26.07.2019
Posted on Friday July 26th, 2019 by Ragnar Sepp
1 Comment

Start-up visa and life permit

Fast growing start-up industry of Estonia attracts people from over the World. They come to Estonia for a living, start working with start-up companies or launch their own projects. That is why the Visa and Life permits for startups started. Let’s look at the numbers.

In the first 6 months of 2019, there were 399 applications for the startup status. Out of them, 113 (28%) have been assessed as positive, meaning the founders and employees of these companies have been granted the right to apply for the Estonian Startup Visa and/or temporary residence permit (TRP).

In the first half of 2019 altogether 446 employees have been granted either a Visa or a TRP, in order to work in Estonia for startups. The total number of employees relocating in the whole 2018 was 483.

There are about 650 startups in the Estonian Startup Database and 130 startups of them are in Estonia with the help of the Startup Visa Programm.

The top sectors for these startups are:

      • AdTech & Creative Tech,
      • Business Software & HR,
      • CyberTech,
      • FinTech,
      • HealthTech,
      • Life Sciences & Wellness.

What’s even more exciting and promising are the finances and numbers behind these startups: in the first half of 2019, the relocated startups have hired 167 employees, paid € 698K in employment taxes and generated €6,3M in turnover.

Source: Startup Estonia