Anyone can live and work in Svalbard visa-free â€` just don`t run out of money, and abide by its rules
Businesstech | 09 Jan 2023
Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago by the North Pole, is one of the world`s only visa-free zones.

But residents who can`t support themselves or find housing can be expelled by the governor.
Insider spoke with four locals (one of whom was deported) about what it`s like to work in Svalbard.
In a world where your passport dictates where you can live, travel, and work, there`s a semi-frozen haven open to citizens of all countries â€` no complicated visa or employment permits required.

Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago 500 miles from the North Pole, is home to the world`s northernmost human settlement. The 2,300 residents of the capital, Longyearbyen, include people of over 40 different nationalities, few of whom are `from` Svalbard, per say.

That`s because you`re not allowed to give birth on Svalbard â€` one of the many strange rules that govern existence on the remote collection of islands covered by ice.

There are surprises of course, whom the town endearingly calls `Svalbard babies` even when they`re grown, Cecilia Blomdahl, a popular content creator based in Longyearbyen, said in an interview with Insider.

Among Svalbard`s other odd rules left over from its days as a coal mining town include a monthly alcohol limit (24 beers, half a bottle of fortified wine, and one bottle of liquor), and a ban on cats to protect the bird

population.

But the most important rule of all: Don`t run out of money. And certainly don`t find yourself without a home.

While the Svalbard treaty of 1920 permits anyone to live and work on the archipelago indefinitely, its open borders come with an asterisk: You must have enough money to support yourself and a roof over your head, or risk expulsion from the territory.

`You can stay here for as long as you can take care of yourself,` Blomdahl said. `That means how you get to work, how you live, your housing â€` nothing will be provided for you.`

Despite being a sovereignty of Norway, Svalbard employees pay an 8% income tax and local businesses contribute zero taxes toward the country`s national insurance program (the mainland`s current tax rate is 14% and 22% respectively). As a result, there are no retirement homes, public transport, homeless shelters, unemployment benefits, or really any social safety net you can think of.

Nobody understands this trade off quite like Mark Sabbatini, the founder and editor of IcePeople, `the world`s northernmost alternative newspaper,` who was kicked off Svalbard in 2021 after living in Longyearbyen for over a decade.

He moved to the island from the US in 2008 with around $1 million dollars in the bank and ambitions to launch an English-language newspaper, Sabbatini told Insider.

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