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Welcome to the Freaking Nomads Newsletter, your weekly dose of stories, insights, tools, and opportunities for digital nomads and remote workers building a life without borders.
Hey Freaking Nomads,
When Luca showed me the news piece he was writing this week, I skipped the first paragraph completely (sorry, Luca!)
I went straight to the number. €15,000.
Spain’s Extremadura region has drafted a new grant that would pay remote workers up to €15,000 to live there for three years. The first round got more than 400 nomads to register in towns across the region.
BUT
You have to stop being a nomad to get it.
You move first and register with the town hall before you can even apply. You make Extremadura your tax home. You need a full-time, 100% remote contract (or to be registered as a Spanish freelancer), and you pay into Spanish social security the whole time.
Spain isn’t alone. Small towns in Italy, villages in Japan, Tulsa in the US... more and more places are working out that remote workers are worth paying for. Not to visit, but to stay.
Which is kind of funny, because for years the story was that nomads were the problem. We push up rents, we don’t learn the language, we’re gone in a month.
One detail I loved, though, is that the higher rate (€10k for the first two years instead of €8k) goes to you if you’re under 30, if you live in a town under 5,000 people... or if you’re a woman.
For once, being a woman literally pays more. I’ll take it.
So would I move to a Spanish village for €15k?
Not for the money alone. The region’s own figures say average spending there is around €12,300 per person a year. So €15k is roughly one year of life, spread over three. So it’s basically a welcome gift, not really a salary.
Someone on our IG page also had the same impression in the comments 👀
But if you’re already craving roots, a slower pace and a cheaper corner of Europe? That’s a very nice bonus for something you wanted to do anyway.
(And please don’t pack yet. It’s still a draft and you can’t apply for now.)
I’m curious. What would it take for you to put down roots somewhere? Is there a number, or is it never about the money? Hit reply and tell me.
Until next week,
Irene
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Small towns like Extremadura don’t run in English.
The town hall. The padrón. The tax office. The neighbour who wants to know who you are and why you’re always on your laptop. All in Spanish.
That’s true almost anywhere you stay longer than a few weeks. And the moment you put down roots (even for half a year), the language stops being optional.
Apps are great for the basics. But nothing beats a real person who corrects you before your mistakes turn into habits.
I’ve been personally using Preply to learn Spanish. It’s a marketplace of 1-on-1 online tutors. You choose the person, the price and the time, and the lessons happen on your laptop, wherever you are that month.
Why it works for me and for other nomads:
100,000+ tutors from 180+ countries, so there’s plenty of choice for whatever language you need
You set the budget. Rates go from a few dollars an hour to premium tutors
Any time zone. Lessons fit around client calls, not the other way round
Trial lesson first (25 or 50 min), so you can see if you click before committing
Practice between lessons with short personalised exercises
Not only languages. Also school subjects and professional skills
My secret tip: watch a few tutors’ intro videos before booking. Teaching style matters as much as qualifications. And once you’ve found your person, the lessons run as a subscription you can adjust.
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