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Become Estonia’s e-resident

e-estonia.com

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Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#91

Post by pgl »

kstrauser wrote: post #86

Is there any reason why I - being perfectly happy with my American citizenship and residency and having zero intent to change either - should avoid getting one for the novelty of it? I mean, is there any possible downside to getting this thing out of a sci-fi novel?

I think the biggest actual barrier to actually getting one would be having to apply in person, and pick up your card in person.

Certainly for Americans, not a huge number of people will have two weeks spare and sufficient funds to wait for their application to be processed (or the money to fly to Estonia and back twice in two weeks).

Edit: apparently they're "working to add capacity to our embassies to process e-residency applications and issue cards abroad by the end of 2015". This makes the whole thing absolutely amazing. Let's see how the rest of the world reacts, I guess.

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#93

Post by huhtenberg »

anemic wrote: post #68
tvanantwerp wrote: post #4

"To apply for one, you need to make visit a Police and Border Guard office in Estonia – there you need to submit an application and provide biometrical data (your facial image and fingerprints) for background check."

are the facial image and fingerprints only used for background check, are they stored (and for how long) and are they shared with different entities, such as police or foreign governments?

You should assume they will be stored and shared with friendly nations, even if the official line says they aren't.

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#94

Post by tauntz »

ikawe wrote: post #11

I was in Estonia two days ago. I just passed through on a whim as part of a European bicycle tour. I am embarrassed to admit, I knew very little about the country before being there. I was only there a week, so my impressions are addmittedly naive, but very positive. There was a lot of technology forward thinking - online voting, constitutional right to internet access, co-working spaces catering to young entrepreneu…

A shameless plug but since you asked for it.. :) We're doing something cool - at least it's really cool to me - a super simple CI server for mobile apps for freelancers and small teams (greenhouseci.com).

By the way, Estonia has a cool tech scene also outside of Tallinn! We're in Tartu and there are a lot of cool startups here too!

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#95

Post by vidarh »

sudowhodoido wrote: post #46
ikawe wrote: post #11

I was in Estonia two days ago. I just passed through on a whim as part of a European bicycle tour. I am embarrassed to admit, I knew very little about the country before being there. I was only there a week, so my impressions are addmittedly naive, but very positive. There was a lot of technology forward thinking - online voting, constitutional right to internet access, co-working spaces catering to young entrepreneu…

I see a lot of that across Europe. I've been dying to do a road trip out that way (from the UK) but it's difficult with three children. Everyone I've met and spoken to out there has been through some serious shit right up until the late 1990s from wars to genocides. They really are forward thinking because looking back hurts badly. It might sound cheesy but I have a lot of hope for Europe and most of it comes from th…

> Everyone I've met and spoken to out there has been through some serious shit right up until the late 1990s from wars to genocides.

"Out there"?

I'm going to presume that the wars and genocide you're talking about was the former Yugoslavia, as not many places fit the bill unless you go looking much further away, in which case Estonia is almost as far from there as it is from the UK (driving distance can go either way depending on route).

And still 1700km from Estonia to Donetsk, Ukraine if you want to include that conflict...

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#96

Post by tauntz »

namenotrequired wrote: post #70
ikawe wrote: post #11

I was in Estonia two days ago. I just passed through on a whim as part of a European bicycle tour. I am embarrassed to admit, I knew very little about the country before being there. I was only there a week, so my impressions are addmittedly naive, but very positive. There was a lot of technology forward thinking - online voting, constitutional right to internet access, co-working spaces catering to young entrepreneu…

Excuse the OT, I'm considering a visit. As a foreigner with no connections, how do you recommend I could get a feel for the startup scene there (as you seem to have done)? > Anyone doing any cool projects there? One Estonian startup whose product I use a lot is TransferWise, here's an invite link (for one free currency transfer): https://transferwise.com/u/5d78

Ping me when you're around - Estonia is so small that everybody in the tech scene knows almost everybody. There are lots of people who'd like to show you around and talk about startups and technology in general!

