While remote working is a rising trend that can provide many benefits, and the government is promoting incentives to attract digital nomads, slow internet and social inequality in our country are discouraging digital nomads from visiting Greece.
At the same time, 60% of Greeks abroad would like to return to our country, if they could work as digital nomads. According to Nestpick and nomadlist, Athens’ advantages include its good climate, the relatively low cost of living with cheap rent on apartments and business premises, while it has a good quality of life and entertainment. In particular, in the Nestpick ranking, Athens is the 20th cheapest city in renting business premises and the 24th cheapest for an apartment and the 11th cheapest overall in the cost of living, while it is in the 19th place in entertainment.
However, the advantages in the Greek capital are outweighed by a very low performance in matters of social equality, where Nestpick says Athens rivals Hungary, Turkey and 1Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as is in 64th place in terms of security, freedom and rights.
In the gender equality category, it is also in 64th place, while when it comes to equal rights for the LGBT + community, it is one place lower. In terms of respect for minorities, Athens is in 63rd place, highlighting an important aspect that should concern Greek society. In the nomadlist analysis for Athens, the Greek capital records a low performance on racial tolerance and a friendly attitude towards the LGBT + community and women.
Slow internet
At the same time, Athens is suffering from a lack of investment in telecommunications in recent years. In the Nestpick ranking, Athens is in 65th place in the overall performance and capacity of the internet, while in the nomadlist analysis, the average internet speed is reported to be at 12 Mbps.
Greece's position remains disappointing in terms of fixed connections, with the country in 100th place with an average speed of 36.42 Mbps, Turkey, Northern Macedonia , Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia and even Kyrgyzstan and Ghana.
Things look better on the mobile network, where Greece with 76.36 Mbps is in the 25th place of Ookla with our country, however, falling by five places. The United Arab Emirates is at the top of this list with speeds reaching 190.03 Mbps, followed by South Korea with 189.20 Mbps and Qatar with 170.77 Mbps.
A few weeks ago, the Greek government announced the issuance of a work visa for digital nomads. Digital nomads and their companions can apply for and receive a one-year visa which after re-examination can be extended to 2 years. The two most important criteria they must meet are that they have not worked in Greece in the past and do not work for a Greek company based in Greece during their stay in the country as visa holders.
In addition, they can be accompanied by their family members (who are not allowed to provide dependent work or engage in any form of economic activity in the country) who are granted, upon request, an individual visa that expires at the same time as the dependent visa.