Estonia States the Ninety Days in Its Own Act, and the Reporting Duty Waits for the Police to Ask
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of United Kingdom on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
172 exceptions recorded across 63 countries · none match United Kingdom to Estonia · Visiting as a tourist
Who needs a visa is Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 and not Estonian law. What Estonia adds is a national restatement of the measure that most member states leave to the Union text: section 44(2) of the Välismaalaste seadus says in terms that a national released from the visa requirement may stay in the Schengen member states, Estonia included, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Section 43(1) then lists the eleven things that can make a short stay lawful, from an Estonian visa to another member state's residence permit. Two duties sit on other people rather than on the traveller, and they are lighter than Croatia's: an accommodation establishment must produce the visitor card when the Police and Border Guard Board or the Security Police asks for it, with no deadline running from your arrival, and anyone who gives a foreigner a dwelling or signs a lease with one must check that the stay is lawful. A health insurance contract covering treatment costs is required of a foreigner staying temporarily, and extending a short stay is refused as a rule: section 46(2) allows up to 90 more days only where a circumstance has arisen that the traveller did not know of before arriving.
At a glance
- Visa
- Decided by Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, not by Estonian law
Article 3(1) for Annex I, article 4(1) for Annex II. Section 44(2) of the Välismaalaste seadus restates the 90-in-180 measure for visa-free nationals.
- Where Estonian law states the measure
- Section 44(2) of the Välismaalaste seadus, as an allowance rather than a disqualification
The contrast with Finland and Croatia, whose Acts never state the figure at all.
- Reporting your address
- No duty on the traveller in the Välismaalaste seadus
Sections 288 and 289 put the duties on the accommodation establishment and on whoever provides a dwelling; neither runs to a deadline from your arrival. Croatia's article 177 gives the host one day.
- Health insurance for a visit
- A contract covering treatment costs caused by illness or injury
Section 45(1) of the Välismaalaste seadus. Subsection 2 excepts a person insured under the Ravikindlustuse seadus, equivalent cover, a treaty, or costs borne by another state.
- Extending a short stay
- Up to 90 days, and only by exception
Section 46(2) of the Välismaalaste seadus; subsection 1 says the period is not extended as a rule.
Requirements
- A travel document, and a visa where Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 requires one
- No more than 90 days in any 180-day period
- A health insurance contract covering treatment costs during the stay
- Nothing to report yourself - but whoever houses you must check your stay is lawful, and an accommodation establishment must hand your visitor card to the police on demand
In detail
Estonia is the member state that wrote the figure down
Three Schengen records in this corpus were written from three Acts in three languages, and they answer the same question differently. Finland's Aliens Act never states the ninety days as a right: section 11(2) sends the conditions of a short stay to the Schengen Borders Code. Croatia's Act states the measure only as a disqualification, in article 55(2) point 4, saying when a person has stopped being on a short stay. Estonia's section 44(2) states it as an allowance, in the ordinary way a reader would expect, and ties it to the waiver of the visa requirement rather than to the Borders Code. The legal result is the same, because the Regulation decides it either way; what differs is whether a person reading the national Act can find the answer in it.
Nobody has to tell the police where you are sleeping
Croatia gives whoever provided the bed one day from your arrival to report it, and the traveller two days from entry where nobody can do it for them. Estonia has no such clock. Section 288 requires an accommodation establishment to keep a visitor card and to hand it over when the police ask; section 289 makes the person who gives you a dwelling or signs a lease with you responsible for checking that your stay is lawful, and expressly does not apply to a provider of accommodation services. The obligation is to be able to answer, not to report.
