All residents of Estonia must ensure that their residence data in the population register is correct. Registration of residence means adding the data on the residence of a person to the population register. You must submit your information to the population register after relocating to a new residence, discovering incorrect information in the population register or if it has no information about your residence.
A notice of residence can be submitted to the official who is handling the population register (registrar) at the local government (the city district government in Tallinn) when:
- the population register does not have your residence data;
- you relocate within Estonia;
- you move abroad;
- you move back to Estonia from abroad.
If you use several residences as permanent residences, you must select the address of one of these at your own discretion to be added to the population register and also add your contact details (phone number, e-mail address). Other permanent addresses can be added as additional addresses.
When living abroad, you can inform an Estonian foreign mission about the changes in your residence data.
Submitting a notice of residence
A notice of residence can be submitted:
- in the e-population register (you must log in with your ID-card, Mobile-ID or Smart-ID). You can check the residence data that has been submitted by you to the e-population register and its status in the same portal;
- at the rural municipality or city government/in Tallinn, to the district government in person;
- by post to the local government by adding a copy of the personal data page of the identity document;
- by e-mail to the local government by signing the notice digitally.
A printable form of the notice of residence; can be filled in electronically is available on the homepage of the Ministry of the Interior.
The notice of residence is used for submitting the precise and complete address of a single residence. Persons living at the same address can submit a joint notice of residence. Information about minor children must be included in the notice. After a notice of residence has been submitted, the new address is registered as the residence and the previous registration is removed automatically without any additional steps required.
The effective date of your residence data is the date on which the city or rural municipality government receives the notice of residence.
The consent of the other parent with right of custody must be submitted when registering the residence of a minor child. The consent of the other parent is a document written in a freely selected format and signed, or alternatively, it is given by co-signing the notice of residence.
If you are not the owner of the premises indicated in the notice of residence, you must add a copy of the document proving the right to use the premises to the notice of residence (such as a tenancy contract) or the authorisation of the owner (a signed prepared in a freely selected format or as the signature of the owner on the notice of residence). The owner’s consent/tenancy contract is not required if the information about your residence abroad is entered into the population register.
In order to add an address of premises held in common ownership to the population register, the consent of all persons with a share in the common ownership or their representatives must be added to the notice of residence by the person who submits the notice, unless the common ownership agreement of the premises stipulates otherwise.
The city or rural municipality government checks the compliance of the notice of residence within 10 working days from receiving the notice. If the notice is compliant with the requirements and there is no basis for a refusal to enter the residence data, the city or rural municipality government adds the residential address to the population register.
Citizen of a member state of the European Union
Citizens of the European Union, a member state of the European Economic Area, and the Swiss Confederation (hereinafter ‘EU citizens’) are entitled to stay in Estonia based on a valid travel document or an identity card for a maximum of 3 months without registering their residence. A family member of an EU citizen has a right to stay in Estonia for up to 3 months together with the EU citizen. The family member must have a valid travel document and if necessary, a visa.
After 3 months at the latest, the EU citizen must register their residence in the population register to be granted right of residence. For this, a notice of residence must be submitted to the rural municipality or city government/in Tallinn, to the district government. When relocating to Estonia for the first time, a personal identification code for an EU citizen must first be created for an EU citizen. The individual must go in person to the local city or rural municipality government office for this. The application for registering your residence can be submitted together with the application for a personal identification code. If the EU citizen already has an Estonian personal identification code (for example, they have had prior dealings with Estonia), the application for registering the residential address can be mailed to the city or rural municipality government.
In addition, the residential address can also be registered in the e-population register; however, this would require having an Estonian identity card. An EU citizen must apply for an identity card immediately after registering their residence in Estonia. Therefore, a residential address cannot be registered online, as a rule, when relocating to Estonia for the first time.
Within a month from registering the residential address, an application for an Estonian identity card must be submitted to the Police and Border Guard Board, proving the right of residence for a specified term. There is no obligation to carry a valid identity card or a passport or some other personal identification document, but having one is obligatory and it must be presented upon the request of the authorities.
A family member of an EU citizen must apply for the right of residence at a Police and Border Guard service office or the foreign mission of Estonia when applying for it abroad. In order to prove familial connections, a certificate (such as a birth certificate, marriage certificate) issued by a competent foreign authority, a statement from the population register or a court judgement with documentation must be presented. The documents must be translated into Estonian, Russian or English. After receiving the right of residence, the family member of an EU citizen must register their residence at the rural municipality or city government/in Tallinn, to the district government within one month from receiving the right of residence.
