Estonia.
How Estonia sells residence for investors (golden visa): 1 residence programme, open today. Every number and rule below links to the document it comes from.
4 documents and articles behind this page, listed at the bottom.
Residence
Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later. Estonia: 1 residence programme, open today; 9 numbers, 14 prices and rules. Every country's residence programmes
All the numbers, sources and downloads for Estonia in the data portal →
- Status
- Lowest price for one person
- Golden visas issued
- Last change
Business residence permit
Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.
Official name: Elamisluba ettevõtluseks, sh suurinvestorile (Estonian temporary residence permit for enterprise, including for large investors)
The cheapest route is EUR 16,000 of capital invested by a sole proprietor (enterprise permit). That is an entrepreneur permit and requires running the business. A company shareholder needs EUR 65,000 (t-d58fbc6b83). The passive large-investor permit, the closest to a 'golden visa', needs EUR 1,000,000 (t-e74d31e3a1, from 18 Jan 2017). The main session may prefer the EUR 1m figure for comparability.
Notes from the research
Aliens Act: temporary residence permit for enterprise (EUR 65,000 invested in a company, or EUR 16,000 for a sole proprietor) and, from 18 Jan 2017, for large investors (EUR 1,000,000 directly invested in an Estonian company or fund, no obligation to live in Estonia). Permits up to 5 years, renewable. The Commission dates the Estonian investor scheme to 2009. Three large-investor permits were issued in 2017 (all to Russians). No official series found for later years.
The line follows the official figure for each period.
Prices and rules
What is measured
- Golden visas issued8
- Applications received1
What we know is missing
- No yearly figures at all for applications or money raised.
- The latest yearly figure is several years old: people let in (2017).
A gap means no figure is in our data: either it was never published or we haven't found or read it yet. Charts leave gaps open rather than drawing across them.
All the numbers we have for Estonia
9 numbers about Estonia's residence programmes. Pick a programme and what you want to see. Each dot is one number from one document; click anything to open its source.
What happened, and when
The 4 documents behind this page
- 2026-01 · Law or regulationAliens Act (Välismaalaste seadus), English translation, consolidated text in force 01.01.2026-21.05.2026 · Riigi Teataja (Estonian State Gazette)
- 2019-01 · European UnionCommission Staff Working Document accompanying the Report on Investor Citizenship and Residence Schemes in the European Union, SWD(2019) 5 final · European Commission
- 2018-10 · European UnionCitizenship by Investment (CBI) and Residency by Investment (RBI) schemes in the EU: State of play, issues and impacts (PE 627.128) · European Parliamentary Research Service (Ex-Post Evaluation Unit and European Added Value Unit)
- 2018-04 · NewsEstonia issues three large investor residence permits in 2017 · ERR News
Who buys passports and golden visas, what they cost, and what happens when governments change the rules. Written from this data, in the newsletter.