There are already 10,000 e-residents in Estonia
The digital future is getting closer. However, so far only for Estonia.
Photo: TausP / Flickr
In October 2014, Estonia announced a new initiative - the introduction of the status of "electronic resident" for foreigners. E-residence does not give real citizenship, but at the same time a foreigner gets many other opportunities, including opening an account in an Estonian bank, registering a company plus an electronic signature to verify their documents anywhere in the world.
After passing the identification procedure (with the provision of biometric data), the applicant receives an official document: an Estonian ID-card with an electronic chip, replacing the usual signature. The initiative turned out to be in demand, and now in a small state with a population of just over a million people, there are more than 10,000 “electronic residents”. By 2025, Estonia hopes to increase this number to 10 million.
The government of the country is quite achieved results. “Estonia is the first country in the world where it is possible to open a geologically independent online business,” said Katre Kasmel, spokeswoman for the e-residency program.
10,000 participants in this program are citizens of 129 countries, and about 20% are residents of Finland. Slightly less "residents" from the United States and Ukraine. Since 2014, e-residents have become owners of about 1,155 companies (of which 560 are newly opened). Naturally, the growth of e-business in the country has a positive effect on its economy.
And the popularity of the initiative is explained simply - an e-resident can register a new company in just a day without entering the country (in fact, much less, the record for registering a new legal entity is the procedure that took just 18 minutes). Plus, such a company pays 0% of income tax. As stated in the program, the electronic resident receives the following benefits:
Starting this fall, the country's government will try to introduce another innovation - to enable e-residents to open bank accounts without visiting a bank. The corresponding bill has already entered the Estonian Parliament.
Now Estonia is gradually turning into a real digital state, and every year the transformations in this area are becoming more and more noticeable. A nice feature is that the country does not spend hundreds of millions of dollars on all these transformations, like many states, and the effect is much more impressive.
Details on the rights and obligations of e-residents can be found here .
A list and contact information of all service points in Estonia can be found here.. Plus, an application for an e-residence can be made in your own country by visiting the Estonian consulate.
Photo: TausP / Flickr
In October 2014, Estonia announced a new initiative - the introduction of the status of "electronic resident" for foreigners. E-residence does not give real citizenship, but at the same time a foreigner gets many other opportunities, including opening an account in an Estonian bank, registering a company plus an electronic signature to verify their documents anywhere in the world.
After passing the identification procedure (with the provision of biometric data), the applicant receives an official document: an Estonian ID-card with an electronic chip, replacing the usual signature. The initiative turned out to be in demand, and now in a small state with a population of just over a million people, there are more than 10,000 “electronic residents”. By 2025, Estonia hopes to increase this number to 10 million.
The government of the country is quite achieved results. “Estonia is the first country in the world where it is possible to open a geologically independent online business,” said Katre Kasmel, spokeswoman for the e-residency program.
10,000 participants in this program are citizens of 129 countries, and about 20% are residents of Finland. Slightly less "residents" from the United States and Ukraine. Since 2014, e-residents have become owners of about 1,155 companies (of which 560 are newly opened). Naturally, the growth of e-business in the country has a positive effect on its economy.
And the popularity of the initiative is explained simply - an e-resident can register a new company in just a day without entering the country (in fact, much less, the record for registering a new legal entity is the procedure that took just 18 minutes). Plus, such a company pays 0% of income tax. As stated in the program, the electronic resident receives the following benefits:
- company registration in one day;
- low cost for starting and running a business;
- 0% income tax means the ability to have more funds for reinvestment;
- low bureaucracy and transparent taxation;
- a company operating under EU law;
Starting this fall, the country's government will try to introduce another innovation - to enable e-residents to open bank accounts without visiting a bank. The corresponding bill has already entered the Estonian Parliament.
Now Estonia is gradually turning into a real digital state, and every year the transformations in this area are becoming more and more noticeable. A nice feature is that the country does not spend hundreds of millions of dollars on all these transformations, like many states, and the effect is much more impressive.
Details on the rights and obligations of e-residents can be found here .
A list and contact information of all service points in Estonia can be found here.. Plus, an application for an e-residence can be made in your own country by visiting the Estonian consulate.