Singaporeans can soon become e-residents of Estonia

There are countries that have embraced the digital lifestyle, such as say, Singapore, and then there are countries that have practically jumped feet-first into the Matrix. Estonia in particular has swallowed that red pill with a shot of vodka and slammed the glass against the table with glee.

The former Soviet Union member has, over the course of the last 20 years or so, invested heavily in its digital infrastructure. This has allowed the country to plug in almost every aspect of its administrative life. Citizens can vote online, businessmen can do their taxes in minutes thanks to a seamless connection between the taxation system and the banks, and even the president can sign bills into law on his tablet using a digital signature.

But the country has gone a step further in what could be the most literal expression of a digital revolution. It offers non-Estonians the opportunity to become an Estonian e-resident. The country just announced it is opening up this ability to Singaporeans in early 2016.

An e-residency in Estonia is a digital identity that allows a non-Estonian citizen to start and run an Estonian company without even having to be within its borders. The e-resident has to go to an embassy of Estonia to get their ID card, but other than that, everything else can be done online. So a Singaporean citizen can be an Estonian e-resident (the initiative does not involve changing one’s citizenship) and run a company from Singapore, based in Estonia, without even having to pay taxes there. Confusing? Not if Estonia can help it, it seems.

The European country sees this initiative as a way to attract entrepreneurship and innovation to its shores. More importantly, it’s the first time that a country can potentially turn its administrative infrastructure into an online service for others to use. The implications there are quite unprecedented – could a country one day have a “Government as a Service” product to boost its economy?

Estonia’s CIO Taavi Kotka

Opening up its e-residency program to Singapore and Southeast Asia gives it access to a very active pool of entrepreneurs and potential e-residents. “Singapore, among a few other countries, is one of our highest priorities in terms of opening a distribution channel for our e-residency,” Taavi Kotka, chief information officer (CIO) of Estonia, says in a statement (and yes, this is a country that has its own chief information officer). Kotka hopes that Estonia will have registered 10 million e-Estonians by 2025, which is a stunning number considering the country’s population is about 1.3 million.

Hoping to promote the program, Kotka will be visiting Singapore on September 25 for a series of talks at NUS and the Lee Kuan Yew school of Public Policy, as well as an open event at The Hub Singapore.

“The Singapore government has, in fact, studied the e-residency concept back in May. There is even a memorandum of understanding between them and our government,” Kotka said. “It can also be a powerful tool for Singapore, as it allows to connect more people around the world with the Singaporean economy without actually living there.”