Most of those work restrictions are put in place to protect local labor. They just don't want tourists taking jobs from locals in tourist places without a permit, and without paying taxes. They really don't care much you're doing remote work for a corporation in California or writing a book.

Last time I looked was a few years ago, but I was surprised how hard it was going to be to legally live in France while keeping my US tech job. My employer was happy to do what they had to to make it happen, but there just didn't seem to be a route in the French immigration system.

The options seemed to be:

- Get a job in France and get a work visa. This is very difficult due to economic protectionism.

- Come on a tourist visa and not work.

- Be provably independently wealthy and get some variety of golden visa. This meant proving that you had enough assets to live (lavishly I might add) long term without working.

No easy option for "I want to come to your country, get paid USD by a US company, but pay taxes to you!"

I think there have been some new developments regarding digital nomad visas since then. Still, seemed crazy given what a good arrangement it would have been for France.

Illegally = like smoking weed in Amsterdam

Except few countries, all EU countries tolerate this

Indeed, the author describes a lifestyle I can hardly imagine, and then markets a product motivated by the resulting use cases.

> Most people can't afford to travel to the Schengen Area for more than the visa-free limit of 90 days within a 180 day period.

> Those that can are "digital nomads" and are almost certainly working illegally while travelling.

WTF are you talking about? The Schengen Area is right here and you don't need a visa to work anywhere else in it. That's the whole point.