Vermont Will Soon Pay People Who Move There up to $10,000 as Part of the New Remote Worker Grant Program
In an attempt to draw in more potential residents and taxpayers, the state of Vermont has enacted a new law that will soon make it possible for certain qualified workers to make money by moving there.
Spotted by Quartz at Work, the New Remote Worker Grant Program was recently signed into law by Vermont governor Phil Scott just this past week.
Individuals can qualify for the program if they are a full-time employee of a company that has its "domicile or primary place of business outside of Vermont."
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Prospective candidates for the program must also become full-time residents of the state after Jan. 1, 2019, and lastly, the majority of the work they do must be carried out either from home or from a co-working space that is also located inside the state.
If a candidate meets those requirements, then he/she can receive money from the program that can be used for expenses incurred from things such as relocation to the state, acquiring computer software and hardware, obtaining broadband access or an upgrade and securing membership in a co-working space or something similar to that.
The financial grant that can be provided to people who will qualify for the program will not exceed more than $5,000 a year, but the total amount that can be received by a candidate is $10,000, meaning he/she will earn more by prolonging his/her stay in Vermont.
Another thing worth noting about the program is that will be on a first-come, first-served basis because annual funding is limited.
For 2019, the first year of the program, the available funding will be no more than $125,000. The year after, the amount of money available in the program will be doubled, and then in 2021, it will go back down to $125,000.
In the following years, no more than $100,000 will be allotted for the program on an annual basis.
It is worth noting that the state of Vermont is not the only place in the United States attempting to lure in more taxpayers.
A recent article from LinkedIn editor-at-large Chip Cutter highlights Port Huron, Michigan, another location that has opted to start offering financial incentives to get more people to move there.
Notably, Port Huron doesn't just want new taxpayers in town, they want skilled workers, too.
The Community Foundation of St. Clair County is offering "come-home" scholarships that can be worth up to $15,000. In order to qualify, candidates must have received a college degree in arts, engineering, math, science or technology within the past decade.
Port Huron is hoping not just to bring in more workers via the scholarship program; they also want the people who will accept the offer to live in the city long-term.
Later in the article, Cutter names a few other U.S. cities that are offering incentives for people to live work and there and among them are Marne, Iowa, Grant County, Indiana, North Platte, Nebraska and Crawford County, Ohio.
The incentive programs for those aforementioned cities vary.
More news about locations in the U.S. offering incentives for relocation should be made available soon.
