Work

Steps

1. Look for a job on the Töötukassa portal (offers and advice, open to Europeans), on EURES (the European employment network) and on Work in Estonia, the public talent attraction programme.
2. Have your qualification recognised if needed. The ENIC/NARIC centre of the Harno agency assesses foreign qualifications free of charge, within 30 days of receiving the complete file. For a regulated profession (doctor, nurse, teacher…), it is the authority of the profession that decides: Harno guides you.
3. Sign a written contract. It must state at least the parties, the start date, the duties, the pay, its payment date and the deductions. The contract is presumed to be indefinite-term; a fixed-term contract is only possible for genuinely temporary work, 5 years at most.
4. Your employer registers you in the EMTA employment register: this is what opens your health insurance, 14 days after the start date (see EE-SANTE-TOUS-001).
5. Give your employer your request for the basic exemption and check your deductions (see EE-IMPOTS-TOUS-001).
6. If you lose your job, register as a jobseeker with the Töötukassa and apply for the benefit. Bring your U1 form if you have worked in another European country.

Documents

• Identity document and personal identification code (isikukood, see EE-NIF-TOUS-001).
• Written employment contract.
• Qualifications, grade transcripts and translations if necessary (Harno accepts Estonian, English, Finnish, Swedish, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian without translation).
• For unemployment: U1 form issued by the unemployment fund of your former country of employment, contracts and payslips.
• To look for a job abroad with your Estonian benefit: U2 form, to be requested before leaving.

Costs and timelines

• Minimum wage (since 1 April 2026): €946 gross per month full-time and €5.67 gross per hour (regulation no. 36 of 23/03/2026). It was €886 in 2025. Part-time, it is reduced in proportion. 2027 amount: not yet set in the sources consulted.
• Pay: at least once a month, on a specific date.
• Working time: 40 hours a week and 8 hours a day are the legal norm; on average, no more than 48 hours a week over a period of 4 months (52 hours at most if you agree in writing, an agreement revocable with 2 weeks' notice).
• Paid leave: 28 calendar days a year (35 for a minor or a person with reduced working capacity).
• Probation period: 4 months at most, shortened or removed if the contract provides; for a fixed-term contract of 8 months or less, half the duration. Termination during probation: at least 15 days' notice.
• Notice: 30 days if you resign. The employer can only dismiss on a ground provided by law, with notice of 15 days (less than one year's service), 30 days (1 to 5 years), 60 days (5 to 10 years), 90 days (10 years and more). Redundancy: compensation of one month's average salary.
• Unemployment deduction: 1.6% of your salary (2026).
• Income-related unemployment benefit (2026): if you have contributed at least 12 months in 3 years and have not left your job of your own accord, by agreement or for misconduct: 60% of your average daily salary for 100 days, then 40%. Minimum €14.77 per day; maximum €101.27 per day for the first 100 days (€3,139.37 for 31 days), then €67.51 per day (€2,092.81 for 31 days). Basic duration: 180 days (less than 5 years of insurance), 210 days (5 to 10 years), 300 days (10 years and more), extended automatically when the labour market deteriorates (up to 240, 330 or 420 days).
• Basic benefit (new in 2026): if you have contributed at least 8 months in 3 years, whatever the reason for leaving: 50% of the previous year's minimum wage, i.e. €14.77 gross per day in 2026 (€457.87 for 31 days), for 180 days (240 if the labour market is poor).
• End of the former unemployment allowance (töötutoetus): it is no longer granted since 1 January 2026, unless an application was submitted before that date.
• Taxation: the Töötukassa withholds 22% tax on the part of the benefit that exceeds the basic exemption you ask it to apply (€700 per month at most in 2026); without an exemption, tax applies to the whole amount.

Common pitfalls

• Resigning while counting on unemployment benefit. If you leave of your own accord or by agreement with the employer, you are only entitled to the basic benefit, shorter and lower.
• Arriving without having contributed in Estonia. Since 2026, there is no longer any allowance for someone who has not contributed: without 8 months of insurance (Estonia and other European countries added together), you get nothing. Think of the U1 form before leaving your former country.
• Mixing up two "€886" amounts. The minimum wage rose to €946 on 1 April 2026, but the 2026 minimum social tax is still calculated on €886 per month (see EE-ENTREPRISE-TOUS-001), and some official pages still show €886.
• Fixed-term contracts that chain together. More than two successive fixed-term contracts for similar work, or more than one extension in 5 years, and the employment relationship is deemed indefinite-term from the start. Two fixed-term contracts are "successive" if 2 months or less pass between them (§ 10 of the Act).
• Going to look elsewhere without a U2. You can keep your Estonian benefit for 3 months (6 at most, exceptionally and on request, without exceeding the length of your remaining entitlement) in another European country, in principle after 4 weeks of registration in Estonia (the Töötukassa may accept an earlier departure for a serious reason, for example a job found in the other country), with the U2 requested before departure and registration as a jobseeker in the country of arrival within 7 days.

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens: free access to work; register your residence if you stay more than 3 months (see EE-SEJOUR-TOUS-001). Your unemployment insurance periods in other EU countries count (U1 form).
• Swiss citizens: same freedom to work; insurance periods in Switzerland also count for unemployment.
• British citizens (Scotland included): covered by the Withdrawal Agreement if they were living in Estonia before 2021; otherwise, residence permit for employment issued by the PPA, generally with a salary at least equal to the Estonian average gross salary (PPA general threshold: €2,092 gross per month for applications from 05/03/2026 to March 2027, against €1,981 from 06/03/2025 to 04/03/2026; the PPA table gives other thresholds for other cases). Reply within 90 days. For Estonian unemployment, the Töötukassa no longer adds together periods of work in the United Kingdom of a person who worked there for the first time after 31/12/2020.
• All: no unemployment benefit once pension age is reached, nor with an early or flexible old-age pension.