is it time to renew your digital id?
Is your e-Residency digital identity card expiring soon? If so, it’s time to apply for a new card so that you can still access Estonia’s e-services. Read on for a step-by-step guide how to renew your card.
Why renew your digital ID?
Benefits of renewing
- Remain an e-resident and an important part of our growing digital community
- Log into Estonian government and private e-services and digitally sign documents
- Manage your Estonian company, submit annual reports, file taxes, and access your business bank account
Prepare in advance
Check obligations
Submit in advance
The steps to renewing your digital ID card
1
You will receive a reminder by email 3 months prior to the date of your document expiry from the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board.
2
Apply online. Choose the "Renewal applicant" option. Log in with your e-resident digital ID card, Smart-ID or email. The state fee to renew is €100-120.
Apply for a renewal3
Indicate in your application where you will pick up your digital ID card. Choose from over 40 pickup locations worldwide.
Find your nearest pickup location4
Collect your new card before your old card expires to keep accessing Estonian e-services.
Download Smart-ID for an interim solution
Why Smart-ID?
Renew your e-Residency
frequently asked questions
Submit your renewal application on the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board website. Select “Renewal applicant” as the application type.
While officially the renewal process can take about the same as a new application (up to 30 days), the Estonian Police and Border Guard are prioritising renewal applications and trying to process and issue them as quickly as possible. They estimate that the average processing time should only be about 10 days as long as your obligations as an e-resident entrepreneur are fulfilled. You can read more in our detailed blog article.
From March 2024, e-residents with a valid digital ID or SmartID can log into the application environment and renew their digital ID in a more streamlined way. Once you are logged in and you choose the renewal option, you will notice that some information in the renewal form will be pre-filled according to your original application. This should shorten the time it takes for you to fill in the form, and thus lower the burden of renewal for e-residents. If any of the pre-filled information is incorrect, you can still modify it during the application process.
If you cannot use your existing digital ID for a renewal, and you don’t have an active SmartID account, you will need to create a new account in the application environment using your email and proceed with the renewal process in the regular way.
The accounts created to apply for e-Residency are kept active within the Police & Border Guard Board system for 12 months. After 12 months, existing accounts are deleted to ensure data safety. If you have previously made an account to apply for e-Residency more than 12 months ago, and you do not have a valid digital ID or SmartID, you will have to create a new account to reapply. You can use the same email address to sign up as previously.
No. Your e-Residency digital ID is valid for five years and is not dependent on the validity of your identification document. Your identification document needs to be valid when submitting the application and when picking up the e-Residency digital ID.
Yes. If your data such as name or citizenship changes, you will need to apply for a new e-Residency digital ID. This will require you to pay the state fee again.
If you know your name will change in the near future we would advise to wait and apply once you have received a new identification document that displays your new name.