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One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

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Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#91

Post by AYBABTME »

rojcyk wrote: post #82
edwin01 wrote: post #70

I incorporated in Estonia few years ago because of what their promo materials say. It’s a total shitshow unfortunately and while it’s true that you can do everything online, it’s not what you think. All user interfaces are straight from the 90s, only the most basic forms are in english and they want to know everything about your business while setting ridiculous limits. For example, you need to have half of your capi…

I just got an email from the embassy that the eResidency documents are ready to pick up. I wanted to set up a company right after, but this sounds like a really bad news. But I'm wondering, do you use any of the government certificated services who should help you to do all of this? Like LeapIn and similar? Or do you manage everything by yourself? Also, anyone else has a similar experience?

Citizenship or residency? The two are drastically different.

Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#92

Post by prawn »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #44
fastball wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this goes all the way back to the proverbial Adam and Eve? Don't we then all have the same ancestors and therefore all equal opportunity?

1. I didn't bring religion into this. You did. 2. I reject to what amounts to a nice story with no basis in fact. If I remember my judeao-christian studies, the woman was less than the man in those stories. 3. It is evident that even being born, not all babies are equal. And that's before we consider socioeconomic status. Should humans be considered as equal? Of course. However its quite easily demonstrated that peop…

I think you can ignore the religious mention and in good-faith (ha!) take their point to be that we ultimately have common ancestors. Then respond that your family has a strong effect but it's not the only one.

Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#93

Post by gonvaled »

TangoTrotFox wrote: post #71
gonvaled wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon Musk is the exception used to sell you the american dream.

The reason I chose Elon Musk is because he's a household name and most people are familiar with his story. However, 67% of all "high-net-worth" Americans are self made, with only 8% directly inheriting their wealth. [1] If you consider only men (as women have an easier time marrying into wealth) it's 76%. I used to be more aligned with what you're saying. An eye opening paper for me was this [2]. I ran into that when…

Is the "size" of the economic groups given in population or income/wealth?

Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#94

Post by AYBABTME »

smcl wrote: post #7

I signed up and got my ID delivered to my local embassy ... but they never replied when I tried arrange the appointment to pick it up (I got heaps of "your ID is in the embassy!" reminders via email however). Oh well, I'm sure it's useful if you manage to get it. Anyone picking their ID up in Vienna have a different experience?

Just show up.

Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#95

Post by csdreamer7 »

edwin01 wrote: post #70

I incorporated in Estonia few years ago because of what their promo materials say. It’s a total shitshow unfortunately and while it’s true that you can do everything online, it’s not what you think. All user interfaces are straight from the 90s, only the most basic forms are in english and they want to know everything about your business while setting ridiculous limits. For example, you need to have half of your capi…

Great comment.

That capital requirement sounds like a way to give the local banks capital from rich foreigners to make loans and get tax revenue.

I know India restricts how much Indians can spend abroad and Mexico has complained about capital flight.

Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#96

Post by flipp3r »

craftyguy wrote: post #41
kelvin0 wrote: post #31

Maybe I'm too cynical, but also looks like a nice way to e-vade taxes?

How so? It explicitly says[0] that is not possible.. 0. https://apply.gov.ee/

e-Residency doesn't but you could set up a company in Estonia and I've read that basically all b2b transactions would be untaxed, and simply holding money inside the business would be untaxed (from my interpretation of their website) which would allow you to have a basically tax-free business in the EU which could then forward the cash to some offshore entity in any way you'd like.

Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#97

Post by SyneRyder »

nstj wrote: post #77

The article claims that Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and French PM Emmanuel Macron are Estonian “e-residents”. Has anyone seen any non-Estonian reports which support this claim?

I did find a German news article from 2016 saying that Angela Merkel is an Estonian e-resident - presented to her by the Prime Minister of Estonia. So it seems plausible, but that it's something presented to them as a symbolic PR stunt.

"On Thursday, Prime Minister Roivas will present Merkel with an e-residency card - allowing the chancellor to become a digital resident and try out Estonia's digital solutions firsthand."

http://www.dw.com/en/in-estonia-merkel-and-roivas-talk-russi...

There's an Estonian story with photos about that here:

http://estonianworld.com/technology/angela-merkel-becomes-es...

Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#98

Post by iKristjan »

inertial wrote: post #61

- Are there any good (easy to use) payment processors available in Estonia (like Stripe) ? - Is your startup governed by specific laws for data privacy etc. - What about legal disputes, arbitration. How does that work for startups based out of Estonia ?

We're successfully using Braintree for about 4 years now and I know several other Estonian startups who do as well. https://www.braintreepayments.com

Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#99

Post by edwin01 »

thinkloop wrote: post #78
edwin01 wrote: post #70

I incorporated in Estonia few years ago because of what their promo materials say. It’s a total shitshow unfortunately and while it’s true that you can do everything online, it’s not what you think. All user interfaces are straight from the 90s, only the most basic forms are in english and they want to know everything about your business while setting ridiculous limits. For example, you need to have half of your capi…

Thanks for touching on some of the things I was expecting to read in the article. > you need to have half of your capital available always What does this mean, in a bank account?

Yes. If your balance at the end of the year isn't half of your starting capital, you need to tell estonian government officials how you are planning to recover from this horrible failure. I didn't know this on my first year and we just made a small investment at the end of the year that made the balance to drop at horrific 40% level which triggered alarms in the government. If you fail to satisfy them with your plan, (if I understood right estonian-only materials), they can declare your company bankrupt. I know it sounds ridiculous but welcome to Estonia I guess. Though I do doubt that the officials would close your business unless you actually go bankrupt but it's still a hassle and feels very controlling to explain your business to a government at this level.

Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means

#100

Post by rojcyk »

AYBABTME wrote: post #91
rojcyk wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just got an email from the embassy that the eResidency documents are ready to pick up. I wanted to set up a company right after, but this sounds like a really bad news. But I'm wondering, do you use any of the government certificated services who should help you to do all of this? Like LeapIn and similar? Or do you manage everything by yourself? Also, anyone else has a similar experience?

Citizenship or residency? The two are drastically different.

Sorry, E-residency documents. Edited the comment.
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