Stockholm

When settling permanently abroad, Estonian citizens are obliged, according to the Population Register Act, to submit to the Estonian Population Register their own and their minor children’s and wards’ foreign residence data within one month.

The purpose of registering a place of residence is to inform the Population Register of address data in a foreign country, which allows ensuring the protection of Estonian citizens’ rights in that country based on the population register data. If your address has already been registered in a foreign country, but has changed due to moving abroad, you must also notify the Estonian Population Register of the change in your address, because foreign address data does not automatically reach the Estonian Population Register.

Address data of residence has legal significance in elections to the Riigikogu, the European Parliament and local government councils, referendums (census of population) and public inquiries, payment of taxes to the local government budget on the basis of tax laws, social benefits and in the performance of a public task if the performance of this task is related to residence.

Under certain conditions, Estonian Health Insurance Fund (Haigekassa) insurance is maintained, e.g for students studying abroad. Therefore, we recommend that students contact the Estonian Health Insurance Fund before changing their place of residence to find out more detailed conditions for obtaining insurance.

For registering or changing your residence address, there are two main options:

If the person has Estonian ID-card and PIN-codes or smart ID, you can register your residence independently in the self service portal of e-population register.

If you do not have the possibility to use self service portal, you can submit the application for registering residence address abroad at the embassy. The application can be submitted in person to the embassy or sending the original signed form to the embassy by post. If sent by post, a copy of the ID card or the personal data page of the passport must be attached. The consul forwards the residence data of an Estonian citizen to the Estonian population register.