An EU citizen is not required to submit evidence of sufficient financial means or a family member of an EU citizen of economic dependency to receive an Estonian right of residence and register the residential address in Estonia.
If it is discovered that an EU citizen has neglected to register their residential address, they are notified of this fact.
When registering a residential address, a residence registration certificate (a statement from the population register) is issued to the individual upon request. The certificate is issued without a term and a copy can be requested again at any time from the rural municipality or city government/in Tallinn, to the district government if necessary.
When relocating to a foreign country, your residence data in the foreign country must be submitted to the local government of your last residence in Estonia within one month. The notice of residence with the new residential address must be submitted to the rural municipality or city government of your residence in Estonia in person, by mail or through the e-population register. The latter option is only available if the individual has a valid Estonian ID card with valid certificates, Smart-ID, or Mobile-ID. The information should be updated before leaving Estonia. If an EU citizen already knows the time that they are going to leave Estonia when moving to Estonia, they can add the date of leaving and the country of the future residence to the notice of residence when they move to Estonia.
Entering additional addresses in the population register
If you use several residences permanently, you must select one which is going to be entered as the residential address with legal effect (main residence) to the population register. Other residences can be submitted to the population register as additional addresses.
Additional addresses can be submitted:
- in the e-population register in ‘My data’ section;
- on a notice of residence by adding the additional addresses besides the address of the main residence;
- as a signed application to the rural municipality or city government/in Tallinn, to the district government.
Persons registered at my premises and terminating their registration
If you as an owner of a dwelling do not know whether persons who do not really live on the premises have registered it as their residence, you can check it in the e-population register in the ‘List of persons registered in a dwelling for the owner of the dwelling’ and ‘Termination of residential address by the owner’ sections (you must log in with an ID-card, Mobile-ID, or Smart-ID) or request for this information from the local government.
If a person has registered a dwelling belonging to the owner as their residence in the population register and the person registered at the residence does not live there and does not have a right to use the premises, the owner has a right to terminate the residential address of the person registered at the premises, i.e. submit an application to terminate the respective residential address in the population register. This application can be submitted to the local government through the e-population register in the sections ‘List of persons registered in a dwelling for the owner of the dwelling’ and ‘Termination of residential address by the owner’, in person at the local government or by mailing a written application or e-mailing a digitally signed application. In the application, the owner must confirm by signature that the person in question does not have a right to use the premises of the owner as a residence and the person does not live on the premises of the owner.
The local government informs the resident about the application of the owner of the premises. If necessary, a notice is published in the Ametlikud Teadaanded. The request of the owner is not granted if the person proves with documentary evidence that they have a right to use the dwelling within one month of receiving the notification or the notice being published in the Ametlikud Teadaanded.
Population register
Population register is a single data collection of the essential personal data of Estonian citizens and foreign nationals living in Estonia based on a right of residence or a residence permit, which is administered and developed by the Ministry of the Interior.
You have access to the data in the population register in case of justified interest. The information in the population register is constantly updated when registering life events or issuing documents by the state and local government institutions.
You have a right to see your data in the population register. Parents or guardians have the right to check the information of a minor child and the guardians can access the data of an adult with restricted active legal capacity. Access to data is granted by the local government or the authorised data processor of the registry data and the Centre for Information Technology and Development of the Ministry of the Interior (SMIT) based on an application.
In addition, you can check your data in this portal by logging in (with an ID-card, Mobile-ID or through your internet bank) and selecting the service Me and my children. When discovering an error in the data, you can submit a notification through the e-population register.
You can update and submit the following data in the e-population register: testimony-based data (nationality, mother tongue, the highest level of education attained), additional address (when living at several addresses simultaneously), contact details (e-mail and phone number), and the foreign personal identification code (if available). The submitted data is automatically added to the population register.
Forms
Related articles
References
- About residence procedures (Ministry of the Interior)
- About Population Register (Ministry of the Interior)
- Rights of residence (Police and Border Guard Board)
Services
- Changing my data in e-Population Registry
- Query of own data and underage children (Population Register)
- Residents in my dwelling and terminating residential addresses (e-Population Registry)
- Submitting a notice of residence in e-Population Registry