Regarding Freelance visas, some countries (e.g. Germany [1]) require you to have local clients. So not an option for self-employed/indies. Would be nice to have similar info about countries that doesn't require you to work for someone else.
Actually, Germany only requires non-binding letters of intent from potential clients, upon which they extrapolate your income, which they want to be above the poverty line (1500 EUR a month in Germany, IIRC).
Sources: Many friends getting freelance visas, a visa lawyer.
The Germany Freelance Visa link lists you having an address in Germany as one of the requirements, though. I'm not sure if that's an existing address or just a general "you have to stay somewhere and not be homeless".
I wrote the guide linked above. You are right, but when it's time to renew your visa, they aren't so lenient. You can also get a shorter visa if your case isn't compelling enough.
I don't know about that exact rule (most of my clients are not German). Honestly in my experience of living here and freelancing on this visa a lot of these requirements seem to be up to the discretion of the person doing the interview / checking your documents.
I can confirm. I wrote the guide above and spend a lot of time dealing with the immigration office. They're a real box of chocolates, and some are filled with raisins.
This is to the best of my knowledge incorrect. I know more than one person that came to Germany as self employed without having customers prior to immigration.
I'm sure a lot of people look up their home countries or countries which they are familiar with. You may want to consider a simple form where people can issue corrections that get emailed to you. Essentially crowdsource data.
EDIT: 1. https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/how-to-get-a-german-freela....