I'm an estonian e-resident!!
Well, now I have an Estonian e-residency, I picked it up last September at the Estonian embassy in Madrid (Spain). It should be mentioned, to draw people's attention, that this system of 'digital home', is based on a private Blockchain with an Internet voting system with open source Github project. For more information, e-Estonian residence is tied to BitNation.
THE PROCESS
The process is easy to get; basically go to this web of the Estonian government, fill in the details and wait a couple of weeks to validate the request. To fill the page, you must have at hand (in digital format, of course), a passport size photo ID, the passport scanned, a VISA or Mastercard and I recommend having thought a real motivation to want that e-residency. In the process I had to pay 101.99€, the 100€ shown in the page plus card payment costs that are 1.99€. Then I received an email telling they have received the request and now is the task of the Estonian police to review the profile and accept it, or not. They tell that usually it takes about 10 working days. In my case, 5 days later I received an email from the Estonian police that they had received the petition and I’m in review, and 6 days later I received an email telling I have been accepted and they will submit the documentation to the selected target site. Once the package has arrived at its destination, I received a that I can go to the embassy to pick up the package; then we have about 6 months to go get the ID at the point where we have chosen at the time of application, in my case, the Estonian embassy in Madrid (Spain).
At the Estonian Embassy, everything was very quick and professional, I presented with my national ID card, they asked me to sign a paper as I have received it, record my fingerprints, receive the pack and be welcomed as an e-resident. They warn that if I wanted to use it today, I should call the police headquarters in Tallinn, to activate it now, if not, tomorrow it will be activated; at the evening I received a mail as it was already active. Great!
UNBOXING THE E-RESIDENT THE PACK
OK, I have the box, but ... what is inside? So basically there’s, the ID card with the chip, a nice USB reader and pin card along with a mini instructions, as you can see in the picture.
RECOMMENDATIONS For the e-residency I recommend doing what people don’t do, read the small manual as what it entails is very important ... what does not imply and the legal issue that applies to us, ie .. know where we're getting into. I'll try to do a little summary We start telling what it is NOT.
- It is not an Estonian citizenship. If you want to have an Estonian citizenship, the web is this one.
- It is not any kind of visa to enter the country or the European Union.
- It is no official ID such as a passport; In fact, the card carries no visible picture on the plastic.
- It does not give you any Estonian social benefits.
That's what YES you can do:
- Establish and run a company on-line.
- Carrying banking accounts on-line. (Transfers, ...)
- Access to international payment services.
- Digitally sign documents (such as annual reports, contracts, ...) of the company as well as external suppliers.
- Verify the authenticity of signed documents.
- Encrypt and transmit documents securely.
- Filing taxes online.
Some say it can be a place to pay less taxes .. for that I recommend you look at you the Estonian tax web or this 2015 classification in the OECD. Yes, it has a very low administrative burden (0% in corporate tax, but 20% tax renda). Do not forget the European VAT law of e-commerce where you have to pay taxes where the service is sold. About banking issues, there are 3 banks that can do something with the e-residents ... These are:
Everyone puts their conditions, you may need to go in person ... if not, we always have choices like N26, it should be easir with time. To open the company's own website e-residency recommend you to do it with some specialized service providers. More information here. These companies should do two things, one, fill papers and present them for you, so you will not need, unless you want, make a tourist visit to Estonia and meet the requirement of having a physical address in Estonia, which will be virtual for you . In case you're thinking of moving to Estonia, this page shows you various relocation services and utility pages such as business registration portal. If you want to see the kind of public services that can be accessed in digital format in case we are in Estonia, visit this page. A recent survey shown that Estonia is the fifth best e-government of the World, so, it can be considered as a good option. As a curious note, many companies in the UK, due to Brexit, are interested by this option as companies in Estonia like Skype to continue doing business with and from Europe, once it is carried out the final separation. The card certificate is valid for 3 years, to renew, it seems that, again, it will be mandatory to pay 100€,maybe not.
I hope this clarifies a little about what to do; at least one base to start. Of course, if you know more things you can do with this digital ID, please can you write it down? Thank you!
A greeting from an E-fellow.
Xavi Vila. Estonian e-resident.