Estonia Offers E-Residency to Foreigners

By the end of the year, people living anywhere in the world will be able to become ‘digital citizens’ without entering the physical country. But what does this mean?

When Cathy Wang was stuck in Dubai without her Estonian ID card reader last summer, she tweeted a plea to expat Estonians in the Gulf city, in the hope of finding one she might be able to borrow.

In a sign of just how small and tight-knit the Estonian community is, the country’s tech-savvy president Toomas Hendrik Ilves retweeted the message himself.

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Cathy Wang’s tweet

Against the State: An ... Rockwell Jr., Llewelly... Best Price: $5.02 Buy New $5.52 (as of 11:35 UTC - Details) This was all so that Wang, a Canadian-Taiwanese user experience designer, could file her Estonian corporate taxes from the United Arab Emirates. As the owner of a business based in Tallinn at the time, the 32-year-old qualified for an Estonian ID card used to access everyday services online.

In an online world that is more connected that ever before, the tiny eastern European country Estonia – or E-stonia as it has been dubbed – has breaking geographical boundaries with online technology for years.

The ID card, issued to every Estonian at the age of 15, is supported via an IT platform called X-road and gives citizens access to around online 4,000 services – allowing them to manage their banking, register businesses, apply for child benefits, pay for parking tickets, and even check their medical records on their smart phones. It is used by 90% of residents, with about a third of Estonians using it to vote online.

Now, foreigners like Wang are set to gain extended access to some services with Talinn’s new initiative – e-residency – giving people across the world access to Estonia’s public and private online facilities.

The concept has been heralded as the first of its kind to bridge the “digital borders” of a country, giving “digital citizens” in other countries new rights in Estonia.

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