The Nomad Score Methodology
Every visa in our database carries a single 0–100 Nomad Score. Here is exactly how it is built — the five factors, their weights, the thresholds, the data behind them, and what the score deliberately does not measure.
A single score from five weighted factors
The Nomad Score is the sum of five independently scored factors that add up to 100 points. Two of them (Accessibility and Stay) come from the visa rules themselves; two (Living Quality and Infrastructure) come from external international datasets; and one (Tax Benefit) sits in between. We publish the weights so the score can never be a black box.
| Factor | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Visa Accessibility | 25 | Minimum income requirement, online application, applying from abroad, processing time, and application fee. |
| Stay & Flexibility | 20 | Initial stay length, renewability, path to residency, path to citizenship, and family eligibility. |
| Tax Benefit | 15 | Whether foreign income is taxed locally, and the presence of a special tax regime. |
| Living Quality | 25 | Cost of living, safety (homicide rate), healthcare coverage, and human development. |
| Digital Infrastructure | 15 | Median internet speed, how widely English is spoken, and tap-water safety. |
| Total | 100 |
Visa Accessibility / 25 points
Inputs: Minimum income requirement, online application, applying from abroad, processing time, and application fee.
Lower income thresholds, online-only applications, faster processing, and cheaper fees all raise this score. A visa with no income requirement and a sub-two-week online process scores near the top of this band.
Stay & Flexibility / 20 points
Inputs: Initial stay length, renewability, path to residency, path to citizenship, and family eligibility.
Longer initial stays (24+ months score highest), the ability to renew, and clear routes to permanent residency or citizenship reward visas built for people who want to settle rather than visit.
Tax Benefit / 15 points
Inputs: Whether foreign income is taxed locally, and the presence of a special tax regime.
A visa that does not tax foreign income earns the bulk of this band; a dedicated favourable tax regime adds the remainder. Visas that tax worldwide income at standard rates score lowest here.
Living Quality / 25 points
Inputs: Cost of living, safety (homicide rate), healthcare coverage, and human development.
This is the only factor driven mostly by external datasets rather than the visa rules themselves. Affordable, safe countries with strong healthcare and high human development score highest.
Digital Infrastructure / 15 points
Inputs: Median internet speed, how widely English is spoken, and tap-water safety.
Practical day-to-day factors for remote work. Fast internet is weighted most heavily, with English prevalence and safe tap water as secondary signals of everyday livability.
Score bands
The final total maps to a plain-language label so the number is easy to read at a glance:
Data sources
Visa rules (income, duration, fees, tax treatment) come from official government immigration sources, cited on each country page with a “last verified” date. The Living Quality and Infrastructure factors draw on established international datasets:
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| UNDP Human Development Report 2024 | Human Development Index (development level) |
| UNODC Homicide Statistics | Safety (homicide rate per 100k) |
| WHO Universal Health Coverage Index 2023 | Healthcare access |
| Numbeo | Cost-of-living index |
| Ookla Speedtest | Median internet speed |
| WHO / UNICEF JMP | Tap-water safety |
What the score does not measure
A composite score is a starting point, not a verdict. The Nomad Score deliberately does not capture:
- Your nationality. Eligibility, bilateral agreements, and visa-free access vary by passport; the score is passport-neutral.
- Climate, culture, and community. These matter enormously but are subjective and not scored.
- Currency and inflation swings. Cost-of-living inputs are periodic snapshots, not live exchange rates.
- Individual tax situations. Tax outcomes depend on your residency, income type, and home-country rules. The Tax Benefit factor reflects the visa's headline treatment only.
Where an official figure is genuinely ambiguous, we say so on the country page rather than fabricate a precise number to feed the score.
Transparency & corrections
The scoring model is maintained by SHOYA KIHARA and applied identically to every country — no country is hand-boosted. Weights and thresholds are reviewed periodically alongside data re-verification.
Nothing here is legal or immigration advice. Always confirm requirements with official government sources before applying. Spotted an error? Email contact@nomadscores.com — corrections are made promptly.
Ready to use it? Browse every visa by Nomad Score or compare two countries side by side.