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Seychelles: visas, tax & cost of living

Moving to Seychelles as a remote worker: the €45 Workcation permit, real cost of living, zero tax on foreign income, healthcare and banking.

Seychelles: visas, tax & cost of living
Your passport

United KingdomSeychelles

Your move to Seychelles on a United Kingdom passport

  • VisitEasyVisa-free entry
  • NomadFairly easyNomad visa, stricter rules
  • RelocateMediumResidence with conditions

Visiting

Visa-free for up to 90 days. Travel on a passport valid for your whole stay, with a return or onward ticket and proof you can support yourself.

Passport validity:Passport should be valid for the duration of your stay.

At the border:Pre-arrival Travel Authorisation, plus proof of return or onward ticket, confirmed accommodation, sufficient funds and valid travel and health insurance.

Working remotely

Workcation Retreat Program.

Duration:12months

Fee:About EUR 45 per applicant(estimate)

Who qualifies:Remote employees, freelancers or business owners working for clients or employers outside Seychelles, applying online before travel.

Tax and residency

Seychelles runs a territorial system, so foreign source income is generally not taxed and only Seychelles source income is liable; residency is typically triggered by spending 183 or more days in the country in a tax year.(estimate)

The UK decides residence with its Statutory Residence Test (days in the UK plus your ties). As a non-resident you are usually taxed only on UK income; where one exists, a double-tax treaty with the destination decides who taxes what.

Practical

Currency:SCR. Cost of living:high.

Healthcare:Public clinics exist but foreigners should carry private travel and health insurance, which is required for entry and for many private treatments.

Driving:An International Driving Permit alongside your home licence is recommended, and traffic drives on the left.

Sources: Seychelles Electronic Border System (official) · Seychelles Workcation Retreat Program (official) · Seychelles Revenue Commission, tax system · UK FCDO, Seychelles entry requirements · GOV.UK: tax on foreign income · HMRC: double-taxation treaties

Estimates, not advice. Confirm with the official sources before you act.

Should you move to Seychelles?

Let me be straight with you before the postcard takes over: Seychelles is one of the most beautiful places you will ever open a laptop in, and one of the most expensive places to do it from. This is a small archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, about 1,500 km east of mainland Africa, with roughly 100,000 people, three official languages (English, French and Seychellois Creole), and a pace of life that will slow your heart rate whether you want it to or not.

Almost everyone lands on Mahé, the main island, where the capital Victoria sits along with the airport, the hospitals and most of the jobs. Praslin and La Digue are quieter, greener and even prettier, but you trade convenience for calm: fewer shops, slower ferries, thinner internet. If you need reliable bandwidth and a supermarket, base yourself on Mahé and treat the other islands as weekend escapes.

The honest trade-off is cost versus quality of life. One nomad-focused estimate puts average monthly spending for a single remote worker at roughly $4,900, which tells you this is not a budget base like Bali or Lisbon. What you get for it is warm ocean year-round, genuine safety, political stability, no tax on your foreign income, and English spoken almost everywhere. What you give up is variety, cheap flights, fast delivery of anything, and the buzz of a big nomad scene. Come here to focus and swim, not to network. If your income is solid and remote, Seychelles works. If you are watching every dollar, it will hurt.

Cost of living in Seychelles

Nearly everything is imported, so nearly everything costs more than you expect. Data for Seychelles is thin because the population is small, so treat all of this as a directional estimate and verify locally before you commit.

A one-bedroom apartment runs somewhere around $800 to $1,000 per month on Numbeo’s figures, though furnished places aimed at foreigners and short lets are commonly quoted closer to $1,200 to $1,500, so budget toward the higher end until you have keys in hand. Basic utilities for a modest apartment land around $130 a month.

Groceries are where the island tax bites. Expect roughly $1.80 for a litre of milk, a couple of dollars for bread, and imported items (cheese, wine, anything not caught locally) at prices that will make you wince. A meal at an inexpensive local restaurant is around $18 to $20; fresh fish and Creole takeaways are the sensible everyday option, while resort dining is a different universe. Rent a scooter or car rather than relying on the limited bus network, and expect fuel and vehicle hire to add up. Overall, a careful single person might keep things near $2,500 to $3,500 a month; live like the brochure and you will clear $5,000 easily.