Country-level policy
Estonia issues an e-resident's digital identity card, and the only Act that creates it is the Isikut tõendavate dokumentide seadus. Section 20-5(1) defines it as a digital document issued to a citizen of a foreign state who does not hold, and is not simultaneously applying for, an Estonian identity card or residence permit card; section 3(3) defines a digital document as one intended for identifying a person and verifying identity in an electronic environment. Section 20-5(2) states the purpose: to promote the development of the Estonian economy, science, education or culture by creating a possibility to use e-services with an Estonian digital document. That is the whole of what it is. It is not a residence permit, because a residence permit is granted under section 118 of the Välismaalaste seadus on one of nine grounds and this is not one of them; it is not a legal basis for being in Estonia, because section 43(1) of that Act lists eleven legal bases for a temporary stay and this is not one of them; and it is not a visa, a right of residence or a right to work. It does not even guarantee a service: section 20-10 lets any public or private service provider refuse an e-resident, restrict the service's content or reach, or demand extra documents or a personal appearance. Since 6 July 2025 an application is returned unexamined if the applicant is a citizen of a state with a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing, or a state with which Estonia has no justice, security or law-enforcement cooperation, unless a ministerial regulation makes an exception for them.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of United Kingdom
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«(2) Kui välisriigiga on sõlmitud leping viisavaba liikumise kohta või välisriigi kodanike suhtes on viisanõudest loobutud, võib selle välisriigi kodanik Schengeni konventsiooni liikmesriikides, sealhulgas Eestis, viibida kokku kuni 90 päeva mis tahes 180-päevase ajavahemiku jooksul, kui välisleping ei sätesta teisiti.»Our translation - not official
If an agreement on visa-free movement has been concluded with a foreign state, or the visa requirement has been waived for the nationals of a foreign state, a national of that foreign state may stay in the member states of the Schengen Convention, including Estonia, for a total of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, unless an international agreement provides otherwise.
The measure in Estonian law, stated as an allowance. Finland's Aliens Act and Croatia's Zakon o strancima both leave it entirely to the Union text.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Estonia's state gazette, published by the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, and unusual in this corpus because its consolidated texts are official by statute rather than by convention. Section 1(1) of the Riigi Teataja seadus makes it the official online publication of the Republic of Estonia; section 2(1) says acts are published in it as official original texts; and section 3(1) says that alongside the original text it publishes the official consolidated texts - ametlikud terviktekstid - of Acts, presidential decrees, government, ministerial and Bank of Estonia regulations, Riigikogu resolutions, government orders and local authority regulations. Section 3(2) requires the publisher to add validity-period data to each consolidated text, which is why every act page here carries a line of the form 'Kehtiv sõnastus 30.09.2026 - 30.12.2026': the wording in force, with the day it took effect and the day a later redaktsioon replaces it. That makes the cut-off a published fact rather than an inference, and it also makes future law visible in advance, because a redaktsioon that starts in 2027 already exists at its own address. Each act is addressed as /akt/<id>, where the id is the publication date and sequence number of the redaktsioon, so a cited address is pinned to one wording rather than redirecting to whatever is current. The site also runs an abbreviation index at /api/v1/akt/lyhendid mapping each statute's Estonian abbreviation to its current redaktsioon id, and a full-text search at /api/v1/otsing/tervik-tekst, both of which were used to find instruments for this country.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The English translations are not the instrument and must never be quoted as one. Section 6 of the Riigi Teataja seadus provides only that the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs arranges translation 'to the extent determined by the minister responsible for the area', that translations are made available in Riigi Teataja, and that a sworn translator is competent to translate an Act into a foreign language; nowhere does the Act call a translation official, which is the contrast with sections 2(1) and 3(1), where it does use that word of the Estonian texts. Translations carry their own cut-offs and lag the Estonian redaktsioon. Two further traps. First, a subdivision of an Act can outlive the ground that created it: sections 198 to 200 of the Välismaalaste seadus still describe a residence permit for sufficient legal income, with no repeal marker and with amendments dated 2013 and 2017, although section 309-2(1) stopped the permit being granted on 1 July 2012 - so a repealed ground shows only as a bracketed note against a point number in the list of grounds, eleven chapters away from the sections that describe it. Second, the site is an Angular single-page application behind Cloudflare: a plain fetch returns a 62 kB shell and no law at all, so a reading must be taken through a renderer. It cannot be cited for anything that is not published in Riigi Teataja - agency practice, application procedures, money figures the agency publishes on its own pages - and it is not a source for what any instrument means.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(1) Eestisse saabumiseks ja Eestis ajutiseks viibimiseks peab välismaalasel olema seaduslik alus. Välismaalase Eestis ajutise viibimise seaduslikud alused on:»Our translation - not official
A foreigner must have a legal basis for arriving in Estonia and for staying in Estonia temporarily. The legal bases for a foreigner's temporary stay in Estonia are:
