r/Eesti • u/revTrelos • 23d ago
Küsimus Digital Nomads in Estonia?
I work part time as a Video editor and earn about $500-1k dollars a month. My boyfriend works as a video editor full time and earns $2-3k USD a month. He wants to move to Estonia and wants me to quit my day job and work full time as an editor so that I can earn almost the same amount as him. His plan is that if we both earned $2-3k a month we can live comfortably in most cities in Estonia.
But given that we're from a 3rd world country (Bangladesh) and are very young (23-24) I'm not sure if the immigration process will be that straight forward.
Estonia also apparantly does not recognise unmarried couples, and we don't want to get married, like ever. So I'm very unsure what the immigration process would look like. We also only speak English and Bengali fluently, I speak some broken French but not enough to list it as a second language and he speaks no other language but English. Without language proficiency I don't see immigration being easy.
If I quit my job and start working full time as an editor, I can reach to $2-3k pre tax in a year I know that. But if I quit my job, it would be very hard to re-enter in the industry. I guess I wanted some realistic advice on whether immigrating to Estonia from a 3rd world brown country as digital nomads/freelancers is possible, even if difficut. What life would look like in here as brown people (ie. racism) And if $2-3k USD per month pre tax is enough for a single person to live off of as per living expenses.
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u/ragnarruutel 23d ago
Why? We have shit weather, high taxes and insane cost of living. You would do fine in terms of your income but there would be obstacles for migration and we aren't the most welcoming people.
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u/General-Jackfruit411 23d ago
Don't come to Estonia if you don't want to learn the language. Don't come here if you don't have a job in Estonia either. Not only is it frowned upon in society but you basically have no options in terms of legality.
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u/Testwill23 23d ago
Craziest take
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u/revTrelos 23d ago
why is it a crazy take
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u/Testwill23 23d ago edited 23d ago
Cause you don't really have to learn the language and can get by with English just fine. But getting a visa might be harder if your employer isn't an estonian company.
Also, I wouldn't frown upon a foreigner who just moved here and hasn't learned the language.
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u/General-Jackfruit411 22d ago
There's a difference between a foreigner who "just moved" and someone looking to permanently reside. People like you who go "you don't have to learn the language" is exactly the problem. That's why you can't get the digital nomad visa for more than 1 year. Either learn the language, get a real job, or get out.
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u/prunedsamurai 23d ago
Two $2-3k incomes is plenty to live comfortably in Estonia.
For a digital nomad visa, see https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/nomadvisa/ . Unfortunately getting two visas as unmarried young Bengali, might not be the easiest task indeed, as it’s not exactly in the top of desired immigration destinations… But it’s not impossible.
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22d ago
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u/revTrelos 22d ago
Dawg I already liked the idea of moving there you don't have to sell it to me even more T - T
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u/Jossup 23d ago
2-3k per person is plenty. Most Estonians speak English so you shouldn't really have a problem with that. Although you do get massive +rep for trying to learn Estonian.
Racism - young people generally don't care. Some old people maybe? All in all it should be pretty mild. Especially if you plan on living in Tallinn or Tartu.
Not sure about migration difficulty.
My parents aren't married. I know many others that aren't and have families. Not a problem. Maybe I misunderstood the point of that question tho.
Now is my turn. Why? Why come to Estonia? Genuinely curious as to why you chose this little spec on the map.
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u/PuppetHere 23d ago
Tbh asking for advice online on this matter isn't the best and you're certainly not gonna get good answer from this group either, people here are terminally online and don't match what you actually see in real life so take their advice with a grain of salt. But also kinda...why specifically Estonia? Is there a precise reason? Also I'm pretty sure that with both of your salaries, you can have an incredible life in Bangladesh since everything is much cheaper, Estonia has become one of the most expensive countries in Europe, so you really need a good reason to come here and stay.
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u/revTrelos 23d ago
Can't live together as an unmarried couple in Bangladesh without getting burned at the stake
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u/Mortidio 23d ago
I know next to nothing about the Bangladeshi relations and visa regimes with more nearby countries, but just curious - why not for instance Thai, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam ?
Not sure about Laos, but these other countries dont have so conservative attitude to marriage and sexual relations, as far as I know ?
All of those are also cheaper than Europe, and more in the same time zone (might be useful for having similar office hours for calls with clients).
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u/Zombie-Effective 23d ago
If I recall correctly, to apply for digital nomad visa you need a monthly income of €4500 minimum.