Employee Relocation to Estonia

Updated on Friday 23rd June 2023

Rate this article

based on 1 reviews.

You can consider relocating employees to Estonia as a foreign company but is important to know that the process is different, depending on your business’s country of origin. Our immigration lawyers in Estonia will provide an overview of the fundamental steps involved in each immigration scenario and other important facts related to personnel relocation.

Regulations regarding personnel relocation in Estonia

According to the Working Conditions of Employees Posted to Estonia Act (WCEPEA), an "employee posted to Estonia" refers to a person who usually works in a European Union country, a European Economic Area country, or Switzerland. This person has an employment contract and is sent by their employer to work in Estonia for a specific amount of time in order to provide a service. In the case of posted workers from non-EU countries, they must have a legal basis for their arrival and temporary stay in Estonia.

Employee relocation in Estonia can happen in various scenarios, such as when a company hires another company from a different country to provide services in Estonia, or when an employee is sent from a parent company to a subsidiary in Estonia. Additionally, temporary agency workers can also be posted to work in Estonia.

You can contact our law firm in Estonia for more details regarding the legal requirements and situations under which employees may be sent to work in the country. We can also explain more about the employment laws in Estonia.

Relocating employees from a non-EU country

When relocating personnel to Estonia, you must first check the list from The Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the countries whose citizens are exempt from the visa requirement.

The first step is registering your employee's short-term employment, which serves as proof of future employment in Estonia. Next, the employee must apply for a long-stay D-visa in person at an Estonian Embassy. This visa will grant him/her permission to work legally in the country.

It is very important that your relocated employee in Estonia applies for a temporary residence permit in person at the Police and Border Guard Board within his/her first month in the country. Afterward, he/she must have permanent accommodation and register the address within about 30 days. After the residence address is registered, your employee will need to register the tax residency in Estonia.

Employees with countries of origin from The Ministry of Foreign Affairs list do not need a visa but still need the short-term employment registration, a temporary residence permit, address registration, and tax residency declaration.

Note that these visas do not grant the employees full citizenship in Estonia. Although this process might seem complicated, our attorneys in Estonia can help your employee obtain this working visa.

Relocating employees from an EU country

Relocating personnel to Estonia with citizenship from an EU country is more straightforward. Upon arrival in the country, the employee can start living and working in Estonia without the need for additional paperwork.

However, if the employee must stay in the country for more than three months, there are a few additional steps in the relocation process that our immigration lawyers in Estonia can assist you with:

The Estonian ID code;
Address registration;
Estonian ID card;
Tax registration.

Please contact our Estonian law firm for relocating EU employees to the country.

Employee relocation to Estonia is a great idea for many companies and a good opportunity for their employees, especially considering these facts about the country’s workforce:

Approximately 703,000 persons were registered employees in Estonia in the first quarter of 2023;
In 2021, 2,69% of employees were working in the agricultural sector, 29,05% in the industrial sector, and 68,26% in the service sector;
Approximately 25% of the IT employees in Estonia were foreigners, in 2020.

For all matters related to immigration, visas and personnel relocation in Estonia, we encourage you to contact our Estonian law firm.