The opening of the list of eleven legal bases, which runs from an Estonian visa to an EU Blue Card issued by another member state.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Estonia's state gazette, published by the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, and unusual in this corpus because its consolidated texts are official by statute rather than by convention. Section 1(1) of the Riigi Teataja seadus makes it the official online publication of the Republic of Estonia; section 2(1) says acts are published in it as official original texts; and section 3(1) says that alongside the original text it publishes the official consolidated texts - ametlikud terviktekstid - of Acts, presidential decrees, government, ministerial and Bank of Estonia regulations, Riigikogu resolutions, government orders and local authority regulations. Section 3(2) requires the publisher to add validity-period data to each consolidated text, which is why every act page here carries a line of the form 'Kehtiv sõnastus 30.09.2026 - 30.12.2026': the wording in force, with the day it took effect and the day a later redaktsioon replaces it. That makes the cut-off a published fact rather than an inference, and it also makes future law visible in advance, because a redaktsioon that starts in 2027 already exists at its own address. Each act is addressed as /akt/<id>, where the id is the publication date and sequence number of the redaktsioon, so a cited address is pinned to one wording rather than redirecting to whatever is current. The site also runs an abbreviation index at /api/v1/akt/lyhendid mapping each statute's Estonian abbreviation to its current redaktsioon id, and a full-text search at /api/v1/otsing/tervik-tekst, both of which were used to find instruments for this country.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The English translations are not the instrument and must never be quoted as one. Section 6 of the Riigi Teataja seadus provides only that the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs arranges translation 'to the extent determined by the minister responsible for the area', that translations are made available in Riigi Teataja, and that a sworn translator is competent to translate an Act into a foreign language; nowhere does the Act call a translation official, which is the contrast with sections 2(1) and 3(1), where it does use that word of the Estonian texts. Translations carry their own cut-offs and lag the Estonian redaktsioon. Two further traps. First, a subdivision of an Act can outlive the ground that created it: sections 198 to 200 of the Välismaalaste seadus still describe a residence permit for sufficient legal income, with no repeal marker and with amendments dated 2013 and 2017, although section 309-2(1) stopped the permit being granted on 1 July 2012 - so a repealed ground shows only as a bracketed note against a point number in the list of grounds, eleven chapters away from the sections that describe it. Second, the site is an Angular single-page application behind Cloudflare: a plain fetch returns a 62 kB shell and no law at all, so a reading must be taken through a renderer. It cannot be cited for anything that is not published in Riigi Teataja - agency practice, application procedures, money figures the agency publishes on its own pages - and it is not a source for what any instrument means.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Välismaalane majutatakse majutusettevõttes vastavalt turismiseaduse nõuetele. Majutusettevõte on kohustatud esitama majutatud välismaalase andmetega külastajakaardi Politsei- või Piirivalveameti või Kaitsepolitseiameti nõudmisel teavet nõudnud asutusele.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner is accommodated in an accommodation establishment in accordance with the requirements of the Tourism Act. An accommodation establishment is obliged to submit the visitor card containing the data of the accommodated foreigner to the authority that requested the information, at the demand of the Police and Border Guard Board or the Security Police Board.
The whole of the accommodation-reporting duty: a card produced on demand, with no clock running from arrival.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Estonia's state gazette, published by the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, and unusual in this corpus because its consolidated texts are official by statute rather than by convention. Section 1(1) of the Riigi Teataja seadus makes it the official online publication of the Republic of Estonia; section 2(1) says acts are published in it as official original texts; and section 3(1) says that alongside the original text it publishes the official consolidated texts - ametlikud terviktekstid - of Acts, presidential decrees, government, ministerial and Bank of Estonia regulations, Riigikogu resolutions, government orders and local authority regulations. Section 3(2) requires the publisher to add validity-period data to each consolidated text, which is why every act page here carries a line of the form 'Kehtiv sõnastus 30.09.2026 - 30.12.2026': the wording in force, with the day it took effect and the day a later redaktsioon replaces it. That makes the cut-off a published fact rather than an inference, and it also makes future law visible in advance, because a redaktsioon that starts in 2027 already exists at its own address. Each act is addressed as /akt/<id>, where the id is the publication date and sequence number of the redaktsioon, so a cited address is pinned to one wording rather than redirecting to whatever is current. The site also runs an abbreviation index at /api/v1/akt/lyhendid mapping each statute's Estonian abbreviation to its current redaktsioon id, and a full-text search at /api/v1/otsing/tervik-tekst, both of which were used to find instruments for this country.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The English translations are not the instrument and must never be quoted as one. Section 6 of the Riigi Teataja seadus provides only that the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs arranges translation 'to the extent determined by the minister responsible for the area', that translations are made available in Riigi Teataja, and that a sworn translator is competent to translate an Act into a foreign language; nowhere does the Act call a translation official, which is the contrast with sections 2(1) and 3(1), where it does use that word of the Estonian texts. Translations carry their own cut-offs and lag the Estonian redaktsioon. Two further traps. First, a subdivision of an Act can outlive the ground that created it: sections 198 to 200 of the Välismaalaste seadus still describe a residence permit for sufficient legal income, with no repeal marker and with amendments dated 2013 and 2017, although section 309-2(1) stopped the permit being granted on 1 July 2012 - so a repealed ground shows only as a bracketed note against a point number in the list of grounds, eleven chapters away from the sections that describe it. Second, the site is an Angular single-page application behind Cloudflare: a plain fetch returns a 62 kB shell and no law at all, so a reading must be taken through a renderer. It cannot be cited for anything that is not published in Riigi Teataja - agency practice, application procedures, money figures the agency publishes on its own pages - and it is not a source for what any instrument means.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(1) Isik, kes võimaldab välismaalasele eluaset või sõlmib temaga üürilepingu, on kohustatud kontrollima välismaalase Eestis viibimise seaduslikkust.»Our translation - not official
A person who provides a foreigner with a dwelling or concludes a lease contract with a foreigner is obliged to check the lawfulness of the foreigner's stay in Estonia.
