The picturesque northeastern US state of Vermont attracted worldwide headlines last year when it announced that it would start paying remote workers from elsewhere in the country to relocate there. Details at the time were sparse, but on Jan. 1 the Remote Worker Grant Program officially opened for business—with a few changes since the initial announcement.
Applicants who work for an employer outside the state and move to Vermont on or after Jan. 1, 2019, can apply for a grant to cover up to $5,000 of their relocation or remote work-related expenses. There’s no deadline: Grants will be doled out a first-come, first-serve basis until the $125,000 set aside for the program this year is gone, a state spokesperson said.
The program was originally billed as $10,000 in covered expenses over two years. In its current incarnation, however, the second year isn’t guaranteed—successful 2019 grant recipients will have to reapply for funding in 2020.
Vermont isn’t the only place that remote workers looking for a new home in the new year might consider. The city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is offering $10,000 in cash and a bevy of benefits to lure mobile talent (and future taxpayers).