Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#71

Post by victorbjorklund » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 9:38 AM UTC

KomoD wrote: post #68

victorbjorklund wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh I wonder why they don’t wanna do business with Russians. Could it be because Russians are threatening to invade, bomb and occupy Estonia? It’s your choice to decide to keep your Russian citizenship. Then you have to pay the price of being a Russian citizen.

> It’s your choice to decide to keep your Russian citizenship. Then you have to pay the price of being a Russian citizen. It's not as black and white as "just renounce or pay the price". Renouncing your Russian citizenship is not an easy process, and they might even deny your request... It's not like cancelling a Netflix subscription. And merely being Russian doesn't make someone a bad person or a supporter of Putin'…

Seems pretty straightforward to renounce your citizenship. https://www.reddit.com/r/tjournal_refugees/s/jnQRpzMXCS

Do you want to keep it or renounce it? Sounds mostly that you either wanna remain Russian or you are the most lazy person on earth.

Have you ever paid taxes in Russia or any way contributed to Russian society? If so you are directly financing the genocide committed by Russia. Are you at least admitting Russia is engaged in a genocide and that Russia must be defeated and treated just like the third riche?

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#72

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 10:15 AM UTC

jvilalta wrote: post #8

dgellow wrote: post #2

Where are you located? Where will you administer the company from? That impacts your tax situation quite a lot. See https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/understanding-cross-border-tax... , look for “Permanent Establishment”

I am in the US currently, would be managing initially from the US. I understand there will be US tax complications, but I can/would deal with those.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#73

Post by KomoD » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 11:40 AM UTC

victorbjorklund wrote: post #71

KomoD wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s your choice to decide to keep your Russian citizenship. Then you have to pay the price of being a Russian citizen. It's not as black and white as "just renounce or pay the price". Renouncing your Russian citizenship is not an easy process, and they might even deny your request... It's not like cancelling a Netflix subscription. And merely being Russian doesn't make someone a bad person or a supporter of Putin'…

Seems pretty straightforward to renounce your citizenship. https://www.reddit.com/r/tjournal_refugees/s/jnQRpzMXCS Do you want to keep it or renounce it? Sounds mostly that you either wanna remain Russian or you are the most lazy person on earth. Have you ever paid taxes in Russia or any way contributed to Russian society? If so you are directly financing the genocide committed by Russia. Are you at least admitting R…

I'm not Russian. I'm Swedish, born and raised in Dalarna.

I'm not pro the Russian regime, there's really no need for the aggressive tone and insults. All I said is that it really isn't black and white when it comes to renouncing it, and even the Reddit post you linked shows that it isn't an easy process, the comments too describe difficulty in doing it and asking for help, some examples:

- https://www.reddit.com/r/tjournal_refugees/comments/1lrdngq/...

Some governments have even stopped enforcing renunciation requirements because people have found it difficult to renounce. One such example is the Netherlands[0]: "There are currently indications within the implementation that naturalized Russians are experiencing problems regarding this renunciation [...] for the time being, it is not enforced for Russians naturalized as Dutch citizens whether Russian nationality is actually being (or has been) renounced."

As I understand, Russia doesn't do citizenship-based taxation like the US does, so I don't have as big of a problem with someone retaining their Russian citizenship when they're living abroad if they find the process difficult/impossible/unrealistic. If they did citizenship-based taxation, then I would have more of a problem with it, as, at that point, it is funding the regime.

I understand why many governments have measures against Russian and Belarusian citizens, but I also sympathize with the people affected.

> Are you at least admitting Russia is engaged in a genocide and that Russia must be defeated and treated just like the third riche?

I'm undecided if I'd call it genocide by definition, but there are definitely things that lean towards it, such as abducting children and trying to "russify" them. I definitely believe they should have never started the war - I don't support it at all - and that they have committed tons of war crimes and awful things such as torture, rape, attacking civilians (also in terms of infrastructure), political assassinations, and lots more. It should end with Ukraine having complete control of its own country and being left to live in peace.

But it doesn't mean I automatically believe all Russians are bad people who support the regime, especially if they live abroad and are trying to build a life.

I welcome both Ukrainians and regime-opposing Russians to come and start a life here.

[0]: https://puc.overheid.nl/ind/doc/PUC_1312395_1/1/

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#74

Post by throw57832 » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 1:14 PM UTC

Paradigm2020 wrote: post #70

jwr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a second point of view: imagine a Ukrainian living in a Western European country. They moved there because Russian missiles and bombs were falling on their heads and killing their family. They regularly send money to their country to defend against the agressor. Their neighbor holds a Russian passport. He works at an IT company and earns a nice salary. It's a good life. He complains about being discriminated…

Common scenario ? The real question is what can a citizen do in a none democratic country... If you were Russian would you publically be protesting the war inside of Russia? And all the people saying renounce citizenship, is your country gonna give him theirs ? Does Estonia offer free Estonian citizenship to Russians who abandon their's? The real elephant in the room that I feel doesn't come up enough in these discus…

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#75

Post by joshuaheard » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

wasting_time wrote: post #37

joshuaheard wrote: post #25

I switched to 1Password after the last one.