A duty on the landlord rather than a report to the police. Subsection 2 excludes providers of accommodation services.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Estonia's state gazette, published by the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, and unusual in this corpus because its consolidated texts are official by statute rather than by convention. Section 1(1) of the Riigi Teataja seadus makes it the official online publication of the Republic of Estonia; section 2(1) says acts are published in it as official original texts; and section 3(1) says that alongside the original text it publishes the official consolidated texts - ametlikud terviktekstid - of Acts, presidential decrees, government, ministerial and Bank of Estonia regulations, Riigikogu resolutions, government orders and local authority regulations. Section 3(2) requires the publisher to add validity-period data to each consolidated text, which is why every act page here carries a line of the form 'Kehtiv sõnastus 30.09.2026 - 30.12.2026': the wording in force, with the day it took effect and the day a later redaktsioon replaces it. That makes the cut-off a published fact rather than an inference, and it also makes future law visible in advance, because a redaktsioon that starts in 2027 already exists at its own address. Each act is addressed as /akt/<id>, where the id is the publication date and sequence number of the redaktsioon, so a cited address is pinned to one wording rather than redirecting to whatever is current. The site also runs an abbreviation index at /api/v1/akt/lyhendid mapping each statute's Estonian abbreviation to its current redaktsioon id, and a full-text search at /api/v1/otsing/tervik-tekst, both of which were used to find instruments for this country.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The English translations are not the instrument and must never be quoted as one. Section 6 of the Riigi Teataja seadus provides only that the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs arranges translation 'to the extent determined by the minister responsible for the area', that translations are made available in Riigi Teataja, and that a sworn translator is competent to translate an Act into a foreign language; nowhere does the Act call a translation official, which is the contrast with sections 2(1) and 3(1), where it does use that word of the Estonian texts. Translations carry their own cut-offs and lag the Estonian redaktsioon. Two further traps. First, a subdivision of an Act can outlive the ground that created it: sections 198 to 200 of the Välismaalaste seadus still describe a residence permit for sufficient legal income, with no repeal marker and with amendments dated 2013 and 2017, although section 309-2(1) stopped the permit being granted on 1 July 2012 - so a repealed ground shows only as a bracketed note against a point number in the list of grounds, eleven chapters away from the sections that describe it. Second, the site is an Angular single-page application behind Cloudflare: a plain fetch returns a 62 kB shell and no law at all, so a reading must be taken through a renderer. It cannot be cited for anything that is not published in Riigi Teataja - agency practice, application procedures, money figures the agency publishes on its own pages - and it is not a source for what any instrument means.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(1) Eestis ajutiselt viibival ja viibimisaja pikendamist taotleval välismaalasel peab olema tervisekindlustusleping, mis tagab tema haigusest või vigastusest tingitud ravikulude tasumise Eestis viibimise ajal.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner staying in Estonia temporarily and applying for an extension of the period of stay must have a health insurance contract which guarantees payment of the treatment costs caused by illness or injury during the stay in Estonia.
