Estonian e-residents get their own portal
On May 13th 2015, the portal for applying for Estonian e-residency was launched at e-resident.gov.ee, which allows to send an application from anywhere in the world to join the Estonian digital identity program, Estonian Ministry of Economy announced, Äripäev.ee/LETA reports.
Estonia is the first country to offer e-residency — a transnational digital identity available to anyone in the world interested in administering a location-independent business online. Estonian e-residency additionally enables secure and convenient digital services that facilitate credibility and trust online, such as digitally sign documents and contracts, establish an Estonian company online within a day, administer the company from anywhere in the world, conduct e-banking and remote money transfers, declare Estonian taxes online etc.
The application can be fulfilled in ten minutes on the web. After the payment of the service fee and the completion of a background check, e-residents need only once to visit an Estonian representation or a police station to get the e-resident digital ID card. E-residents can collect their digital ID card in 34 countries where Estonia has an embassy or consulate or in a police service centre in Estonia. Application procedure lasts an average of one month.
There are currently more than 1,500 Estonian e-residents from 73 countries of the world who took part in the test period. More than a half of e-residents are from neighbouring countries: Finland (34%), Russia (15), Ukraine (6), Latvia (6) and the USA (3.5), followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, Lithuania and Italy.
More than 18,000 potential e-residents have subscribed to the programme’s information newsletter. E-residence does not give citizenship, tax residence, residence permit or entry permit to Estonia or the European Union. E-resident’s digital ID is not a physical identity or travel document and has not photos.