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#97

Post by jacquesm »

sudowhodoido wrote: post #46
ikawe wrote: post #11

I was in Estonia two days ago. I just passed through on a whim as part of a European bicycle tour. I am embarrassed to admit, I knew very little about the country before being there. I was only there a week, so my impressions are addmittedly naive, but very positive. There was a lot of technology forward thinking - online voting, constitutional right to internet access, co-working spaces catering to young entrepreneu…

I see a lot of that across Europe. I've been dying to do a road trip out that way (from the UK) but it's difficult with three children. Everyone I've met and spoken to out there has been through some serious shit right up until the late 1990s from wars to genocides. They really are forward thinking because looking back hurts badly. It might sound cheesy but I have a lot of hope for Europe and most of it comes from th…

> It might sound cheesy but I have a lot of hope for Europe and most of it comes from the East.

I very much agree with you. The East of Europe has very recent memory of how not to run countries, the West is already forgetting those lessons and repeating past mistakes. For now the West is still ahead economically, but I suspect that this will not last indefinitely. You can pretty much draw a line through 'Helmstedt' (the site of the old autobahn border crossing between 'East' and 'West' Germany) and use that as the pivot point. On the left of that pivot the swing is steadily downwards whereas on the east of that up to the Russian border there is slow but fairly steady progress.

Of course the map is not the territory and you'd have to account for the situations further North and South with different pivot points but on the whole this seems to be how it is today.

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#98

Post by sudowhodoido »

vidarh wrote: post #95
sudowhodoido wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see a lot of that across Europe. I've been dying to do a road trip out that way (from the UK) but it's difficult with three children. Everyone I've met and spoken to out there has been through some serious shit right up until the late 1990s from wars to genocides. They really are forward thinking because looking back hurts badly. It might sound cheesy but I have a lot of hope for Europe and most of it comes from th…

> Everyone I've met and spoken to out there has been through some serious shit right up until the late 1990s from wars to genocides. "Out there"? I'm going to presume that the wars and genocide you're talking about was the former Yugoslavia, as not many places fit the bill unless you go looking much further away, in which case Estonia is almost as far from there as it is from the UK (driving distance can go either wa…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_Revolution ?

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#99

Post by jacquesm »

vidarh wrote: post #95
sudowhodoido wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see a lot of that across Europe. I've been dying to do a road trip out that way (from the UK) but it's difficult with three children. Everyone I've met and spoken to out there has been through some serious shit right up until the late 1990s from wars to genocides. They really are forward thinking because looking back hurts badly. It might sound cheesy but I have a lot of hope for Europe and most of it comes from th…

> Everyone I've met and spoken to out there has been through some serious shit right up until the late 1990s from wars to genocides. "Out there"? I'm going to presume that the wars and genocide you're talking about was the former Yugoslavia, as not many places fit the bill unless you go looking much further away, in which case Estonia is almost as far from there as it is from the UK (driving distance can go either wa…

Estonia suffered mass deportations under the Soviet regime, this has never been appropriately dealt with in terms of compensation or criminal trials and the Estonian people are still extremely conscious of this even though the actual crimes committed against Estonians are now long ago.

So I highly doubt Yugoslavia was the intended subject there.

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#100

Post by wiradikusuma »

agilebyte wrote: post #49
plainOldText wrote: post #27

I believe this has huge implications for someone who would want to operate a company from a business friendly country, as opposed to say a country where the individual is located physically but is otherwise corrupt or war ridden. My understanding is that this status allows you to form companies, open bank accounts and sign binding documents just like someone living in Estonia. And that is pretty impressive. Add crypt…

It is to use Estonia's digital services and does not give you residency. Nothing stops you opening a company in Estonia now, but that does not mean you would only pay corporation taxes there (they are at 10% when distributed as dividends), your physical location plays a role too.

Can you work for your own Estonian company, given that you're non-resident? (You can start your own US company, even remotely, but you can't work for it, unless you have Working Visa)
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