The Act names two categories in one sentence and does not say whether a visitor who is not seeking an extension is caught; this record does not resolve that.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Estonia's state gazette, published by the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, and unusual in this corpus because its consolidated texts are official by statute rather than by convention. Section 1(1) of the Riigi Teataja seadus makes it the official online publication of the Republic of Estonia; section 2(1) says acts are published in it as official original texts; and section 3(1) says that alongside the original text it publishes the official consolidated texts - ametlikud terviktekstid - of Acts, presidential decrees, government, ministerial and Bank of Estonia regulations, Riigikogu resolutions, government orders and local authority regulations. Section 3(2) requires the publisher to add validity-period data to each consolidated text, which is why every act page here carries a line of the form 'Kehtiv sõnastus 30.09.2026 - 30.12.2026': the wording in force, with the day it took effect and the day a later redaktsioon replaces it. That makes the cut-off a published fact rather than an inference, and it also makes future law visible in advance, because a redaktsioon that starts in 2027 already exists at its own address. Each act is addressed as /akt/<id>, where the id is the publication date and sequence number of the redaktsioon, so a cited address is pinned to one wording rather than redirecting to whatever is current. The site also runs an abbreviation index at /api/v1/akt/lyhendid mapping each statute's Estonian abbreviation to its current redaktsioon id, and a full-text search at /api/v1/otsing/tervik-tekst, both of which were used to find instruments for this country.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The English translations are not the instrument and must never be quoted as one. Section 6 of the Riigi Teataja seadus provides only that the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs arranges translation 'to the extent determined by the minister responsible for the area', that translations are made available in Riigi Teataja, and that a sworn translator is competent to translate an Act into a foreign language; nowhere does the Act call a translation official, which is the contrast with sections 2(1) and 3(1), where it does use that word of the Estonian texts. Translations carry their own cut-offs and lag the Estonian redaktsioon. Two further traps. First, a subdivision of an Act can outlive the ground that created it: sections 198 to 200 of the Välismaalaste seadus still describe a residence permit for sufficient legal income, with no repeal marker and with amendments dated 2013 and 2017, although section 309-2(1) stopped the permit being granted on 1 July 2012 - so a repealed ground shows only as a bracketed note against a point number in the list of grounds, eleven chapters away from the sections that describe it. Second, the site is an Angular single-page application behind Cloudflare: a plain fetch returns a 62 kB shell and no law at all, so a reading must be taken through a renderer. It cannot be cited for anything that is not published in Riigi Teataja - agency practice, application procedures, money figures the agency publishes on its own pages - and it is not a source for what any instrument means.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(2) Erandina võib viibimisaega pikendada kuni 90 päeva, kui on ilmnenud asjaolu, mis ei olnud välismaalasele enne Eestisse saabumist teada, või uus asjaolu, mis tekkis pärast välismaalase Eestisse saabumist.»Our translation - not official
By way of exception, the period of stay may be extended by up to 90 days if a circumstance has arisen that was not known to the foreigner before arriving in Estonia, or a new circumstance that arose after the foreigner's arrival in Estonia.
Subsection 1 states the rule: a period of stay is not extended.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Estonia's state gazette, published by the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, and unusual in this corpus because its consolidated texts are official by statute rather than by convention. Section 1(1) of the Riigi Teataja seadus makes it the official online publication of the Republic of Estonia; section 2(1) says acts are published in it as official original texts; and section 3(1) says that alongside the original text it publishes the official consolidated texts - ametlikud terviktekstid - of Acts, presidential decrees, government, ministerial and Bank of Estonia regulations, Riigikogu resolutions, government orders and local authority regulations. Section 3(2) requires the publisher to add validity-period data to each consolidated text, which is why every act page here carries a line of the form 'Kehtiv sõnastus 30.09.2026 - 30.12.2026': the wording in force, with the day it took effect and the day a later redaktsioon replaces it. That makes the cut-off a published fact rather than an inference, and it also makes future law visible in advance, because a redaktsioon that starts in 2027 already exists at its own address. Each act is addressed as /akt/<id>, where the id is the publication date and sequence number of the redaktsioon, so a cited address is pinned to one wording rather than redirecting to whatever is current. The site also runs an abbreviation index at /api/v1/akt/lyhendid mapping each statute's Estonian abbreviation to its current redaktsioon id, and a full-text search at /api/v1/otsing/tervik-tekst, both of which were used to find instruments for this country.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The English translations are not the instrument and must never be quoted as one. Section 6 of the Riigi Teataja seadus provides only that the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs arranges translation 'to the extent determined by the minister responsible for the area', that translations are made available in Riigi Teataja, and that a sworn translator is competent to translate an Act into a foreign language; nowhere does the Act call a translation official, which is the contrast with sections 2(1) and 3(1), where it does use that word of the Estonian texts. Translations carry their own cut-offs and lag the Estonian redaktsioon. Two further traps. First, a subdivision of an Act can outlive the ground that created it: sections 198 to 200 of the Välismaalaste seadus still describe a residence permit for sufficient legal income, with no repeal marker and with amendments dated 2013 and 2017, although section 309-2(1) stopped the permit being granted on 1 July 2012 - so a repealed ground shows only as a bracketed note against a point number in the list of grounds, eleven chapters away from the sections that describe it. Second, the site is an Angular single-page application behind Cloudflare: a plain fetch returns a 62 kB shell and no law at all, so a reading must be taken through a renderer. It cannot be cited for anything that is not published in Riigi Teataja - agency practice, application procedures, money figures the agency publishes on its own pages - and it is not a source for what any instrument means.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«1. Nationals of third countries listed in Annex I shall be required to be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States.»The visa requirement for Annex I nationals.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Nationals of third countries listed in Annex II shall be exempt from the requirement set out in Article 3(1) for stays of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period.»The exemption and its measure, which Estonia restates in its own Act.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The Schengen Borders Code governs what a border officer checks and was not read for this record.
