Once considered beneficial to a community, digital nomads have become unwelcome in many areas of Europe, accused of aggravating gentrification and pricing out the local population.

But one region of Spain is still keen to host remote workers – so much so that it is offering financial aid to those who relocate there.

Extremadura, an autonomous community bordering Portugal, is one of Spain’s lesser visited regions but nevertheless is home to wild nature reserves, fauna-filled mountain ranges and a capital scattered with Roman ruins.

Here’s who is eligible for the grant to move to Extremadura and how to apply.

You can get paid to be a digital nomad in Spain’s Extremadura

The regional government of Extremadura is offering digital nomads up to €15,000 to move to the area.

The autonomous community has one of the lowest populations in Spain and is one of the least-developed regions. It has one of the country’s lowest GDPs per capita and one of the highest rates of unemployment at 17.6 per cent compared to the national average of 11.9 per cent.

To bolster both the population and the economy, authorities in Extremadura have earmarked €2 million that will be used to aid the relocation of 200 remote workers and digital nomads to the region.

As well as receiving financial aid, digital nomads can enjoy a low cost of living compared to many other areas in Spain. When compared with the Spanish capital Madrid, the Extremadurian city of Badajoz costs on average 30 per cent less for meals out, public transport and utilities, according to Numbeo.

According to regional authorities, Extremadura lacks in transport infrastructure but has above national average fibre optic and mobile coverage.

Who can apply for Extremadura’s digital nomad grants?

Extremadura is targeting remote workers who are highly qualified professionals in the tech industry.

You must be able to work completely remotely and online “through the exclusive use of media and IT systems, telematics and information fields.”

Those who wish to apply have to commit to maintaining a remote job and living in Extremadura for at least two years.

Both those living in other regions of Spain and those living abroad are eligible as long as they have not lived in Extremadura in the previous six months.

Foreign nationals may apply, but must be resident legally in Spain and be in possession of a foreign identity number (NIE) as found on their green EU certificate or non-EU TIE card.

Non-EU nationals can also apply as long as they are already participating in Spain’s digital nomad visa scheme.

Those not in possession of a digital nomad visa would need to apply for this first and have it approved by Spanish authorities as well as obtain a residency document before applying for the Extremadura scheme.

How much funding will digital nomads receive?

Women, young people under 30 years old and those who relocate to towns in Extremadura with populations less than 5,000 are eligible for a €10,000 grant. Others will receive €8,000.

After two years, those in the first category who choose to stay on another year will receive a second payment of €5,000 while the others will be given €4,000.

When can digital nomads apply for the Extremadura grant?

The date when applications open has not yet been confirmed but authorities say it will be the day after publication of the scheme in the Official Gazette of Extremadura, likely to be around mid-September.

Authorities say applications will stay open until all the funds to cover around 200 digital nomads have been allocated which will be no less than a month but no more than a year.

How can digital nomads apply for the Extremadura grant?

Applications have to be submitted electronically using the Extremadura General Electronic Access Point. Applicants need to be in possession of a digital certificate or electronic Spanish ID card which allows for electronic identification.

You must submit your application form along with an official document issued by your country or another region in Spain to prove your current place of residence and a certificate from your employer authorising you to work in Extremadura or remotely in Spain or, if you are self-employed, a document detailing the terms and conditions in which you will carry out your professional activity remotely.

If you are moving from another Spanish region, you will need an original report supplied by the General Treasury of Social Security showing you are up to date with social security payments, a document certifying you are up to date with your tax payments and a certificate proving you don’t have any debts with the Treasury of Extremadura.

Documents not in Spanish need to be accompanied by a sworn legal translation certified by a professional.

Applicants will hear within three months if they have been successful.

Those successful need to register with a municipality in Extremadura to get a padrón certificate (a local record for people residing in a Spanish municipality) within three months.

After this, you have a month to request payment of the grant, which will be made in a single transaction.

Passing through airport security can be a tedious part of the air travel process but some European airports had managed to speed it up thanks to the installation of state-of-the-art scanners, which allow passengers to carry electronic devices and cosmetics of any quantity in their luggage without having to take them out.

But despite the equipment’s positive reception, Brussels recently called for a return to the previous model of limiting liquid containers to 100 milliliters.

