Ten days after I applied for e-residency in Estonia, I tonight received a message from the Estonian police and border guard that my e-residency has been granted. That is much quicker than I had expected. So now I will be waiting to hear when my Estonian ID card has arrived at the embassy in The Hague, so I can pick it up!
The e-mail saying e-residency has been granted
See my earlier posting “I applied for Estonian e-residency” for more info on why it is important, what it is, and how it works.
One bug in the Estonian e-residency system is that in places like Canada, which are significantly larger than the Netherlands, one must travel to Ottawa – at 24 hour drive from we here in Prince Edward Island on the east coast – to do what you’re able to do handy-by (relatively speaking) in The Hague.
I’m sure they’ll sort this out eventually, perhaps via the Honorary Consuls (http://www.estemb.ca/honorary_consuls) who are more distributed across Canada.
Indeed Peter, I can see how traveling to Ottawa is a major (time) cost, unlike for me where I likely will combine picking up my ID at the embassy with a regular/scheduled visit to contacts and clients in The Hague.
From what I’ve read it is not likely they will start using the network of honorary consulates for it, as they still need to formally establish your identity when you come to pick up the e-residency card. But essentially it is not much different than arranging for a visa for a country (although that usually takes 2 visits). Of course Ottawa still beats going to Estonia itself in terms of travel.
But then again, why not join their e-residency hacking sessions (next one is planned for next month) in Tallinn, and then apply beforehand and pick up your card at the border police while you’re there? Or have the ID card sent to the embassy in another place that is easier to visit or you already plan visiting. It does not need to be the Estonian embassy in Canada. Could be NYC, could be CPH or Berlin, or Tokio even, if you already plan going there. Iceland is not yet on the list I saw, but they do plan to extend the list of embassies where they can send your ID. My suggestion would be to make it coincide with your next planned trip to Europe and then visit the embassy of your choice.
[…] of lots of interest, so it may take a month to get processed. [UPDATE]: I received a message my application has been granted 10 days after submitting […]