Then → Now · 2026
What the author had to improvise in 2017 is now a named visa product in Spain.
What it said (2017) ↓
A personal column: the author becomes location-independent in order to move to Barcelona before turning 30.
"Nothing holding me back … I canceled my lease." Remote work is what made the move possible.
What happened (2026) ↓
For non-EU remote workers this path became formal. Spain created a digital-nomad visa in its Startup Law of December 2022; applications opened in early 2023.
Verdict · Held up: 8 / 10 · Full 2026 update
- Working online meant nothing held her back, so she could cancel her lease and move anywhere.Came true at scale after 2020
Original post · 28 August 2017
I think that 99% of people who become location independent do so for a specific reason. After all, it rarely happens by chance that you decide to give up stability and perceived safety for something unknown. Some may do it to be able to stay home with their kids. Many nowadays want it to be able to travel. Others just ‘want more freedom’. For me, it was something more specific. It started 5 years ago when I dated a guy from Barcelona. The love for the guy faded, but the love for the city only grew stronger and ever since I’ve been saying, ‘One day, I will live there.’ As it goes, life got in the way for a while - local job opportunities, local love - and 2 years ago, I heard myself claim ‘I will move to Barcelona before I turn 30.’ I had two years to go. ‘But the job market there is SO bad!’ ‘You speak hardly any Spanish!’ ‘How will you survive?’ Fair points raised by concerned friends & family, so my solution was ‘I need to have my work online, so I can just take my laptop with me.’ Mind you, at that point, I had never heard of the term ‘digital nomad’ and it hadn’t occurred to me yet that this way, not only could I move to Spain, but I could travel anywhere! For 1,5 year, life got in the way yet again. Now it was local love combined with lots of ‘digital nomad trips’. However, last month I found myself in the position where absolutely nothing was holding me back anymore. So I did it. I canceled my lease. I’m moving to Barcelona mid-October. I will be living in Spain before I turn 30 this December. I’m realizing my 5-year long dream. And it’s all possible because I became location independent.What happened after this was written
Claims then:
- A personal column: the author becomes location-independent in order to move to Barcelona before turning 30.
- "Nothing holding me back … I canceled my lease." Remote work is what made the move possible.
- She had "never heard of the term 'digital nomad'" when she started.
What happened since:
- For non-EU remote workers this path became formal. Spain created a digital-nomad visa in its Startup Law of December 2022; applications opened in early 2023. The income threshold is 200% of the minimum wage (about €2,850+/month in 2026), and freelancers must earn at least 80% of revenue from non-Spanish clients. The author's own status is private and was not researched. Newland Chase · Citizen Remote
Verdict: A personal story, so it makes no factual claims to test. The "work online, move anywhere" premise Came true at scale after 2020, and Spain turned it into a visa category in its Startup Law of December 2022.
Headline finding: What the author had to improvise in 2017 is now a named visa product in Spain.
Re-verified 3 November 2026: 3 claims confirmed, 1 corrected, 0 hedged, 0 removed.
Researched 30 September 2026 and re-verified against the sources on 3 November 2026. Sources are linked in each point. Items marked "unverified" could not be established and are not guessed.