You want an Estonian private limited company (O\u00dc), and most guides say to set it up online with e-Residency. If you are an Iranian citizen, or hold another passport on the restricted list of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), that route has been closed to most applicants since 1 October 2025. The company can still be founded on paper, in front of an Estonian notary.<\/p>\n
If the company is for the Estonia startup visa<\/a>, you can found it after you arrive: the D visa does not need an Estonian company, and only the temporary residence permit that follows it does.<\/p>\n PPA does not review<\/a> e-Residency applications submitted after 1 October 2025 by citizens of ten Group I countries, which the law treats as a higher money-laundering risk: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Mali, Nigeria, North Korea, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen (Identity Documents Act \u00a7 20\u2076(1\u00b9)). An application is still reviewed if at least one of these applies to you:<\/p>\n The economic-activity exception needs an existing, active Estonian company that has revenue or staff and pays taxes in Estonia, so it cannot help you found your first company. Russian and Belarusian citizens (Group II) need both an earlier e-resident ID and that activity. Cards already issued stay valid until they expire, and a dismissed application does not get its \u20ac150 fee back.<\/p>\n If you will not live in Estonia, the startup route cannot replace e-Residency: the D visa and the residence permit are for living there while you build the company, and they may be cancelled if you are not there doing it.<\/p>\n Online founding through the e-Business Register portal<\/a> works only when every founder and board member can sign digitally with an Estonian ID card (the e-resident card included), Smart-ID or Mobile-ID. Otherwise you use a notary, which the Chamber of Notaries<\/a> suggests when a foreign national is involved.<\/p>\n The notary drafts a foundation resolution for a single founder, or a memorandum of association for several, with the articles of association, and files them with the Commercial Register, which PPA’s English pages call the Estonian Business Register. The company name must start or end with “O\u00dc” or “Osa\u00fching”. Foreign founders and board members are entered with the personal identification code their own country issued, and the beneficial owners are declared at founding.<\/p>\n The deed is read out in the notary’s presence and signed by hand. Without an Estonian digital ID, you therefore sign at a notary’s office in Estonia, or a representative signs for you with a power of attorney certified by a notary, which the law allows. If you do not speak the language of the deed, normally Estonian, it must be interpreted or translated, or the authentication is void.<\/p>\n The notary also checks the parties, the purpose, the source of the funds<\/a> and the sanctions database, and may postpone or refuse the deed if documents are missing. Before you book, ask the notary which form of power of attorney, which ID and what evidence of funds they want, and whether they can prepare the deed in English.<\/p>\n Remote notarisation by video needs an Estonian digital signing tool, and each notary decides case by case. In a hybrid deed<\/a>, a co-founder who holds one can join by video, if the notary agrees, while you sign at the office.<\/p>\n The Estonian embassies in Ankara and Abu Dhabi cannot replace the notary: the officers listed there<\/a> can only certify signatures, copies, extracts, printouts and translations, not perform the full notarial authentication a founding deed needs. Remote notarisation from inside a mission still needs an Estonian e-ID.<\/p>\n You pay two things: the state fee for the register entry and the notary’s fees<\/a>. The state fee is \u20ac200 (State Fees Act \u00a7 62(2)). The \u20ac265 expedited rate requires, among other conditions, that the founders and board members sign every entry document digitally themselves (Commercial Register Act \u00a7 42(3)), so a deed signed by hand pays \u20ac200.<\/p>\ne-Residency restrictions for Iranian and other citizens since 1 October 2025<\/h2>\n
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Company registration through an Estonian notary<\/h2>\n
Video signing and Estonian embassies<\/h3>\n
Company registration cost in 2026 and share capital<\/h2>\n