How can a digital nomad visa lead to a temporary residence permit in Estonia?

Our digital nomad visa has been gaining popularity and people also ask more and more about options how to continue living permanently in Estonia. So can you go from a 1 year digital nomad visa to a residence permit?

The answer is yes and we have advised a number of clients in the process. As always, it might not work in every case but here are the main things to consider.

The best basis for this kind a transformation would be to be employed by your own company. For easy company creation you could also apply for e-residency (supplementing a long-term visa with an e-residency card is recommended anyway).

The next step would be to start transferring your business activities under the Estonian company - meaning that the income you receive should be going to your Estonian company. This would create an employer for yourself (this is not the same as self-employment).

Once you can show your Estonian company is making a steady income and can pay the required salary, you could employ yourself and apply for a residence permit based on employment. There are no fixed rules but once the company has about 3 months of activity an application for a residence permit can be made.

The required salary is the average Estonian salary (yearly), published here:

https://stat.ee/en/find-statistics/statistics-theme/work-life/wages-and-salaries-and-labour-costs/average-monthly-gross-wages-and-salaries

if you have any questions, send as an email: ingmar@expatlegalestonia.com