ETIAS was not read. The Välismaalaste seadus names Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 in its visa chapter, and nothing read here states when the system begins to apply in Estonia.
Section 45(1) is a single sentence naming a foreigner 'staying in Estonia temporarily and applying for an extension of the period of stay'. Whether the insurance duty reaches every visitor or only one seeking an extension is not something the Act answers on its face, and no Police and Border Guard Board page on visitor insurance was read.
Estonia's own long-stay (D) visa rules, including the money rate set by a separate ministerial regulation, were not read for this record.
- consolidatesVälismaalaste seadus, consolidated text in force from 30 September 2026
Riigi Teataja · consolidated to 2026-09-30
About this source
Estonia's state gazette, published by the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, and unusual in this corpus because its consolidated texts are official by statute rather than by convention. Section 1(1) of the Riigi Teataja seadus makes it the official online publication of the Republic of Estonia; section 2(1) says acts are published in it as official original texts; and section 3(1) says that alongside the original text it publishes the official consolidated texts - ametlikud terviktekstid - of Acts, presidential decrees, government, ministerial and Bank of Estonia regulations, Riigikogu resolutions, government orders and local authority regulations. Section 3(2) requires the publisher to add validity-period data to each consolidated text, which is why every act page here carries a line of the form 'Kehtiv sõnastus 30.09.2026 - 30.12.2026': the wording in force, with the day it took effect and the day a later redaktsioon replaces it. That makes the cut-off a published fact rather than an inference, and it also makes future law visible in advance, because a redaktsioon that starts in 2027 already exists at its own address. Each act is addressed as /akt/<id>, where the id is the publication date and sequence number of the redaktsioon, so a cited address is pinned to one wording rather than redirecting to whatever is current. The site also runs an abbreviation index at /api/v1/akt/lyhendid mapping each statute's Estonian abbreviation to its current redaktsioon id, and a full-text search at /api/v1/otsing/tervik-tekst, both of which were used to find instruments for this country.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The English translations are not the instrument and must never be quoted as one. Section 6 of the Riigi Teataja seadus provides only that the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs arranges translation 'to the extent determined by the minister responsible for the area', that translations are made available in Riigi Teataja, and that a sworn translator is competent to translate an Act into a foreign language; nowhere does the Act call a translation official, which is the contrast with sections 2(1) and 3(1), where it does use that word of the Estonian texts. Translations carry their own cut-offs and lag the Estonian redaktsioon. Two further traps. First, a subdivision of an Act can outlive the ground that created it: sections 198 to 200 of the Välismaalaste seadus still describe a residence permit for sufficient legal income, with no repeal marker and with amendments dated 2013 and 2017, although section 309-2(1) stopped the permit being granted on 1 July 2012 - so a repealed ground shows only as a bracketed note against a point number in the list of grounds, eleven chapters away from the sections that describe it. Second, the site is an Angular single-page application behind Cloudflare: a plain fetch returns a 62 kB shell and no law at all, so a reading must be taken through a renderer. It cannot be cited for anything that is not published in Riigi Teataja - agency practice, application procedures, money figures the agency publishes on its own pages - and it is not a source for what any instrument means.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesRegulation (EU) 2018/1806, consolidated text
EUR-Lex, Publications Office of the European Union · consolidated to 2025-12-30
About this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source