Golden temple chedi in Chiang Mai, Thailand

6 countries · 13 cities

Southeast Asia

Low cost of living, dense coworking scenes, and the longest-running nomad communities on earth. Chiang Mai and Canggu practically invented the modern digital nomad lifestyle.

Photo: Unsplash, free-to-use licence

Southeast Asia in short

Southeast Asia has 13 cities in 6 countries on this site. A mid-range solo month runs from about $850 in Hanoi to about $3,200 in Singapore, with a median of about $1,200 (our planning estimates, method). 3 of the 6 countries have a remote-work or nomad route marked open in the visa tracker; 2 (Vietnam, Singapore) are not in the tracker yet. The visa rows below were read on official pages between 28 Sept 2026 and 29 Sept 2026.

Visa routes compared

One row per tracker record. Income is the figure as published, in the currency the authority uses (a row marked as our arithmetic applies a published formula); we do not convert it here because exchange rates move faster than the rules. The tracker has fees, processing times and every source.

Country	Scheme	Status	Income rule	First stay	Checked
Thailand	Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)	Open	No fixed amount in the official text read	60 months, renewable	28 Sept 2026
Thailand	LTR Visa, Work-from-Thailand Professional	Open	80,000 USD a year	60 months, renewable	29 Sept 2026
Indonesia	E33G Visa Rumah Kedua Pekerja Jarak Jauh (Remote Worker Second Home Visa)	Open	60,000 USD a year	12 months, renewable	28 Sept 2026
Vietnam	No remote-work scheme in the tracker yet
Malaysia	DE Rantau Nomad Pass (Professional Visit Pass)	Open	24,000 USD a year	12 months, renewable	28 Sept 2026
Philippines	Digital Nomad Visa (Executive Order No. 86, s. 2025)	Unclear	No fixed amount in the official text read	12 months, renewable	28 Sept 2026
Singapore	No remote-work scheme in the tracker yet

Southeast Asia cities by monthly cost Planning estimates, see method

Sorted from cheapest. Monthly cost is a mid-range solo scenario in US dollars; housing is the accommodation line of the same scenario. Wifi and safety are planning figures, not measurements.

City	Country	Month, est.	Housing, est.	Wifi, est.	Safety, est.	Best months
Hanoi	Vietnam	$850	$380 (45%)	80 Mbps	7/10	Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb
Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	$950	$400 (42%)	90 Mbps	7/10	Dec, Jan, Feb
Da Nang	Vietnam	$1,050	$450 (43%)	120 Mbps	7/10	Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun
Chiang Mai	Thailand	$1,100	$400 (36%)	150 Mbps	8/10	Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb
Penang	Malaysia	$1,100	$500 (45%)	100 Mbps	8/10	Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar
Ubud	Indonesia	$1,150	$650 (57%)	60 Mbps	8/10	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
Cebu City	Philippines	$1,200	$500 (42%)	80 Mbps	6/10	Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	$1,300	$500 (38%)	150 Mbps	7/10	May, Jun, Jul, Aug
Canggu	Indonesia	$1,400	$600 (43%)	100 Mbps	7/10	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
Siargao	Philippines	$1,400	$600 (43%)	50 Mbps	7/10	Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Bangkok	Thailand	$1,500	$600 (40%)	200 Mbps	7/10	Nov, Dec, Jan
Phuket	Thailand	$1,600	$700 (44%)	120 Mbps	7/10	Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Singapore	Singapore	$3,200	$1,800 (56%)	300 Mbps	10/10	Jan, Feb, Jun, Jul

Guides for Southeast Asia

How this page is built: visa rows are read from the audited tracker, which links each figure to an official page and dates the check; city figures are editorial planning estimates (method). Rules change, so confirm with the authority before you apply. Researched from official immigration pages and the site's cost dataset.