Quick answer
With an e-Residency card, your company is entered in the Commercial Register within 24 hours of submitting the application. Without a card, the documents are signed at an Estonian notary, in person or through a representative, and the registrar makes the entry within five working days. Registration by power of attorney takes two to three weeks in total, most of it spent issuing, sending and translating the document.
Company registration time in Estonia depends on one thing: whether you can sign the application digitally. If you can, the whole process runs online and is over within a day. If you cannot, the documents are signed at a notary, and the timeline depends on whether you come to Tallinn yourself or send a power of attorney instead.
Company Registration Time in Estonia by Route
| Route | What you need | Entry in the register | Where the extra time goes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online with e-Residency | A valid e-Residency card or other Estonian e-ID | Within 24 hours | Nowhere: signing takes minutes |
| In person at a notary in Tallinn | One visit with your passport | Up to five working days | Waiting for the appointment, usually two to three days, and the trip itself |
| By notarised power of attorney | A notarised and apostilled power of attorney sent to Estonia | Up to five working days | Issuing, sending and translating the document: about two weeks |
Online, we prepare the application in the e-Business Register, you sign it with your e-Residency card, and the registrar makes the entry within 24 hours. Under the Commercial Register Act, the registrar must review an expedited application no later than the next working day, and in practice it rarely takes that long. The slow part is getting the card. If you do not have e-Residency yet, applying for it takes three to eight weeks, which is why founders in a hurry often go to a notary instead.
A visit to Tallinn is the quickest option without a card. We book the notary, usually two or three days ahead, and prepare the founding documents and confirm the details with you before you arrive, so the signing takes a single appointment. The notary then files the application, and the registrar has five working days to make the entry.
Power of Attorney: Where the Two to Three Weeks Go
Remote registration by power of attorney means you never travel, but the document has to be issued abroad and reach us in Estonia before anything else can happen. In our practice the stages look like this.
| Stage | Who does it | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Signing the power of attorney at a notary and getting an apostille | You, in your own country | Two to three days |
| Courier delivery to Estonia | Courier | Two to three days |
| Sworn translation into Estonian, while we prepare the founding documents and book the notary | Eesti Firma | Up to five working days |
| Signing at the notary on your behalf and entry in the register | Eesti Firma and the registrar | Up to five working days |
Added together, that is two to three weeks from the day we send you the draft power of attorney to the day the company exists. What the power of attorney must contain, and when an apostille is needed, is covered in our guide to registering a company without e-Residency.
What Can Add a Week
In our experience, the most common cause of delay is the company name. If the registrar finds it too similar to an existing name or otherwise unsuitable, the application is not refused outright: the registrar sets a deadline, usually two weeks, to correct it, and once you have done so, the application is reviewed again within five working days.
Online, you change the name and resubmit. At the notary, the founding documents have to be signed again. With a power of attorney we go back to the notary ourselves within a day or two, but if you signed in person, you would have to return to Tallinn. In practice the correction costs about a week, so check the name in the e-Business Register before you submit and have a second option ready.
Register Your Company With Eesti Firma
Whichever registration route fits your situation, we handle the registration of your OÜ from the first consultation to the entry in the register: online with your e-Residency card, during your visit to Tallinn or by power of attorney while you stay at home. Tell us whether you hold an e-Residency card and whether you can come to Tallinn, and we will say which route is quicker for you and what date to plan for. Our company formation in Estonia page explains what each package includes, and our guide to the cost of starting a company in Estonia shows the state fee, notary costs and service fees for each option.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, if every founder and board member can sign digitally with an e-Residency card or another Estonian e-ID. The application is submitted online and the entry is made within 24 hours. An application sent on a Friday evening or at the weekend counts as submitted on the next working day, so the clock starts on Monday. Without a digital signature, the fastest option is a visit to a notary in Tallinn, where the entry takes up to five working days.
No. e-Residency makes the registration itself faster, but the card takes three to eight weeks to obtain. If you do not have one, a notary appointment in Tallinn gets your company registered in roughly a week, and you can apply for e-Residency afterwards to manage the company online.
A notarised power of attorney, which takes two to three weeks in total. A ready-made company is not a shortcut either, because its shares also change hands at a notary and the timeline is similar. Our comparison of ready-made companies and new registration explains when buying one makes sense.
