Digital ID FAQ

If you have just received your e-Residency digital ID, confirm your certificates have been activated as this can take up to 24 hours from the time you picked up your e-Residency kit.

Check the validity of your certificates on the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PBGB) site. 

If the certificates are not active within 24 hours, contact the issuing authority, PBGB, at ppa@politsei.ee. Be sure to provide your full name, date of birth and document number.

First, verify your smart card reader is recognized by your computer and reading data from your digital ID card chip. To do that, launch the DigiDoc4 software you should have installed on your computer. If the software recognizes your card and can read data, this is not the problem.

While the software is open, verify your PIN codes are not blocked. If PIN1 or PIN2 have been blocked, you can unblock them using your PUK code. Here are the instructions.

Next, determine if the problem is only occurring for one e-service or all e-services. Try to log into the State Portal, Company Registration Portal or any other e-service portal.

If the issue only occurs with certain websites, it is possible macOS has cached a broken session and logging in via your digital ID card will not work. You can find a solution here. If you do not use macOS and still encounter a problem, please contact the site webmaster to inquire about the issue.

If the problem occurs on many sites, please contact the ID card help center using an online support form. You can also use their troubleshooting guide to find a quick solution.

If you have lost your card reader, you can buy any other smart card reader online or from your local electronics store. Check here to verify that a smart card reader you wish to purchase is compatible with the Estonian e-Residency digital ID card.

If you are certain your e-Residency digital ID card has been lost or stolen, and that it could be used by others to access e-services and/or provide digital signatures on your behalf, call the ID helpline (+372) 677 3377 immediately and request suspension of your certificates.

The phone line is open 24/7.

Note, suspension can only be requested by phone and it is not possible to reverse it.

In order to suspend your certificates, you will need to confirm your identity by providing your full name, year of birth and/or personal identification code.

To receive a new document, you will need to reapply for e-Residency. The application is available here.

The state fee to replace the card is the same as applying for a new document and you will need to once again visit a pickup location. Please see more detailed information about the costs here.

If you have lost your PIN codes, you can pick up new ones from the nearest foreign representation of the Republic of Estonia.

The first step is to contact the closest Estonian representation by phone or email to notify that you have lost your PIN codes and need to order a new code envelope.

The Estonian representation will provide you with further instructions about when and how to pick up the new code envelope. You can find the list of all the Estonian representations here.

The state fee for new codes is 20 EUR, which you can pay at the Estonian representation when you pick up the envelope with codes.

If you plan to visit Estonia, you can receive a new code envelope at a service point of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board.

Just stop by during office hours with your digital ID and other identification document (such as your passport), take a ticket and wait for your turn.

In this case the state fee is 5 EUR.

If only your PIN1 or PIN2 codes have been blocked, you can unblock them using your PUK code. Here are the instructions.

If you entered the PUK code incorrectly three times in a row, this will be locked too. It is not possible to unblock a PUK code remotely.

In order to continue using your digital ID card, you will need to order a new code envelope from the Police and Border Guard Board or at the foreign representation of the Republic of Estonia as described above.