Setting up a remote working life abroad sounds simple until you hit the paperwork. A new study has ranked 17 popular nomad destinations by how much everyday friction they throw at newcomers — and one small Caucasus country has come out clearly on top.

Holafly's Digital Nomad Friction Index 2026 scored destinations on six measures: visa complexity, banking access, healthcare, connectivity, cost of living and disruption risk. The idea, according to the eSIM company's COO Metin Kastro, is that landing in a country is the easy bit — the real burnout comes from post-arrival bureaucracy, lost working hours and unreliable internet.

Georgia took first place with the lowest friction score of all. The country requires no mandatory residence registration and no tax ID, and a newcomer can walk into a bank with just a passport and open an account within hours. For anyone who has spent weeks chasing residence permits elsewhere, that is a remarkable amount of admin removed from day one.

Peru came second thanks to its Rentista residency category, which grants indefinite permanent residency with a low income threshold. Its ranking was held back by exposure to earthquakes and El Niño weather events rather than any bureaucratic failings. South Africa took bronze: no compulsory address registration or tax ID for non-residents, but a below-average healthcare score dragged it down.

Thailand and Malaysia rounded out the top five, both offering purpose-built digital nomad visa programmes and only moderate banking friction, with natural disaster risk counting against them. Vietnam came sixth.

Europe, often assumed to be the nomad heartland, does surprisingly modestly. The only European countries in the top ten are Croatia, Hungary and Poland, in seventh, eighth and ninth places. All three run nomad visa schemes, but mandatory registration and tax ID requirements add friction that their Asian and Latin American rivals avoid. Portugal and the UAE complete the list in tenth — with the UAE's placement suggesting high costs offset otherwise smooth set-up.

For remote workers weighing a move, the study's takeaway is that the glossy nomad visa headlines don't tell the whole story. A friendly visa is worthless if you then lose a week of billable hours to a bank appointment that requires documents you can't get. Georgia's appeal is precisely that the unglamorous parts — the account, the address, the tax number — simply aren't obstacles. Peru appeals to those wanting permanent security on a modest income, while Southeast Asia's established programmes remain a solid middle path if you can accept some disaster risk. Europe's offerings, meanwhile, suit those who prioritise location and infrastructure over pure paperwork convenience.