staying connected once you land
If your Indian bank sends one-time passwords by SMS to your registered number, that SIM has to stay active and reachable abroad. Check your Indian operator's roaming terms for receiving SMS before you leave. On a dual-SIM phone you can keep the Indian SIM for texts and use an eSIM for data, so bank codes still arrive while maps and video calls run on a local connection. Check your handset on our compatibility page before you fly.
If you start with a Thailand DTV, you can set up data before departure: the Thailand eSIM from $3.99 installs from a QR code or a one-tap link that we email you as soon as you pay.
Most Thailand plans can be topped up from your account when you run low; the plan card says which. The same setup works for every country in this guide: Indonesia, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Mauritius. If you tether a laptop for calls from cafés, hotspot use draws on the same data, so size the plan for both. Our Android install guide covers the steps if your phone is not an iPhone.
Your first moves from India
Pick the program whose bar you meet with documents you already have. Then apply for the PCC for that one country, book your apostille, and download three months of statements. In the week you file, open the official page again: fees, checklists and income bars change, and the official page is the one the consulate will use.
Sources
- Royal Thai Embassy, New Delhi: Visa, checked 28 October 2026
- Royal Thai Embassy, New Delhi: DTV document checklist (July 2024), checked 28 October 2026
- Thai e-Visa: Official website, checked 28 October 2026
- Directorate General of Immigration, Indonesia: eVisa visa selection (E33G), checked 28 October 2026
- MDEC: Digital Nomad Pass, checked 28 October 2026
- MDEC: DE Rantau Pass FAQ, version 10.0, checked 28 October 2026
- Portugal Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Residency visa documentation, checked 28 October 2026
- Portugal Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Means of subsistence, checked 28 October 2026
- Portugal Ministry of Foreign Affairs: National visa fees, checked 28 October 2026
- Portugal Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Deadlines, checked 28 October 2026
- Embassy of Portugal in New Delhi: Visas, checked 28 October 2026
- Consulate General of Spain in Mumbai: Digital nomad visa checklist, checked 28 October 2026
- BLS International (Spain visa center, India): National visa, checked 28 October 2026
- Croatia Ministry of the Interior: Digital nomads, checked 28 October 2026
- European Commission: Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, visa lists, checked 28 October 2026
- Residency Mauritius (EDB): Premium Visa, checked 28 October 2026
- Economic Development Board Mauritius: Premium Visa FAQs, checked 28 October 2026
- Passport Seva, Ministry of External Affairs: FAQs, checked 28 October 2026
- Ministry of External Affairs: Attestation / Apostille, checked 28 October 2026
- Income Tax Department: Non-Resident Individual for AY 2026-2027, checked 28 October 2026
- Income Tax Department: Non Resident FAQs, checked 28 October 2026
Frequently asked questions
- Can one police clearance certificate cover two countries?
- No. Passport Seva says a PCC can be issued for only one country per application form, so apply separately for each country you file with.
- Can Indian freelancers apply, or only employees?
- Several programs list freelancers. Thailand's DTV names freelancers alongside remote workers, Malaysia accepts invoices and platform payment receipts, and Portugal and Spain list documents for self-employed applicants. Indonesia's E33G asks for an employment contract with a company outside Indonesia, so it suits employees.
- Can my spouse and children come with me?
- The Thai embassy lists spouses and dependent children of DTV holders as eligible. Malaysia's DE Rantau, Mauritius's Premium Visa and Spain's digital nomad visa also take family members, each with its own documents and, for Malaysia, a separate processing fee per dependent.
- Can I switch to DE Rantau after entering Malaysia as a tourist?
- Not by conversion. MDEC's FAQ says a tourist pass cannot be converted, and if you are approved while in Malaysia you must leave and re-enter on the entry stated in your approval letter.
- Does a foreign nomad visa change my tax residency in India?
- No. India counts your days in India under its own rules: 182 days, or 60 days plus 365 days over the previous four years, with different thresholds for citizens working abroad or visiting. As of October 2026 the Income Tax Department says these tests carry over into the Income-tax Act, 2025. Ask a chartered accountant how they apply to you.
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