> I live in Portugal, and there is a robust debate around this topic.

Assumed it was somewhere in that region because my European friends usually talk about it. Personally find it bizarre because the few thousand digital nomads are barely moving the needle compared to tourism or normal migration. It comes across as people getting very upset about a minor issue because they have rigid ideological views that prevent them from touching the main one. A convenient scapegoat but nothing will change in the slightest if the Portugese DN visa is scrapped.

You've created the easiest pathway to a EU passport and then wonder why the planet flocks there.

The simple solution here is to build enough housing to meet demand.

"Locals are subsidizing their lifestyles"

Same feelings towards non-nomadic Expats in The Netherlands - because of the "30% tax free for Expats".

Meanwhile the truth is that some 15-20 years ago - Dutch government introduced that "30% tax rule" as a cost saving measures.

Previously expats in The Netherlands would collect bills/receipts for expatriation related expenses (e.g. language classes, international school for kids, differences in cost of living/housing ...etc).

And processing those tax claims was so much bureaucracy that Dutch government realized just giving expats 30% of gross income tax free for 10 years (reduced to 8 and then 5 years) is both less money than actual expenses used to be, and much less paperwork/cost.

And let's not forget that (definitely for non-nomadic expats, though arguably also for digital nomads) country didn't need to pay their birth/growing up, education ...etc.

And (especially for digital nomads) might not need to cover the costs for their old age health, retirement and such.

> but digital nomads are going to get swept up in the general anti-migration narrative that most populaces are now feeling

Can you name one digital nomad visa that has been scrapped in the last year or two?

I can name a few dozen that have been implemented.

When I started in 2017 there was maybe 3 or 4 places you could move on Earth with a six figure USD salary as a remote worker, it was always a grey zone to go places on tourist visas but that's how people rolled and countries knew how good a deal it was for them compared to raising/educating/supporting locals so let it slide. There's over 70 legal valid options now for remote workers in 2025.

The easily proven evidence doesn't stack up with the narrative people and newspapers likes the Guardian are trying to push for clicks.

I personally couldn't care less if locals don't like me. My own countrymen are jealous about me having a good paying remote job too.

> The system will only be challenged in politics once enough young Croatian voters find themselves priced out of their own cities like in Barcelona or Lisbon.

Outside of the direct coastal areas that already struggle with this issue from tourism, the brain drain that followed the 90s Independence War still left a sizable amount of empty real estate just sitting around.

And even in the direct coastal areas... a place to live is cheap. In doubt, just buy it, usually young people pool together some cash from relatives and some from bank loans to get started. Or they build it piece by piece, floor by floor, just like my grandparents did. Work a few years in a good job abroad, return to the homeland, build a house.

The local economy also gains from the small but continuous spend on restaurants and cafes etc, and the spend is encouraged to be year-round and not just in peak holiday season.