Estonia confirms 2027 mobile e-Residency rollout and flat €165 state fee
Estonia has confirmed that its mobile, cardless e-Residency rollout will begin in 2027, with a flat €165 state fee taking effect on 1 January 2027. The Estonian government has awarded the smartphone biometric collection contract to Latvian identity-tech provider X Infotech. From 2027, applicants will be able to submit their facial image and fingerprints remotely via a smartphone app rather than attending a pickup point to collect a physical e-Residency card.
The €165 flat fee replaces the current variable pricing tied to pickup location and card issuance. The change also unifies the cost structure across all applicants regardless of their country of residence.
Why this matters
For European remote workers and digital nomads who use e-Residency to run an Estonian OÜ, the 2027 rollout removes one of the longest-standing friction points of the programme: the need to travel to an embassy, consulate or pickup point to receive the physical card. For applicants from countries without an Estonian pickup point – much of Latin America, parts of Southeast Asia, large stretches of Africa – this was a meaningful barrier to using the programme at all. A smartphone-based biometric flow widens the addressable population by orders of magnitude.
The flat fee also makes total cost-of-ownership easier to model for solopreneurs evaluating Estonia against alternatives like Spanish autonomo, Portuguese NHR (in its narrower 2026 form), or UK limited-company setups. Knowing the upfront state fee is €165 – not “between €120 and €290 depending on where you collect” – is a small but real planning improvement.
Context
Estonia’s e-Residency programme has steadily added remote-friendly features since 2024, including new digital-signature options and broader cross-border banking partnerships. The 2027 mobile rollout is the most significant infrastructure upgrade since launch and brings the programme closer to what its founders originally envisaged: a fully online state-membership product, not a physical-card product.