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Good practice Imported

Remote Working Cabo Verde (Nómadas Digitais)

Cabo Verde · Praia · See the Cabo Verde profile · See the Praia profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 100% 19/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Cabo Verde's Nómadas Digitais visa set a target of 4,000 remote workers within three years, but independent press found only about 30 people had actually relocated a year after launch.

4000
Three-year target (nomads) (set June 2021)
~30
Actual arrivals (by Dec 2021)
~12
Settled in São Vicente (by Dec 2021)

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Ministry of Tourism and Transports, Government of Cabo Verde, with Cabo Verde Digital and The Remote Impact
Period
2020–present
Keywords
Digital nomad visa, remote work, tourism diversification

Context

Remote Working Cabo Verde, branded 'Nómadas Digitais,' is a national programme launched in Praia in December 2020 by the Ministry of Tourism and Transports, together with the Cabo Verde Digital agency and private partner The Remote Impact, offering a renewable six-month work/tourism visa to foreign remote workers and freelancers.

Objectives

In June 2021 the government publicly set a target of attracting 4,000 qualified digital nomads within three years, aiming to diversify the tourism economy.

Activities

Authorities began piloting a dedicated 'nomad village' concept on the island of São Vicente to concentrate arriving remote workers.

Results

By December 2021, independent Portuguese press (SAPO, Visão) reported that only around three dozen remote workers had actually arrived under the scheme, with about a dozen settled on São Vicente.

Conclusions

The scale of the shortfall against the stated 4,000-person, three-year goal — even allowing for the programme still being in its early phase — makes this a useful cautionary example: an appealing visa concept and marketing campaign did not, on the evidence available, translate into commensurate uptake, plausibly reflecting constraints such as limited air connectivity, internet reliability and import-dependent living costs frequently cited in coverage of the scheme.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Tourism and Transports, Government of Cabo Verde, Cabo Verde Digital agency, Private partner The Remote Impact

Conditions for success

  • Renewable six-month visa paired with a piloted 'nomad village' concept concentrating arrivals on São Vicente

Common failure modes

  • Actual uptake (~30 people) reached roughly 0.75% of the government's own 4,000-in-three-years target
  • Coverage attributes the shortfall to constraints frequently cited alongside the scheme: limited air connectivity, internet reliability and import-dependent living costs

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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