At a representation of the Republic of Estonia
As a general rule an applicant should submit his/her application for a temporary residence permit at a foreign mission of the Republic of Estonia.

At a service unit
The following persons may apply for a temporary residence permit at a service unit of the Citizenship and Migration Bureau of the Prefecture:

• Estonians, their wives/husbands and minor children;
• Estonian citizens' wives/husbands and minor children; 
• aliens who have long-term residence permits in another EU member state and who apply for a temporary residence permit for employment, business or studies, and the aliens' spouses and minor children who hold a residence permit in an EU member state if the family has been founded in the member state which gave the alien a long-term residence permit; 
• children under one year of age descending from aliens who reside in Estonia on the basis of a residence permit; 
• aliens for activities in the framework of an international program of co-operation involving agencies with state or local government participation; 
• aliens who stay in Estonia on the basis of a temporary residence permit and apply for a new temporary residence permit
• aliens to whom the Police and Border Guard Board has granted such permission as an exception on the condition that they are unable to apply for a residence permit at a representation of Estonia for good reason; 
• aliens to whom the Minister of Internal Affairs has, on the basis of a reasoned proposal of a member of the Government of the Republic, granted permission therefor on the grounds that their entry into Estonia is necessary in the public interest; 
• aliens who are citizens of a state with whom Estonia has entered into an agreement for visa-free travel or whose citizens are relieved of the visa requirement, and the spouses and minor children of the specified aliens; 
• citizens of the United States of America or Japan and their spouses and minor children; 
• aliens who settled in Estonia before 1 July 1990 and have not thereafter left Estonia to reside in another country and to whom issue of a residence permit or extension of a residence permit has not been refused or whose residence permit has not been revoked;
• aliens, whose long-term residence permit has been revoked due to the reason that he or she has submitted false data or used fraud for receipt of long-term residence permit, within two months from revocation of long-term residence permit;
• aliens, who are staying legally in Estonia, if he or she applies for residence permit for study in Master’s study or Doctor’s study based on officially certified study programme.
• an alien, who is staying in Estonia legally, when he/she is applying for an EU blue card;
• an alien, who holds an EU blue card issued by another Member State of the European Union, who is applying for an EU blue card in Estonia;*
• a spouse of an alien holding an EU blue card issued by another Member State of the European Union, who holds a residence permit issued by another Member State of the EU for a family member holding an EU blue card, who is applying in Estonia for a residence permit to settle down with a spouse;*
• a close relative of an alien holding an EU blue card issued by another Member State of the European Union, who holds a residence permit issued by another Member State of the EU for a family member holding an EU blue card, who is applying in Estonia for a residence permit to settle down with a close relative*.

*The named person shall, at the latest one month after the date of his/her entrance into Estonia, apply for the EU blue card, residence permit for settling down with his/her spouse or residence permit for settling down with his/her close relative.

Stay of a spouse and a close relative of an alien holding an EU blue card issued by another Member State of the European Union and applying in Estonia for an European Union blue card is legal until the decision is made in respect of the application, if he/she holds a residence permit issued by another Member State of the European Union for a family member holding an European Union blue card and he/she is applying in Estonia for a residence permit to settle down with his/her spouse or a close relative with the purpose to settle down with an alien applying for an European Union blue card. 

An application for the extension of a temporary residence permit
An application for a temporary residence permit must be submitted two months before the expiry of the valid residence permit.

An application for a temporary residence permit must be submitted at the customer service of the Citizenship and Migration Bureau.

An application can be submitted by post, if:

• less than 2 years has passed from the last fingerprinting upon application for an identity document, a residence permit or a right of residence, and the finger, a figure of which has been entered into the valid document, has not changed, or
• upon the last application for an identity document, a residence permit or a right of residence the permanent impossibility for fingerprinting was established.

Postal address:

APPLICATION
Politsei- ja Piirivalveamet
Sõle 61a
10313 Tallinn

If an application is submitted by post copies of the required documents are sent to the Citizenship and Migration Bureau. If a copy of a document is added to an application the applicant must confirm, with his/her signature, on every page of the document,(which includes entries), that the copy corresponds fully to the original document. The name of the applicant and the date of the signature must be added to the signature.

When applying for a residence permit for a child aged from 6 to 15, as a rule, upon submission of the application the child must be present for fingerprinting.  A child under age of 6 need not be taken along to the service unit.