Musing here, but would E-stonian residents have any protection / recourse under GDPR?
GDPR applies to "EU residents". Unless you also had a residency permit and were residing in Estonia, it wouldn't help.
One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
131–140 of 177 posts
Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Merit" is not a quantifiable characteristic. All your plan would do is give the power to the people who define "merit." It's like you're advocating for correctpersonocracy. Put another way, literally every government that has ever existed would call itself a meritocracy. The actual word 'meritocracy' comes from a book that warned about the dangers of creating easily-gamed draconian systems that needlessly exclude pe…
> "Merit" is not a quantifiable characteristic. It's not? What are SAT scores, school grades, entrance exams for the civil service, election results, income etc.? I would say that these are all ways for society to quantify merit. Did you mean perfectly accurately ? > literally every government that has ever existed would call itself a meritocracy. Nope. Most governments used to call themselves monarchies and would ha…
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Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
#133I 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?
Use LeapIn, so much easier. Or maybe you could start just by yourself and as you grow introduce LeapIn, they do help a lot setting you up though.
Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
#134I have several friends from russia that wanted to build their startups in a global way, at least not in russia (receive and send money across borders is a nightmare - basically everyone in the country doing it illegally). And they decided to became e-residents. What's now? All their funds are blocked and accounts are closed in one day without notice.
Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been thinking about this with respect to America's future. Basically, suppose people want a revolution. Well, that would require a competent leader to make the mob effective. This is the rub, if you have leadership skills then you make bank and would be in 'the system'.
One thing US politics has been phenomenal at is ensuring that there will never be organized resistance to the government. Divide and conquer is the name of the game. I do not think it's a coincidence that politicians seem to have been focusing on issues that are increasingly incendiary, arguably in lieu of more relevant issues. When the country is split down partisan lines, it ensures that any action taken will also…
> I do not think it's a coincidence that politicians seem to have been focusing on issues that are increasingly incendiary, arguably in lieu of more relevant issues.
I do not know whether you intend to, but "this is not a coincidence" sounds like it implies a conspiracy.
I believe it is a coincidence, but in the same way that evolution is based on coincidence. Random mutations create by coincidence an organism that is better adapted to its environment, hence it survives. There is no need for a conspiracy to arrive at a political system like ours (it's just stabler than average and thus survives), just like how evolution does not need an intelligent designer to come up with intelligent designs.
Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
#136> can open Estonian bank and securities accounts Does anyone know how well this works in practice for US citizens? I've been led to believe that FBAR requirements are so onerous that most non-US banks would rather turn away US citizens than take their business.
I'm not an accountant, but wouldn't a foreign business with an associated bank account count as a foreign person?
I mean I'd assume that incorporated businesses in Germany (e.g. GmbH which roughly translates to LLC) would count as a German person and the same for Estonia. You as the owner would still have to do your taxes and FBARs on the income you receive and what you have in your accounts. But I wouldn't expect to file FBARs for the business.
Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
#137I 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?
You don't make an appointment, you just turn up during the alloted times.
Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
#138I'm within the 1st year of e-residency + incorporation. Here're a few of my experiences. 1. Setup is not as straightforward as they claim, but it's still quite easy. It compares well to what I've seen in France (LegalStart, CCIs, etc.) and the USA (Clerky/C-corp, Delaware, etc.). Actually there's no (printed) paper work because all is digitally signed with your e-residency card—only that is a big plus. 2. Running the…
> I can pull out if needed According eesti.ee, it will take around six months to close limited liability company in Estonia. So yes, technically you can pull out but if it's anything like other more obscure legal procedures in Estonia, good luck. Conveniently this is not mentioned anywhere in the nice looking promo sites either ;)
Yes, I read something like that too :-) It's definitively not clearly mentioned and we could (still) qualify the procedure as 'obscur'. Though the same would hold for France- or Delaware-based comps.
Generally:
- on boarding is easy and relatively cheap,
- off boarding is more difficult.
And if you want to close then:
1) you better do it right—it's a process with rules that can take weeks if not months;
2) you gotta pay unless you declare the business bankrupt;
3) it takes a lot of off-the-path back-and-forth exchanges with people that have limited incentive to help you.
Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
#139I 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…
Can I ask what you saw as the benefits of incorporating in Estonia?
Re: One of Estonia's first "e-residents" explains what it means
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Merit" is not a quantifiable characteristic. All your plan would do is give the power to the people who define "merit." It's like you're advocating for correctpersonocracy. Put another way, literally every government that has ever existed would call itself a meritocracy. The actual word 'meritocracy' comes from a book that warned about the dangers of creating easily-gamed draconian systems that needlessly exclude pe…
> "Merit" is not a quantifiable characteristic. It's not? What are SAT scores, school grades, entrance exams for the civil service, election results, income etc.? I would say that these are all ways for society to quantify merit. Did you mean perfectly accurately ? > literally every government that has ever existed would call itself a meritocracy. Nope. Most governments used to call themselves monarchies and would ha…
Your comment just proved the other guys point. You name drop a few politicians for not having "merit" because you disagree with them.