Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 90% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Rasch: 50 countries have implemented digital nomad visas since 2020

Sondre Rasch · Pay Without Borders with Alex Bouaziz (Deel), Darren Murph (GitLab), and Sondre Rasch (Safetywing) · Dec 20, 2022 · at 1:06:17

Sondre Rasch, CEO of SafetyWing, discusses the rapid adoption of digital nomad visas by national governments seeking to attract remote workers.

0:00 / 0:09exact quote · 9.3s

▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark

“We didn't invent it, but we've been this like promoter of this nomad visa thing, which the first country implemented it in 2020 Barbados. Now, 50 countries have implemented it.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

As of late 2022, 50 countries have implemented digital nomad visas since Barbados introduced the first one in 2020.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Both key elements of the claim made by then-SafetyWing CEO Sondre Rasch in December 2022 are supported by public policy databases and international organization reports. Barbados launched the Barbados Welcome Stamp in July 2020 (announced June 30, 2020), making it the first country to operationalize a pandemic-era remote work visa program in 2020 (alongside Estonia, which enacted its statutory framework around the same time). Furthermore, reports from WorkLife.news and the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) confirmed that over 50 countries/destinations (54 according to the UNWTO in February 2023) had established active digital nomad visa programs by the end of 2022.

Barbados introduced and opened applications for the Barbados Welcome Stamp in July 2020, marking the first major pandemic-era digital nomad visa program.
A UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) analysis identified 54 destinations worldwide offering dedicated digital nomad visa programs as of early 2023, confirming over 50 countries had implemented them by late 2022.

Checked against

[1] visitbarbados.org [2] barbadosdigital.com [3] siseministeerium.ee [4] traveloffpath.com [5] holloway.com [6] medium.com [7] nanoglobals.com [8] iom.int

how many countries digital nomad visa "2022" "Barbados" digital nomad visa history first country Barbados Estonia Barbados first digital nomad visa 2020 "Barbados Welcome Stamp" "first" OR "Estonia" digital nomad visa 2020 how many countries offered digital nomad visas in 2022 reports OR UNWTO OR Migration Policy Institute "number of digital nomad visas" "2022" OR "as of 2022" "digital nomad visa" count 2022 "Migration Policy Institute" OR "World Bank" OR "UNWTO" "50 countries" "digital nomad visa" 2022 OR "47 countries" OR "40 countries" countries offering digital nomad visas as of 2022 "digital nomad visa" "50 countries" 2022 OR "by 2022" OR "end of 2022" how many countries digital nomad visa late 2022 OR December 2022

assessed as of 2026-07-31

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

Barbados nomad visa

⚑ Spot an error? Report it

More from Sondre Rasch

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Rasch: Fully remote companies will outcompete non-remote rivals for global talent

“The ability to hire the best in the world that is the kind of economic thing that I think will, you know, ensure that the companies that are remote will outcompete those who aren't, because they will essentially hire the best in the world versus, you know, the…”

Sondre Rasch Dec 20, 2022 ▶ 6:11 Pay Without Borders with Alex Bouaziz (Deel), Darren Murph (GitLab), and Sondre Rasch (Safetywing)

Disclosure

Rasch: SafetyWing pays all employees a global flat salary regardless of location

“Well, so we have opted for a flat, you know, the argument for it would go something like this, you know, remote has made the world into a global labor market and most people just haven't realized that yet... So we say we chose to kind of like skip to the end o…”

Sondre Rasch Dec 20, 2022 ▶ 45:56 Pay Without Borders with Alex Bouaziz (Deel), Darren Murph (GitLab), and Sondre Rasch (Safetywing)

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Rasch: Global compensation for top talent will converge on Bay Area rates

“So that might be what will happen, that we will converge on the top talent on, on the Bay Area salary.”

Sondre Rasch Dec 20, 2022 ▶ 48:55 Pay Without Borders with Alex Bouaziz (Deel), Darren Murph (GitLab), and Sondre Rasch (Safetywing)

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Rasch: SafetyWing employs 180 people across 70 different countries

“We're a 180 people from 70 different countries.”

Sondre Rasch Dec 20, 2022 ▶ 19:03 Pay Without Borders with Alex Bouaziz (Deel), Darren Murph (GitLab), and Sondre Rasch (Safetywing)

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Rasch: Most SafetyWing health insurance sign-ups previously had no health insurance

“When we ask people who, you know, sign up for our health insurance, what they had before the most common answer is still nothing.”

Sondre Rasch Dec 20, 2022 ▶ 34:27 Pay Without Borders with Alex Bouaziz (Deel), Darren Murph (GitLab), and Sondre Rasch (Safetywing)

Rasch: 50 countries have implemented digital nomad visas since 2020

More from Sondre Rasch

Turn any episode into a week of clips.