Estonia Startup Visa

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to set up a company in Europe, or an Estonian employer looking to attract the top employees from outside the EU, you may have heard about the Estonia startup visa. Created in 2017 with the goal of attracting the best and the brightest to Estonia, a small country on the Baltic Sea, the startup visa offers eligible applicants the chance to spend over 12 months in the Estonian capital Tallinn (or anywhere in the country) at a startup while contributing to the local and national economy. For employers, the Estonia startup visa is a way to attract the fresh young talent essential to a successful startup’s creation and ongoing development. For employees, the startup visa can be a gateway to Estonia immigration for those with the ultimate goal of applying for Estonian citizenship. Read on to learn all about the background of this interesting initiative, familiarize yourself with the start-up visa terms and conditions, and decide whether it’s right for you or your company!

Why Estonia?

• A small, rapidly diversifying startup hub on the Baltic sea, the tiny country of Estonia is rapidly becoming a center for entrepreneurship and innovation.
• Safe, highly developed, and with low living costs, Estonia offers a dynamic environment for employers looking to start and develop a business and employees seeking valuable and fulfilling employment. 

What is the Estonia startup visa?

• The Estonia startup visa is available to eligible entrepreneurs from outside the EU who are willing to relocate to Estonia in order to start a business or work at an extant Estonian start up firm. 
• You can apply for the visa yourself, as a foreign visa founder (i.e. someone who is attempting to come from outside the EU to start a business in Estonia), or you can apply as an Estonian employer (i.e. an Estonian who has a startup and is looking to bring someone from outside the EU to work at it). 
• Startup visas are available in two periods of stay: 3 months (short term) or 1 year (long-term), with the opportunity to extend it for an additional 183 days. 
• For example, if you have spent 12 months in the Estonian capital Tallinn and want to stay longer, you can apply to extend your startup visa, for a total visa-duration of 18 months.
• In return for starting up or working at a business in Estonia, startup visa holders are able to legally remain employed in the country and also have access to the surrounding EU and Schengen area.   
• The startup visa therefore provides individuals who do not have visa-free access to the Schengen area with the opportunity to travel and reside in Europe on a more stable basis. 
• After their 18 months are up, startup visa holders may seek to pursue a more permanent form of Estonia immigration, such as residency, which could ultimately lead to them applying for Estonian citizenship.

Startup visa program

• The startup visa program is a way for Estonia to attract vibrant young talent who might otherwise not consider relocating to the country, or who might face barriers to general European immigration due to their nationality.
• Estonia is happy to welcome bright, industrious individuals to the country via the startup visa, and supports the initiative with the ultimate goal of enriching the Estonian economy and maintaining and expanding the small country’s identity as a European hub for business, tech, and other forms of innovation. 

Start-up visa conditions

• For visa founders seeking startup visa eligibility, a company must satisfy the following start-up visa conditions: 
  • Be an innovative tech-based business with growth potential. 
  • Is approved by the Official Estonian Startup Committee (which must certify that your business indeed qualifies as a startup under the terms of the program). 
• Estonia start-up visa terms for startup visa holders include the requirement that they spend a minimum of €160 EUR per month while in the country. Therefore, in order for your startup visa application to be approved, you must demonstrate that you possess (or are capable of possessing) a minimum of €1920 EUR (a year’s worth of monthly “payments”). 

Startup visa vs. Schengen visa

• Please note that the Estonian startup visa is not a Schengen visa. 
• There are a number of differences between the Estonian start up and the Schengen visa. 
• First and most fundamentally, the Estonian start up is a national visa which is offered exclusively by the Estonian government. When you apply for the Estonian visa, you are applying to Estonia, through an Estonian consulate/embassy. Additionally, at a minimum duration of 365 days, the Estonian startup is a long stay (Type-D) visa. 
• In contrast, the Schengen visa is offered by all 26 countries in the Schengen area. You can therefore apply for a Schengen visa to any of the 26 Schengen countries, and your Schengen visa is valid for entry to the entire Schengen area. Finally, Schengen visa holders are limited to up to 90 days in the Schengen area; a significantly less amount of time than that available to those on a long-term Estonian startup visa.  
• If you are looking to start a company in Estonia, you could apply for a business Schengen visa to Estonia, which would give you 90 days in the country, without the opportunity to extend.

Estonian start-up visa fees

• Estonian start-up visa fees are €80 EUR per application, the same price as a basic Schengen visa. 

Estonian startups

• Although it’s just getting started, the Estonian startup ecosystem is already rich, diverse, and growing: there are 1000 startups currently operating in Estonia. 
• TransferWise, Bolt, and Pipedrive are just three popular Estonian startups that continue to benefit from the startup visa program. 
• In addition to the 1000 current startups based in Estonia, there are a number of companies that began as startups that are now over 10 years old. Now called “matured startups,” they include companies like Skype, one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. Skype was launched in Estonia and is grounded in software developed by four young Estonians. Today, the majority of Skype employees still live and work in Estonia.