Seychelles Workcation permit and entry

Here is the good news: Seychelles built a real route for people like you. The Workcation Retreat Programme, run through the tourism and immigration authorities, lets remote employees and self-employed people live in Seychelles while working for clients or a company based outside the country. You can read the framework on the official Seychelles tourism site and apply through the government’s Electronic Border System.

The terms are unusually light. The processing fee is around €45, covering both the Visitors Workation Permit and the Health Travel Authorization, which is a fraction of what most nomad visas charge. The permit is typically granted for up to one year and can be renewed, there is no widely published minimum income threshold (rare among these programmes), and valid health insurance covering hospitalisation is mandatory. You will also need a passport, proof that your work sits outside Seychelles, and proof of accommodation. Apply well ahead, ideally around 60 days before you fly, since processing can take several weeks.

Not sure whether this route fits your nationality and situation? Run it through our digital nomad visa checker before you book anything. Verify the current fee and requirements on the official system, because small programmes like this one change their terms without much notice.

Tax residency and the 183-day rule

This is educational, not tax advice, and Seychelles tax questions genuinely warrant a professional. That said, the headline is what draws people here: under the Workcation programme, participants are generally described as paying no personal income tax and no business tax on their foreign earnings, and work equipment can come in free of customs duty. Seychelles taxes income sourced inside the country, not foreign-sourced income earned by someone working remotely for an overseas employer.

The 183-day rule matters for the country you are leaving, not just the one you are entering. Many tax authorities treat you as still resident, and still taxable, if you spend fewer than 183 days abroad or keep your main ties at home. Spending most of a year in Seychelles does not automatically end tax residency somewhere else. Our tax residency checker walks through the day-counting and the tie-breaker questions so you can see where you might actually owe. Get advice in both countries before you assume your income is tax-free.

Healthcare and insurance

Seychelles runs a public health system, overseen by the Ministry of Health, that offers free or very low-cost care to residents. The main facility is Seychelles Hospital (Victoria Hospital) in the capital on Mahé, with smaller hospitals at Anse Royale on Mahé and Baie Sainte Anne on Praslin. It is solid for routine care and emergencies, but it is a small-island system: complex surgery, oncology and serious trauma are frequently referred abroad, usually to India, Mauritius or South Africa.

That referral reality is exactly why the permit demands insurance, and why you should not lean on the public system as a foreigner. Buy a proper international policy (Cigna, Allianz Care and similar global insurers cover Seychelles) with strong evacuation and repatriation cover, because a medevac flight is the expense that actually bankrupts people here. Private outpatient clinics exist on Mahé for day-to-day issues, but keep good insurance for anything bigger.

Money, banking and settling in

The currency is the Seychellois rupee (SCR), managed by the Central Bank of Seychelles. Opening a local bank account as a temporary permit holder is difficult and often not worth the effort for a one-year stay, so most nomads run everything through a multi-currency account like Wise or Revolut plus a good travel card. Cards are accepted at hotels, larger restaurants and supermarkets on Mahé, but carry cash for local markets, small Creole eateries, buses and the outer islands where card machines are scarce or offline.

For the first weeks: sort accommodation and a local SIM (Airtel or Cable & Wireless) on day one, test the actual internet speed at your place before you sign a longer lease, and rent transport early since the bus network is limited. Connectivity has improved thanks to newer submarine cable capacity, but it is not fibre-everywhere and it is not cheap, so pay for the best plan you can and keep a mobile-data backup for calls. Stock up on any specialist items before you arrive, because “we can order it in” here means weeks, not days. Then, honestly, go for a swim. That part always delivers.

Figures are estimates. Always check the official source.

Frequently asked questions

Seychelles: is there a digital nomad visa?
Workcation Retreat Program. Remote employees, freelancers or business owners working for clients or employers outside Seychelles, applying online before travel.
Seychelles: when do you become a tax resident?
Seychelles runs a territorial system, so foreign source income is generally not taxed and only Seychelles source income is liable; residency is typically triggered by spending 183 or more days in the country in a tax year.
Seychelles: what is the cost of living?
The cost of living is high and the local currency is the SCR. Treat any figures as estimates.
Seychelles: do you need health insurance?
Public clinics exist but foreigners should carry private travel and health insurance, which is required for entry and for many private treatments.
Seychelles: can you drive on a foreign licence?
An International Driving Permit alongside your home licence is recommended, and traffic drives on the left.

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Last verified: 2026-07-28

Voymo gives general information to help you organise your move. It is not legal, tax, or immigration advice, always confirm with an official source or a qualified professional before you act.

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