~To Be A Digital Nomad in Estonia or Not to Be
Estonia has grown to be one of the most world’s advanced digital societies that shout out loud to call the digital nomads from all over the world.
The Baltic country is the home of 70,000 plus digital nomads and is all set to add more to the list. So, when talking about why Estonia has grown to be this popular, we can narrow down our reasons to two basic ones.
One, Estonia was the first country to support the concept of digital nomads and e-residency. Secondly, it has everything that’s digitalized, which lets the digital nomads be the red X in the sea of white circles.
On top of this, Estonia is beautiful. It is the perfect blend of ancient history, natural beauty, and of course, it’s tech-savvy.
Running Remote in Estonia At A Glance
The Good
- Offers digital nomads innumerable amenities
- Owns a lot of natural beauty and countryside feel in Estonia’s core
- Allows digital nomads to travel to nearby EU states with digital nomads travel visas.
- Laid-back lifestyle
The Bad
- Very cold in winters.
- Turns congested in the warmer months and on the conference days.
- Furnished flats and private rooms costs are similar usually between 800-1500 dollars per month.
- Visa processing takes around 30 days.
Let’s Explore Estonia, Virtually
Estonia is located in northern Europe that too between Russia and Latvia. The country is divided into 15 ‘Maakonnad’ with the capital Talin.
Tartu is the cultural capital with its juxtaposition of classical and postmodern architecture and a myriad of abstract statutes. At the same time, Parnu owns a rocking beach hosting bonfire parties for the natives and the visitors.
Additionally, it’s also the home to giant boulders, meteorite craters, shale oil rocks, islands, and islets.
Estonia’s free-market economy is growing each year, and having said that; it has the magnetic power to call on the freelancers, digital nomads, and entrepreneurs to the place.
Can I work remotely from Estonia?
Estonia remained the center-talk in the news a couple of years back mostly because of their digital nomads’ friendly visa schemes and e-residency scheme. They were the first ones to launch the world’s first-ever digital nomad visa that lets you live at the place for a year or so with freedom.
Living is another thing, but when this is coupled with the freedom to travel to nearby EU countries for up to 90 days, it turns out to be a blessing over a blessing. But to work remotely from Estonia, you need to have a nomadic visa. Let’s figure out how you can earn it.
Estonia Digital Nomad Visa
So, the digital nomad visa allows any digital nomad who wants to live and work from Estonia for a period of one year.
This is something that needs focused attention because digital nomads have always been living in the gray area where they travel all over the world as tourists without earning a permanent work permit or a permanent residency. However, this is the beauty of the digital nomad work type.
A visa just legitimizes a nomad’s stay in a country legally, also allowing them to work from their laptops all over the world.
Such lifestyle types are adopted by more than tens of thousands of people from all over the world who are traveling all the way from country to country without bringing their financial goals to a halt.
Now, who actually qualifies for an Estonia nomad visa?
Anyone! Just anyone of you can apply from any of the countries as long as you fall in any of the three categories:
#1 – You’re a remote employee
It simply means, when submitting the documents for a nomad visa for Estonia, you need to submit the work contract that proves you as a remote employee, that also from a country that’s not Estonia.
#2 – You’re an entrepreneur or a shareholder in s business
Remember! Your company has to be based outside the premises of Estonia to win the nomadic visa.
#3 – You’re a freelancer or a self-employed person
Here you need to make sure that the clients you work with reside outside Estonia for most of the part in order to qualify for the visa win.
You cannot qualify for Estonia’s Digital Nomad Visa until…
Until you show proof of your financial solvency, officially, the monthly income threshold is €3504 (gross of tax) per month that makes up to 4000 US dollars which you need to prove by providing a six-month bank statement along with your application.
Here’s an additional caveat. You need to have health insurance done in order to earn the visa.
Here’s the most important talk – The Cost.
Oh gosh! It won’t cost you your kidneys because it’s pretty affordable. The long-stay D-visa costs 100€ while the short stay C-visa costs 80€.
Now, you can apply at your closest Estonian Embassy or a Consulate if Estonia is your next nomadic destination. Note, it will take around 30 days for approval.
Congratulations, Expats! Estonia is Ready to Own You
Estonia offers some super-cool digital nomad friendly features that are enumerated below:
- Wi-Fi & 4G LTE
Estonia offers free and opens the fastest internet. Also, this is further powered with 4G LTE services in the middle of the woods, where people usually head for camping. These camps are open 24/7, and anyhow, this service comes in a bit handy, letting nomads work up their remote scenes.
- Startup Culture
So, Estonia offers some pretty legitimate startup opening scenes, and apparently, it doesn’t take more than 15 minutes to open up your own company. E-residency in Estonia has further paved the path calling in more entrepreneurs from all over the world to empower the state with economic stability.
What’s crucial to note here is digital nomads can even launch their location-independent companies from this space, which is to this date set up a blueprint for other governments to follow.
- Nomad Travel Visa
This is pretty alluring. It helps digital nomads to live and work in Estonia for a period of one year and less while having the liberty to travel; to the Schengen and EU countries for 90 days. A lot of EU sp[ace states are interconnected, and you sometimes just need a ferry boat to meet the distance.
- Co-working Spaces
According to coworker.com, there are around 16 co-working spaces, most of which are found in Tallinn. You can even find a few of them in Tartu while some of them are there in the countryside. They too don’t cost a lot, usually between 60 to 250 euros per month. The rates vary according to your requirements, whether you’re just looking for a flex desk or a private office for your work.
- Cost of Living
Estonia for digital nomads is neither too cheap nor too expensive. Cumulatively, one can live easily while spending somewhere between two thousand to four thousand dollars per month.
As Estonia is not too big to accommodate a lot of population, you might find space rates going to skyrocket at certain times of the year. Such practice is usually seen in the warm month or on the days when Estonia serves to be a hotspot for conferences and events.
Unfortunately, you won’t find a lot of co-living places in the area, so you definitely need to look out for private rooms or apartments for you to live in.
- Yummy, The Food
Estonia has some really healthy offerings that usually consist of Scandinavian dishes. It usually includes seafood, fresh bread, vegetables, and dairy products. It is served with seasonal berries and craft beers. What’s interesting is Talin is even the hub to some yummiest pancakes, so don’t forget to taste it out.
Above all, a lot of cafes do offer Wi-Fi, so cafes are always in the limelight in Estonia.
- Night Life
So, the nightlife is pretty decent-handed, with a pub culture introducing serenity and comfort to your lives. That light music and those candles and dim lights always call on the goods from the far.
- No Language Barrier
There’s nothing that’s called a language barrier that exists at this place. Though primarily, the mother tongue of the Estonian language bur but all of the inhabitants are better able to communicate in English.
Estonia is the limelight destination for digital nomads
Estonia, the Baltic tiger, is safe. Roaming around on streets, traveling all alone in the parts of the space at night is never coupled with fear. All in all, traveling and staying in Estonia alone as a digital nomad won’t cost you fear and even a huge number of bucks.
Moreover, this place is fairly digitalized and owns a lot of future in the business market because of the known digital revolution.
How about adding this one to your wishlist?