Estonian e-residency

A good opportunity to become e-citizen

Persuasive reasons for foreign businessmen to become e-resident of Estonia – digital citizen, who receives ID card and all necessary things to give digital signature and use e-services.

E-residents can have a smart ID-card called digi-ID, which looks like ID card for actual Estonian citizens, but does not establish citizenship. This ID card with a microchip (but without photo) contains two certificates: one for authentication and one for digital signatures. It is made by Trueb Ltd, Aargau/Switzerland. 

This is example of digi-ID. Smart Card can´t be used as photo ID, but have certificates for electronic identification and digital signature.

Digital authentication allows owner of ID Card to access different e-services. Many banks, for example, have ID Card authentication and some government portals have ID login. Owner of ID Card receives two secret PIN codes: for authentication (4 digits) and for digital signature (5 digits).

For foreign people, who are doing business in Estonia, there was always a problem to sign documents: estonians can do it digitally for years, but with foreign counterparts they had to meet or send physical documents, what is slow and not so secure.

Digital signing is secure and fast. And most important – it is very convenient. You can sign from your computer and send digital documents with signatures electronically within seconds. No need to go and meet other people, and if document needs many signatures, it will save You huge amount of money and time. And it is also possible to encrypt important documents with digital signature.

Within European Union digital signatures are legally binding in all member states. Outside EU, digital signatures are legally binding in the case of mutual agreement between the parties.

Services of information age

And that’s not all: With ID Card it is possible to register a new company in Estonia, too. There is no need to appear physically at office, no paperwork with forms and blankets, You just sign into Business Portal and fill in some data. It will take less than 20 minutes to register a new company. It sounds not  almost as world record, it really may be one.

Doing business in Estonia You can send Your company´s reporting online to business register in Estonia. The Tax Authority accepts digitally signed electronic documents and companies can declare everything online with digital authentication. Secure online bank transfers are possible with ID Card. You need an Estonian bank account for that, but there is no need for PIN Calculator or PIN Code Cards. Digital prescriptions in Estonian pharmacies are possible, too.

Limited rights

E-residency is a step forward for being online citizen – independ of a location, which is not important, if it is not necessary to go to officials physically. That means You can be e-resident far away from Estonia.

E-residents don't get Estonian citizenship. They can´t vote in elections, but may say their oppinion, for example, about corporate tax changes in the future. If e-residency creates many new companies in Estonia, their voice has to be listened.

How e-citizenship works?

Once in technology fair Cebit in Hannover, Germany, an arabian high official saw an Estonian police car with computers and electronic database, useful to control all necessary things on place. Official asked how much this car costs, he wants to buy some for his country, too. It looked very modern.

But this particular piece of hardware, a police car with a special IT infrastructure,  is not essential part of e-government and e-society. The most important part is the readyness of citizens to adopt the new solution. Should nowbody uses digital signature, government authorities will not support e-signature and e-documents.

The second most important things are central databases and connected services. In case You can send digitally signed documents to tax aouthority, local municipalty, car registry or banks, then ther system will work and You can use Your digital ID card with signature everywhere. Even at elections, where Estonia is the first country, where people can elect parliament electronically with their ID Cards.

Government IT platform called X-road gives citizens access to more than 4000 e-services – to manage banking, register businesses, apply for child benefits, pay for parking tickets, check medical records, buy lottery ticket, register a car, have a discount on shops and supermarkets etc.

So, if there are central databases and services to use, then people will use their secure ID Cards.

Cards are issued by the same authority, that issues passports. If a citizen is authorized by documents and biometric data, authority will issue a ID Card for him with two PIN Codes – for authentication and for digital signature. People need an ID Card reader to use their cards. Card readers are available as computer accessories. It is also necessary to have ID Card software installed, which is issued by government authorities.

E-residency and trust

The Estonian state issues a digi-ID for the applicant’s use in good faith and for legal purposes, says notice on Estonian ministry of Interior´s webpage. The state monitors an e-resident’s use of the digi-ID, just like all other digital credentials in Estonia. Therefore, confirming a person’s identity for the purpose of issuing a digi-ID is secure and quite the same as issuing a visa or passport and there is always vigilance against illegal use.

The decision to approve or deny a new digi-ID or to revoke or cancel it, will be made solely by the Police and Border Guard Board, with cooperation from other institutions for necessary background checks, if needed.

No other country is known to have created opportunities analogous to e-residency – there are either no plans in place or its use has not been activated.

This is how Digidoc software looks. With this software, You can open digitally signed documents and add digital signature to any kind of digital documents.

How can I get it?

For the first contact You need to visit a Police and Border Guard office in Estonia physically. Then you need to submit an application and provide biometrical data (facial image and fingerprints) for background check.

If everything is o.k., decision will be made within 2 weeks. The card will be issued to the applicant in-person at the Police and Border Guard office. This is the second – and last – time You need to be physically in Estonia. Of course You are welcome here all time.

The fee for issuing the card is 50 euros. The use of e-services is free.

Future of e-citizenship

Estonian embassies will process e-residency applications and issue cards abroad by the end of 2015. Then it will not more be necessary at all to travel to Estonia to became e-resident.

Estonia is one of the smallest countries in Europe of about 1,3 million people. According to plans, government intends to attract around 10 million e-citizens by 2025. So, it will become a much bigger country virtually, and more important, with citizens around the world, citizens are everywhere on the globe. Most of them may be businessmen and enterpreneurs who benefit from digital signatures and e-government. It may bring more investments to the country even if people are not moving to this beautiful, but sometimes cold nordic land on the south shore of Finnish gulf. There may be e-residents, who employ people from Estonia, living on the other side of the planet. And maybe governments and countries can attract e-citizens with further services in the future, to make investment plans, pay taxes or just to live as representatives of the „e-homeland“ abroad.

Popularity of Estonian e-services shows the future of the e-residency world. For example, over 95% of the population in Estonia uses the Internet to send in their tax returns, since it is simple and reliable and takes only some minutes. What if You can do all Your tax reports and bureaucracy within minutes from home everywhere? Even much more will be possible with e-services and digi-ID. So, e-residency may be attractive to other countries and citizens, too.

Further informations

What is a Digital Signature?

The Estonian ID Card

Support for e-resident