Efficient but insufficient

The C3 EDSCB technology, as these advanced scanners are called, displays high-resolution three-dimensional images of baggage contents from CT scans and can easily detect explosive components in all kinds of cosmetics, liquids or electronic devices.

Passengers therefore don’t need to open suitcases or take out some of their belongings, which can create delays, and only have to pass through a metal detector.

But its effectiveness was called into question by a technical report that the Commission sent to the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) last May, according to which the software of these scanners cannot guarantee their reliability for containers with a content of more than 330 milliliters.

Then on July 31, Brussels announced the decision to apply “temporary” restrictions to these C3 explosives detection systems as a “precautionary measure” until “certain technical problems are solved”, a Commission spokesperson said. Officially, however, “the Commission has not changed its opinion on the quality of this new generation of scanners and their performance has not been called into question”, the spokesman added.

Airports already using the C3 model will now have to switch back to the traditional X-ray scanner, whose technology is insufficient to show in detail the interior of objects and thus detect explosive material in liquids.

Financial losses for airports

These new scanners are “eight times more expensive” with maintenance costs “four times higher”, so airports that have already invested in these new scanners to improve the passenger experience “will be heavily penalised, as the benefits associated with the use of this state-of-the-art technology will hardly materialise”, the Airports Council International Europe (ACI) said in a statement.

“Security is non-negotiable, it is one of the top priorities of European airports. Therefore, all airports will fully comply with the new restriction. However, airports that have been early adopters of this new technology are being heavily penalised, both operationally and financially,” ACI director general Olivier Jankovec said.

“The decision to now impose significant restrictions on its use calls into question the confidence that the industry can place in the current EU certification system for aviation security equipment,” he added.

Most of the passengers interviewed by Euronews at Zaventem airport in Belgium said they were used to not travelling with liquids and trying to leave electronic devices at home, so this change in regulations would not affect them too much. Those who had encountered the high-tech C3 scanners or the advanced body scanners at an airport, however, recognised a fundamental difference in the ease with which they gained access to boarding gates.

Nevertheless, the response is unanimous among airport staff and travelers alike: everyone wants to start their holiday as soon as possible and as easily as possible. To this end, those who have decided to postpone their break in September should make sure that sun cream and beauty products do not take up more than 100 milliliters if they do not want to waste any more of their free time at an airport checkpoint.

Travellers to Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport may soon be able to use facial recognition to check in for flights.

Abu Dhabi Airports is developing a “Smart Travel” project that involves rolling out biometric authentification artificial intelligence (AI) into all security checkpoints at the airport by 2025.

The project will use the databases of the United Arab Emirates’ Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security to “automatically authenticate travellers,” according to a July statement from the local government.

This will get rid of prior registration that passengers normally need to do as soon as they get to the airport.

Etihad Airways already has biometric systems in place that use facial recognition before boarding and assists with self-service baggage delivery and traveller check-ins.

That means people won’t need their boarding passes to board one of Etihad’s planes.  The technology is also being implemented for five additional airlines at check-in and boarding gates.

These new technologies means it will take roughly seven seconds from the 25 at regular kiosks to go through the entire ticket and travel document verification process.

The project “will enhance airline performance by eliminating the need for expensive infrastructure expansions and effectively detecting fraud and forgery in identification documents,” a statement from Abu Dhabi Airports reads.

Biometric advances in EU airports

Italian authorities started trials in May on a similar software called FaceBoarding that uses facial recognition at two airports: Milano Linate and Catania.

Travellers use airport kiosks to show their documents and scan their faces. That lets them use FaceBoarding again at other checkpoints, making it faster for security and boarding.

SEA, the company managing the new Italian system, says on the Milano-Linate airport websitethat those who opt-in to Faceboarding will have their data processed only “for the purpose of participation in the project”.

“Facial images are not stored, but are only used to create a biometric template required for passing security checks and eventually board at the gate,” their website continued.

Individual airlines like ITA Airways and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) have also signed up to use the system for their clients.

The EU is also getting ready to launch its Entry/Exit System (EES), an automatic registration system for travellers from the UK and non-EU countries.

That system asks travellers without long-stay visas to scan their faces and passports at self-serve kiosks when they cross EU borders.

A traveller’s name, biometrics, and date of entry/exit will be recorded and retained for up to three years after each trip.

The system will launch on November 10, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson previously told Euronews.