The LastPass thread is over there -----> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48671468 (you'd probably be downvoted anyway because of the insubstantial anecdote)

That's strange. My comment replied to a post I did not open or read. Must have been a bug or I was sleep-posting.

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#76

Post by victorbjorklund » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 6:00 PM UTC

KomoD wrote: post #73

victorbjorklund wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems pretty straightforward to renounce your citizenship. https://www.reddit.com/r/tjournal_refugees/s/jnQRpzMXCS Do you want to keep it or renounce it? Sounds mostly that you either wanna remain Russian or you are the most lazy person on earth. Have you ever paid taxes in Russia or any way contributed to Russian society? If so you are directly financing the genocide committed by Russia. Are you at least admitting R…

I'm not Russian. I'm Swedish, born and raised in Dalarna. I'm not pro the Russian regime, there's really no need for the aggressive tone and insults. All I said is that it really isn't black and white when it comes to renouncing it, and even the Reddit post you linked shows that it isn't an easy process, the comments too describe difficulty in doing it and asking for help, some examples: - https://www.reddit.com/r/tj…

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#77

Post by victorbjorklund » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 6:18 PM UTC

Paradigm2020 wrote: post #70

jwr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a second point of view: imagine a Ukrainian living in a Western European country. They moved there because Russian missiles and bombs were falling on their heads and killing their family. They regularly send money to their country to defend against the agressor. Their neighbor holds a Russian passport. He works at an IT company and earns a nice salary. It's a good life. He complains about being discriminated…

Common scenario ? The real question is what can a citizen do in a none democratic country... If you were Russian would you publically be protesting the war inside of Russia? And all the people saying renounce citizenship, is your country gonna give him theirs ? Does Estonia offer free Estonian citizenship to Russians who abandon their's? The real elephant in the room that I feel doesn't come up enough in these discus…

If you were German in Nazi germany would you protest or just complain that French -!: British people discriminate against you for being a German citizen?

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#78

Post by KomoD » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 8:04 PM UTC

victorbjorklund wrote: post #76

KomoD wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not Russian. I'm Swedish, born and raised in Dalarna. I'm not pro the Russian regime, there's really no need for the aggressive tone and insults. All I said is that it really isn't black and white when it comes to renouncing it, and even the Reddit post you linked shows that it isn't an easy process, the comments too describe difficulty in doing it and asking for help, some examples: - https://www.reddit.com/r/tj…

[flagged]

> Why are you claiming that it is extremely hard to renounce your Russian citizenship if you now claim you are not a Russian citizen

Because I can look things up as well as read other people's accounts? I even backed it up, with the very link you provided as well as with a government source.

I can use the same logic against you: why are you claiming that it is easy to renounce your Russian citizenship if you aren't a Russian citizen? I can very easily tell that you, Victor Björklund (not a dox because that's quite literally your username), are not and have not ever been a Russian citizen.

> And of course you as a Russian supporter denies that Russia is committing a genocide.

I didn't deny anything. In fact, I said I lean towards it being genocide, and what I said is that I'm unsure if I'd call it genocide by definition (and I'm not the only one who believes so, because you also have to factor in things such as intent, and that hasn't been determined in international courts and only around 6 countries so far have officially declared the war as genocidal).

Not once did I voice support for Russia in this entire conversation.

> Most pro-Russian people deny the war crimes committed by Russia.

Then you should read my message instead of acting so emotionally and writing such sludge and attacking me when I have never once shown you the same attitude.

I explicitly condemned it. This is exactly what I said, word-for-word:

> I definitely believe they should have never started the war - I don't support it at all - and that they have committed tons of war crimes and awful things such as torture, rape, attacking civilians (also in terms of infrastructure), political assassinations, and lots more. It should end with Ukraine having complete control of its own country and being left to live in peace.

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#79

Post by Paradigm2020 » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 4:29 AM UTC

victorbjorklund wrote: post #77

Paradigm2020 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Common scenario ? The real question is what can a citizen do in a none democratic country... If you were Russian would you publically be protesting the war inside of Russia? And all the people saying renounce citizenship, is your country gonna give him theirs ? Does Estonia offer free Estonian citizenship to Russians who abandon their's? The real elephant in the room that I feel doesn't come up enough in these discus…

If you were German in Nazi germany would you protest or just complain that French -!: British people discriminate against you for being a German citizen?

I'm talking about double weights and standards aka getting kicked out of the international banking system which wasn't possible in that time (and seemingly is still impossible if you are a friend/ vassal of the usa.

If I lived in nazi Germany I would have left asap to the usa like countless people (Einstein etc) did... Strange how they didn't try and stop people back then getting out...

Re: Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

#80

Post by victorbjorklund » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:01 AM UTC

KomoD wrote: post #78

victorbjorklund wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Why are you claiming that it is extremely hard to renounce your Russian citizenship if you now claim you are not a Russian citizen Because I can look things up as well as read other people's accounts? I even backed it up, with the very link you provided as well as with a government source. I can use the same logic against you: why are you claiming that it is easy to renounce your Russian citizenship if you aren't a…

[flagged]