Nomad Logistics: Insurance, eSIM, Banking & More

Photo: RDNE Stock project via Pexels (free license).
Prices, terms and rules are "as of 2026" and change; verify current details with each provider.
What this page covers
Visas we can be precise about. A residence or nomad visa is set by an instrument you can open: an income threshold, a duration, a renewal rule. The country pages carry those with the date, and a figure that could not be confirmed at the issuing authority is marked unconfirmed rather than repeated from another guide.
What a policy covers for diving below 30 m, for kitesurfing, or for a rescue at sea is decided by the exclusions in your own contract and by your own medical history. We can set out what the categories mean and which questions to put to an insurer.
Connections have a vocabulary now. Speed claims used to be sixteen different words across this site. There are four, each tied to a band, defined on fast, solid, basic and thin, and where we have no measured figure for a place the page says so.
Licences are the one thing you can check yourself. Where a country licenses watersports businesses, the register is usually public and the number is on it.
Start here: the logistics a water nomad needs
If you dive, the first thing to sort is insurance that covers diving, most policies do not. Then a reliable eSIM for connectivity, a multi-currency account for money, and a VPN for security. New to it all? The packing list ties the whole setup together.
Visa guides by country
Where you can legally live and work by the water, checked line by line against the immigration authority that issues the visa rather than against other blogs. Every figure is dated, and anything is not confirmed at the source is flagged as unconfirmed.
Which insurance covers your watersport?
Sport by sport, what SafetyWing, Genki and World Nomads actually say. Kitesurfing is excluded by name in one of them.
Read → Visa guide · IndonesiaIndonesia E33G visa
The E33G remote worker KITAS: the USD 60,000 income rule, the real fee stack, and what immigration says about extending it.
Read → Visa guide · ThailandThailand DTV visa
Five years multiple entry, 180 days per stay, and the 500,000 baht balance test, from the Foreign Ministry sheets.
Read → Visa guide · SpainSpain teleworker visa
What 200 percent of the SMI means in euros for 2026, the three-year experience route, and the 20 percent Spanish-client cap.
Read → Visa guide · PortugalPortugal D8 visa
The four-times-minimum-wage income test at 3,680 EUR, the 30,000 EUR insurance floor, and the two-year AIMA permit.
Read →All nomad logistics guides
Best insurance for nomad divers
Cover that actually pays for diving and a chamber ride. The one most policies get wrong.
Read → Comparison · YMYLBest travel health insurance
SafetyWing vs Genki vs comprehensive, and the watersports exclusions to check.
Read → ComparisonBest eSIM for digital nomads
Airalo vs Holafly vs Nomad, tethering, local numbers, and staying online by the water.
Read → Comparison · YMYLBest bank account for nomads
Wise, Revolut and more, the e-money-vs-bank nuance, and a stack, not one account.
Read → ComparisonBest VPN for digital nomads
Security on public wifi, home-service access, and the legal caveats of restricted countries.
Read → Head-to-head · YMYLSafetyWing vs Genki
The two nomad insurers compared: price, everyday cover and the watersports add-on for divers.
Read → Head-to-headAiralo vs Holafly vs Saily
Coverage, unlimited data, tethering and price, and which travel eSIM suits your trip.
Read → Head-to-head · YMYLWise vs Revolut
Multi-currency holding vs everyday spending, and why most nomads quietly run both.
Read → Head-to-head · YMYLSafetyWing vs World Nomads
Subscription nomad cover vs adventure-trip insurance, and which fits your kind of travel.
Read → Head-to-head · YMYLWise vs Payoneer
Getting paid abroad: direct invoicing vs marketplace payouts, fees and which suits freelancers.
Read → ChecklistWatersports packing list
Work kit, water kit, documents and health, and the carry-on rules, all in one list.
Read → How-toHow to find accommodation
Book short then long, negotiate monthly rates, and what to check before you commit.
Read → How-toHow to get reliable internet
The layered backup approach, eSIM, travel routers, coworking and surviving outages.
Read → How-toWhere to work: coworking vs café vs home
Reliability, cost, focus and community compared, plus café etiquette.
Read →