Digital Nomad & Residency - United States

The U.S. has no dedicated remote-work or digital-nomad visa category. The immigration system is built around employer sponsorship, investment, and family ties rather than location-independent work.

B-1/B-2 visitor status permits tourism or limited business activity (meetings, negotiations) but not productive work for hire. Working remotely while physically in the U.S. — regardless of where the employer or pay is based — is unauthorized employment and can jeopardize future immigration applications.

Long-stay or permanent residence requires qualifying under categories such as employer-sponsored nonimmigrant work visas (e.g., H-1B, L-1, O-1, E-2), employment-based green cards, or family-based immigration — none of which are designed for independent remote workers.

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program grants conditional permanent residence to investors placing $800,000 (in a Targeted Employment Area) or $1,050,000 elsewhere who create/preserve at least 10 U.S. jobs. It was reauthorized by the 2022 EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act and is operational.

Launched via the official trumpcard.gov portal (announced Feb 2025, opened late 2025), it offers expedited permanent residence for a payment (reported around $1M individual / $2M corporate) plus a processing fee, with a proposed $5M 'Platinum' tier pending. As of early 2026 it had been granted to very few applicants and lacks a congressionally created statutory category.

Conversely, U.S. citizens working remotely abroad remain subject to U.S. citizenship-based taxation (worldwide income), a distinguishing feature versus residence-based tax systems; inbound foreign nomads have no equivalent program.