The Estonian e-residency program, which was launched in 2014, gives foreign nationals and non-residents an opportunity to apply for a state-issued digital identity credential – an e-resident’s digital identity card – in order to gain secure access to electronic services and solutions provided by Estonian public and private sector.
Estonian e-residency allows exploring new forms of transnationalism, the interplay of virtual and physical mobilities, cross-border use of e-services, and the geographic expansion of the Estonian economic space.
In cooperation with Estonian state authorities and agencies (including the Ministry of the Interior, Police and Border Guard Board, Information System Authority, Centre of Registers and Information Systems), a systematic mapping of data on applicants, receivers and users of e-resident’s digital identity cards collected in state registers and information systems will be completed, which could be used for the study of the aforementioned topics both in social and policy research.
Completed studies
Based on data provided by the Police and Border Guard Board, digital inequality patterns in e-residency applications have previously been analyzed.
Tammpuu, Piia; Masso, Anu (2019). Transnational Digital Identity as an Instrument for Global Digital Citizenship: The Case of Estonia’s E-Residency. Information Systems Frontiers, 21 (3), 621−634. DOI: 10.1007/s10796-019-09908-y.