Estonia lowered its nomad visa funds bar to EUR 3,960 in January

Estonia’s digital nomad visa, which the Aliens Act calls a visa for teleworking, now requires funds of EUR 132 for each day the applicant will spend in the country, or EUR 3,960 for a 30-day month. The rate changed on 1 January 2026. Two pages of the state’s e-Residency programme still show EUR 4,500, the figure the formula gave in 2025.

Why there are two numbers

Minister of the Interior Regulation No 82 sets the rate of “sufficient funds” for a teleworking visa at 0.60 times the subsistence level for each day spent in Estonia. From 1 January 2023 the multiplier was 0.75; an amendment published in April 2025 lowered it from 1 January 2026.

Each year’s State Budget Act sets the subsistence level: EUR 200 a month in 2025 and EUR 220 in 2026. That gives EUR 150 a day in 2025 (0.75 times 200), or EUR 4,500 for 30 days, and EUR 132 a day in 2026 (0.60 times 220), or EUR 3,960 for 30 days.

The foreign ministry’s table lists the teleworking visa at EUR 132 a day, or EUR 3,960 a month. Its February 2026 document list calls EUR 3,960 the “monthly income threshold”, while the regulation speaks of a rate of funds per day spent in Estonia.

The e-Residency FAQ, dated 11 March 2026, still gives EUR 150 a day, or EUR 4,500 for 30 days, and calls the amount gross of tax. The programme’s landing page gives EUR 4,500 as a net monthly minimum.

Applicants must also document legal income for the six months before applying, showing its amount, regularity and sources.

Who qualifies

Under the Aliens Act, a location-independent worker is a person whose work does not depend on location and who uses telecommunications technology to do it remotely.

The person must continue in one of three ways: working for an employer registered abroad under a contract; doing business for a company registered abroad in which the person holds a stake; or providing services mainly to clients based abroad under a contract.

A spouse or registered partner, a minor child and an adult child unable to cope independently because of health or disability may receive a visa on the same conditions. The funds rate is not applied to them, and the foreign ministry’s table shows “not applicable” for spouse and child.

One year, then a new application

The Act allows a short-stay or a long-stay visa for teleworking. A long-stay visa is valid for up to 12 months and allows up to 365 days of stay within 12 consecutive months, with travel elsewhere in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in 180.

As a rule the period of stay is not extended. An exception of up to 90 days applies where a circumstance arose that the holder did not know of before arriving, or a new one arose after the visa was issued and the holder arrived.

Under the Act, total stay on long-stay visas may not exceed 548 days within 730 consecutive days. According to the e-Residency FAQ, a second visa means a new application.

The FAQ also says the visa gives no right to obtain permanent residence or citizenship. e-Residency, a government-issued digital identity, carries no right of residence or travel and does not simplify the visa application.

Filing from Vietnam

Vietnam appears on the foreign ministry’s visa-free list only for diplomatic passports. This means holders of ordinary passports need a visa. France represents Estonia in Vietnam, but only for short-stay Schengen visas.

A long-stay visa is applied for in person at an Estonian mission that handles visas in the applicant’s country of residence. Where there is none, the application goes to a mission accredited to that country or to the nearest one that issues visas.

The Estonian embassy in Singapore states that it processes long-term visas, including for digital nomads; the embassy in Beijing also handles long-term applications, by appointment. A mission accepts an application no earlier than six months before the desired start date of the visa.

A person already staying in Estonia on a ground listed in the Aliens Act, such as a visa, may apply at an office of the Police and Border Guard Board. The regulation requires the application to be filed at least 30 days, and no earlier than two months, before the stay ends.

The deciding authority has 30 days from accepting the application for processing, and may extend that by up to 30 days for good reason. The foreign ministry’s page lists a fee of EUR 120, or EUR 60 for children aged 6 to 11.

Documents and the Apostille

Foreign public documents must be legalised or certified with an apostille and translated into Estonian or English. The list of proof for a teleworking visa includes the applicant’s written explanation, the employer’s written confirmation, a contract, and a certificate from the competent authority of the applicant’s country of location on payment of mandatory taxes or social-insurance contributions.

For a company, the list adds a registry certificate and a statement on payments and on the absence of tax arrears. Separately, the regulation requires documents showing that the applicant, or a company in which the applicant holds a stake, has no tax debt in the applicant’s country of residence or the company’s country of location.

The regulation dropped its requirement for a description of study and work history on 1 January 2026, but the Police and Border Guard Board’s long-term visa page, which carries no date, and the e-Residency FAQ still ask for one.

Vietnam’s accession to the Apostille Convention took effect on 11 September 2026. Three states objected: Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Estonia is not among them.

Vietnam’s Decree 293/2026 says the Convention has no effect between Vietnam and a state that objected. This indicates that the Convention applies between Vietnam and Estonia.

The foreign ministry’s legalisation page, last updated on 11 February 2026, still lists Vietnam among the countries whose documents need additional legalisation at the Vietnamese embassy in Helsinki before they reach the ministry. No Estonian page read mentions Vietnam’s accession.

Tax residence from 183 days

Under the Income Tax Act, a person who stays in Estonia at least 183 days within 12 consecutive calendar months is a resident from the day of arrival and pays income tax on income received in Estonia and abroad. The Tax and Customs Board states the same residency rule.

Vietnam and Estonia signed a double taxation agreement on 26 September 2015, and it has been in force since 14 November 2016, according to the General Department of Taxation.

The Tax and Customs Board adds that where residency under a tax treaty differs from residency under Estonian law, the treaty applies. To use a treaty’s rule against double residency, a person must submit a certificate of tax residency confirmed by the foreign tax authority.

What this article has not established

Which Estonian mission currently serves applicants resident in Vietnam was not confirmed by a current official page. The Vietnamese bodies that issue the required tax and no-arrears certificates were not established.

Whether Estonian posts already accept Vietnamese apostilles in practice was not checked. The content of the tax treaty’s residence and employment articles, and the Vietnamese tax treatment of a citizen who spends most of a year in Estonia, were not researched.