Estonia
I am now e-resident of Estonia
A couple of months ago I wrote about Estonia’s innovative e-residency project. Shortly after I applied for an e-residency myself. This can be done online. After entering all necessary data, providing a passport scan and paying the application fee of 50 Euro, I only had to wait for the email notifying me that my smart e-resident ID card + card reader were ready for pickup at the Estonian embassy. This took a little bit longer than I expected, but a few days ago I received the email.
So here I am, proudly calling myself e-resident of Estonia. Whenever I want to use Estonia’s e-services, like opening a business or running banking errands, I insert the ID card into a USB reader and authenticate myself through a dedicated software. At the moment I do not know whether I will have immediate use of the e-residency (as an actual resident of Sweden I already enjoy some quite advanced e-government services). But I felt that such an unconventional idea deserves full support, and I am pretty excited to see how this initiative will develop in the future. Other countries, take note!
Estonia’s innovative and ambitious e-residency project takes an important step
Last year the small European country of Estonia did something unique: It has started to offer a virtual residency to people from all around the world at no costs (other than an administration fee during registration) – no matter whether they have any actual connection to the country. The e-residency gives access to a broad selection of e-government services – the same which actual Estonians use as well. The only major differences are that an e-resident cannot vote, does not receive the right to physically live in Estonia and does not get an Estonian passport.
I have been planning to become an e-resident since the launch of the initiative. However, until today, the application process involved a visit to a Police and Border Guard Office in Estonia. While this would be a great opportunity to visit the Baltic country in the Northeast of Europe, it has not really fitted into my travel schedule.
As of tomorrow, the requirement of showing up in Estonia to obtain an e-residency disappears. Today I received an email announcing that a visit to most Estonian embassies and consular offices around the world is now sufficient for the application. The date April 1 might not be the perfect choice for a news like that, but I am pretty sure this is no April Fool’s joke. Continue Reading