Anyone using the Estonian e-residency for their business?

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xandreu
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Anyone using the Estonian e-residency for their business?

Post by xandreu »

As anyone who works remotely as a freelancer in Cambodia will tell you, it's just a pain in the arse, as most companies, from payment gateways to Google don't seem to want to go near anyone residing in the KOW, whether you have a business registered here or not. Its's just not a very business friendly country to be based / working remotely in - not that it's Cambodia's fault per se, it's just that Cambodia doesn't seem like a country many international companies trust / want to work with.

As a result, I obtained e-residency from Estonia, which allows you to set up a business in Estonia and do absolutely everything remotely, from digitally signing documents, setting up international banking to having a legal EU business address and access to a whole host of business services that you'd ordinarily have to be physically present to set up and manage, but can all be done remotely, once you've been verified and got all the necessary equipment. It's run by the Estonian government themselves.

I obtained mine a couple of years ago after a bit of a lengthy process, the only thing you have to do in person is pick up your digital ID card and reader from an Estonian embassy, the nearest one to Cambodia (at the time I picked mine up) being Beijing, China.

Soon upon my return however, I was offered a pretty good position at a company in PP which I couldn't really turn down, and my digital card has just been sitting in a drawer ever since. I never got round to actually registering a business.

I'm getting a bit bored at my job now however, and am ready to leave. I've been doing a bit of freelance work online which is starting to take off and I'm ready to go back to my original plan of freelancing remotely full time, which will involve utilising my e-residency and registering a business - yes, I'm aware I will still have to declare my income in Cambodia also etc etc but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I was just wondering if anyone else uses e-residency and if they have any advice for me. It all seems pretty straight forward and there are plenty of companies that will do much of the legal leg-work for you - in fact, there are so many of these companies it difficult to know which one to go with. The Estonian government have their own 'marketplace' of pre-vetted companies which are trustworthy and all offer different services for different types of businesses.

I know there are a lot of online freelancers (digital nomads) in Cambodia so just wondering if anyone else has e-residency and has any advice for me. Any pit-falls? Anything i should be aware of? Things / companies to avoid? Best ways of getting paid into a Cambodian (ABA) account? Companies that offer reliable payment gateways?

Thanks.
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Re: Anyone using the Estonian e-residency for their business?

Post by Darkcel »

I can't help you, but it's certainly interesting

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Brody
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Re: Anyone using the Estonian e-residency for their business?

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biggity-ump
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Kammekor
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Re: Anyone using the Estonian e-residency for their business?

Post by Kammekor »

I don't use Estonian e-residency but if I would, I would make sure every 'physical' part of my business would be based there.

My website.
My (own) mail server.

I would make sure my website and e-mail used the same (Estonian) domain name.

In Cambodia I would always use a VPN by default basing me in Estonia. If you have your own server you can use OpenVPN free of charge, I will make sure all the messages you sent come from the same IP address (your server) making you look much more trustworthy than random IP addresses used for just this session.
I would only communicate through that VPN.

Major companies like Google (Gmail) and Microsoft (Hotmail etc) distrust every message sent by VPN by default. If you don't think this through thoroughly 99% of the emails you will send to addresses from these companies will end up in 'SPAM'.
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Re: Anyone using the Estonian e-residency for their business?

Post by mi1 »

Kammekor wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 9:49 am In Cambodia I would always use a VPN by default basing me in Estonia. If you have your own server you can use OpenVPN free of charge, I will make sure all the messages you sent come from the same IP address (your server) making you look much more trustworthy than random IP addresses used for just this session. I would only communicate through that VPN.
Trustworthy for who ? for google / payment gateways ? Your company will be legally registered in Estonia and have bank account there(which is a bit challenging i heard). Never had any problem using Cambodian IP.
Kammekor wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 9:49 am Major companies like Google (Gmail) and Microsoft (Hotmail etc) distrust every message sent by VPN by default. If you don't think this through thoroughly 99% of the emails you will send to addresses from these companies will end up in 'SPAM'.
If u setup vpn urself there's no way for companies like google/microsoft to know if user under VPN or not. However for OP i do not see any reason to use VPN. He didn't mentioned what kind of business wants to do but as i understood there's no intention to hide location. All he needs is legal business registered in Estonia (which means under EU jurisdiction) and that is achievable under e-residence
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Kammekor
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Re: Anyone using the Estonian e-residency for their business?

Post by Kammekor »

mi1 wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:44 am
Kammekor wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 9:49 am In Cambodia I would always use a VPN by default basing me in Estonia. If you have your own server you can use OpenVPN free of charge, I will make sure all the messages you sent come from the same IP address (your server) making you look much more trustworthy than random IP addresses used for just this session. I would only communicate through that VPN.
Trustworthy for who ? for google / payment gateways ? Your company will be legally registered in Estonia and have bank account there(which is a bit challenging i heard). Never had any problem using Cambodian IP.
For all, but mainly e-mail in my experience.
mi1 wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:44 am
Kammekor wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 9:49 am Major companies like Google (Gmail) and Microsoft (Hotmail etc) distrust every message sent by VPN by default. If you don't think this through thoroughly 99% of the emails you will send to addresses from these companies will end up in 'SPAM'.
If u setup vpn urself there's no way for companies like google/microsoft to know if user under VPN or not. However for OP i do not see any reason to use VPN. He didn't mentioned what kind of business wants to do but as i understood there's no intention to hide location. All he needs is legal business registered in Estonia (which means under EU jurisdiction) and that is achievable under e-residence
If you setup a VPN yourself, they don't know. If you use a third party VPN service they know, because those third parties (re)use the same range of IP addresses all the time.
The reason I mentioned a VPN is this comment from the OP:
xandreu wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:06 pm Its's just not a very business friendly country to be based / working remotely in - not that it's Cambodia's fault per se, it's just that Cambodia doesn't seem like a country many international companies trust / want to work with.
A good VPN will solve that problem.
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Kammekor
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Re: Anyone using the Estonian e-residency for their business?

Post by Kammekor »

xandreu wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:06 pm Any pit-falls? Anything i should be aware of? Things / companies to avoid? Best ways of getting paid into a Cambodian (ABA) account? Companies that offer reliable payment gateways?
If you base yourself legally in Estonia, why not get paid there? How do you think a customer feels when it deals with a (legal) entity from Estonia and then is asked to pay into a Cambodian Bank account? You will have a lot to explain in that case.

How about VAT? You work here, but legally are based in Estonia. Which VAT do you have to charge? That's food for quite some thought I am afraid (assuming you sell services instead of goods).

Estonia will insist on you following the EU guidelines, there's a new EU law in place since July 2021, which is a big pain in the #ss for intra EU VAT. Cambodia will insist you pay your VAT here as per their laws... This problem will be solved if you base your company here, but then why the e-residency?
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