Registering of temporary working

Options for registering
Documents required for registering

A person may work in Estonia temporarily without a work permit up to 6 months during a year. Employment in Estonia without a work permiti s permitted to an alien, whose employment has been registered prior commencement of work. An employer may apply for registration of temporary employment in Estonia:

for an alien arriving to Estonia on the basis of visa* or visa free (if not provided differently by an international agreement);
for an alien staying in Estonia on the basis of visa* or visa free (if not provided differently by an international agreement).

*If an alien needs visa for entering and staying in Estonia, he or she has to apply for a national or long-stay D-type visa for short-time employment. Before applying for visa, the short-time employment has to be registered.

Short-time employment can not be registered for an alien who is staying in Estonia on the basis of residence permit. Citizens of the EU are not required to register their short-time employment.

For registering short-time employment, the application can be submitted in following cases:

for artistic activities in the sense of Performing Arts Institutions Act by working in performing arts institution;
for employment as a teacher or lecturer in an educational institution which complies with the requirements established by legislation;
for scientific research, if the alien has appropriate professional training or experience for such activities;
in the capacity of a sportsman, coach, referee or sports official in order to engage in professional activities, by invitation of a corresponding sports federation;
for employment for vocational training purposes by way of field training of foreign educational institution or students’ organisation or by referral of an educational institution, if this is a part of curriculum;
for employment as service personnel of a diplomatic representation of a foreign state, by permission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
for employment as au pair;
for employment as an expert, adviser or consultant, provided that the alien has appropriate professional training for such activities;
for employment as an installer of equipment or a skilled worker if the alien has acquired professional training therefore;
for participation in seasonal work involving the processing of primary agricultural products;
for employment within the frames of a youth project or program, if such youth project or program has been acknowledged by the Ministry of Education and Science.

Employment in Estonia without a work permit and a residence permit for employment is permitted, on the terms provided by an international agreement, to an alien who has a legal ground for temporary stay in Estonia and whose employment has been registered in the Police and Border Guard Board prior commencement of work.

According to the Aliens Act, an employer is obliged to pay an alien the salary that corresponds at least to a medium gross monthly salary of the employer’s principal activity published last Statistical Office, but not less than multiplication of the medium Estonian yearly salary and coefficient of 1,24.

If an employer is a physical person who has not been registered as a physical self-employed person, then basis for paying the salary to an alien will be the principal activity where the alien will take employment, not principal activity of the employer.

Basis for determination of the principal activity is the alphabetic code of the Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK). Data of medium gross salary according to medium gross salary can be found here.

Amount of the salary to be paid to an alien has to respond until his or her finalizing of employment to the one that has been published by the Statistical Office at the moment of applying for the short-term employment.

Offices where salary requirement has to be satisfied:

au pair;
expert, adviser or consultant;
installer of equipment or a skilled worker;
seasonal work involving the processing of primary agricultural products.