Comments by "Matthew Nirenberg" (@matthewnirenberg) on "The Best Countries to Work from Anywhere" video.

If you're not an EU citizen from within Schengen don't work whilst there - if they catch you (random searches of cafes and restaurants are becoming the norm) it'll be a very long time in jail and huge fines along with an EU-wide entry prohibition. If you enter visa-free you're a tourist so don't work, if you want to work, get a work visa. People illegally working in ANY country is pathetic, makes life harder for both locals and genuine tourists and such people should be prohibited from traveling as they ruin travel for everyone.
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@littlebrit The countries where the Border Guards and/or Police are checking are mostly Central & Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Italy. Poland (Central Europe) and Italy are very active in trying to catch people illegally working (neither are countries you want to get in trouble with the law in), they check hotel lobbies, restaurants, cafes, town squares, business centres, libraries and the places you just mentioned.
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@littlebrit Nope, not making this up. What are you worried about? If you're not illegally working whilst there as a tourist then you have nothing to fear. The problem is enough digital nomads think the world owes them everything and that they can do whatever they like, so (not all, but enough of them) they work illegally; just because its online work doesn't mean it isn't breaking the law. The result is that the authorities are sick of it and are simply enforcing their laws and properly punishing those breaking said laws. This is resulting in countries scrapping their plans for "digital nomad visas" and to tighten their visa policies. Its also resulting is locals getting pissed off by the increase police and border guard presence in places that were very quiet before digital nomads. Angry locals aim their anger at anyone who's not from that area and it makes life unpleasant for both tourists who are doing the right thing and for citizens who live in other cities but want to spend a weekend in a small town. The other thing that the digital nomads who do the wrong thing want to seriously consider is that even if by some miracle they avoid jail, their ability to travel will be seriously affected as they'll receive an EU-wide entry prohibition (can be anything up to 5yrs or permanent - depends on the arresting authority and country). At the end of the day, if you want to travel, travel and be a tourist (i.e. no work), if you want to work, either go somewhere you have full work rights (permanent residency or citizenship) or get the appropriate work visa - its not hard and over 40 countries (several of which are in the EU) have digital nomad visas. If the few who do the wrong thing continue to do so, then they'll screw it up for everyone.
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@blktauna As follows: 1. Results in small and/or popular areas getting unwanted attention from the cops and border guard searching for people illegally working. Locals get harassed by the authorities as a way of saying "if you kicked out all outsiders/foreigners we wouldn't harass you". 2. It results in businesses either having to introduce time limits to stop non-locals sitting there and working whilst only having one or two coffees but occupying the table for the entire day and causing the business to lose a heap of cashflow. 3. You waste work-share/timeshare spaces that locals would use if you weren't occupying them all day illegally working. Spaces are limited and intended for locals and those with full work rights - not for tourists. 4. The fact you still fail to understand that hypothetically even if the locals weren't affected, you're still breaking the law by illegally working. This affects every digital nomad, every tourist and every visa applicant. The fact you think its okay to breach your visa requirements (visa-free is still a visa except its automatically recorded digitally and you're still bound by the same restrictions as a tourist) results in fewer visas being issued, in countries scrapping or never introducing digital nomad visas, in significantly stricter requirements to even apply/qualify for a visa. Simply put, you cause unwanted attention and harassment for locals, loss of business revenue as enough digital nomads occupy tables for hours whilst spending very little and most importantly, you're breaking the law and making it so that being a digital nomad will be outright banned if you are too up yourself to do the right thing and get a work visa or digital nomad visa. Do the right thing and don't ruin it for everyone because you think you're all that matters and that the world revolves around you. Otherwise, feel free to ruin it for everyone and likely end up in jail in a part of the world you don't want to be jailed in.
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@blktauna Work has always been considered to be any work whether physical or not. It's not their job to educate people on entry/visa rules - that's the job the the traveler. In regards to renting spaces to non-locals - under EU law due to the freedom of movement in the Schengen Zone, the only people who can be refused are tourists. The form you sign when booking a space has a declaration that you confirm you have full work rights and understand that you can be prosecuted, deported or jailed if you don't have full work rights. The reason these spaces are an issue is as follows: we pay a lot in taxes for shared work/timeshare work spaces which are funded by the govt for locals - those who have digital nomad visas or work visas are always welcome, the problem is when digital nomads without work or digital nomad visas are booking out the place by falsely declaring they have work rights resulting in those doing the right thing missing out. Within the last two years, ID has become required to book such places as a way of verifying declarations - this should have been the norm from the beginning. Yes there are some private spaces (intended for non-locals with the correct visas or work rights) however they're still legally required to only let those with full work rights work there - the problem is these private spaces primarily care about money and don't verify the declaration signed by the individual. ETIAS will pair your physical life with your digital life - it will collect and pair enough information to monitor anyone in Europe who enters under ETIAS (all non-EU citizens). ETIAS is a heavy-handed response to enough people doing the wrong thing. As for why locals get harassed by the authorities - in smaller areas, the authorities usually get to do nothing, so they see it as a hindrance to have to work so they take the attitude of "make the locals reject others so the problem stops", not to mention, even if they aren't intending to harass locals, the restaurant and cafe searches and increased govt presence annoys locals who want to be left alone and who don't want to feel like they're back in the war or cold war period being monitored. What might be a one-off ID check for a tourist could be a weekly occurrence for a local at more than one location. When the authorities search a cafe or restaurant, they'll have you put your hands in the air if they think you're working, everyone else will be grabbing their ID's whilst they rush to everyone with their hands in the air (its their way to stop you trying to hide illegally working). Visa requirements are just that, requirements to qualify for the visa. The conditions of the visa and of entry are separate. The USA, CAN, AU & NZ have visa-free to the EU but working is prohibited. The only exception to the work prohibition is attending conferences. As I said a few replies above, the strictest areas are Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and Italy - these are the countries most intent on catching people illegally working. Most of Western Europe have digital nomad visas, all of the EU Schengen countries have Schengen business visas (valid for 90 days) that are easy to obtain from the same place as a Schengen visa for tourism.
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