Health care and medical assistance

Medical care

A family physician provides general medical care and guarantees the availability and consistency of health care services. The areas of activity of a family physician are:

• improving health and preventing illnesses;
• diagnosing illnesses and treating patients;
• redirecting patients to active or maintenance care.

In order to get a family physician, an application shall be submitted to the family physician for them to enter the person into their list. The cost of family physician services is paid from the state budget for people who are covered by health insurance. A person without health insurance shall cover their general medical care expenses by themselves.

It is possible to check your family physician via the e-services of an internet bank, in the state web portal eesti.ee (e-services of the Health Insurance Fund) or ask the customer service of the Health Insurance Fund via the client information phone number 16363.

Health insurance

An insured person is a permanent resident of the Republic of Estonia or a person living in Estonia by virtue of a temporary residence permit or by the right of permanent residence, who pays the social tax for himself/herself or for whom the payer of social tax is required to pay social tax. Read more here.

Read more here about health care and medical assistance in Estonia.

If you have any questions, just use the communication window on the left or contact us by e-mail:

veronika@jmk.ee

Labour market

If you are looking for a job, registering with Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund (Töötukassa) is a condition to be able to take advantage of most benefits and services.

Who can register?

In general, you can register as unemployed if you are out of a job, are willing to work, and have no other occupation that makes working impossible. Even if you can not register as unemployed, for example because you are currently employed but are looking for a new job, you can still register as a jobseeker. The difference between unemployed persons and jobseekers is in the services and benefits offered.

The Labour Market Services and Benefits Act (par. 3, 6 and 7) describes in detail who can register and who can not.

How and where can I register?

To register, you must go in person to one of the Töötukassa offices. Offices are open in every county. A list with addresses and opening hours can be found on this page. Be sure to choose an office that is easy for you to travel to. The office you have registered in is also the one where you will have to go to for further visits. If the location would for some reason become inconvenient to you, you can apply to change the office where you are registered. However, changing offices may take some time, during which time you must be ready to travel to the office where you have originally registered.

What should I bring?

To successfully register you as unemployed or as jobseeker, we need a valid identity document.

We can help you further and more quickly if you also bring documents concerning your last employment. You should take along any form or paper you have received from your previous employer that has to do with the reason this previous employment ended. The more information we have about your skills and qualifications, the quicker we can assist you. Bringing a copy of an updated curriculum vitae, if you have one, is certainly helpful.

What happens after registration?

After registering as unemployed or jobseeker, you will receive individual help. A job mediation consultant will explain to you what services or benefits are available to you, will make an Individual Action Plan, and will start working with you towards finding new employment.Registering also means that your specific qualifications and skills will be matched against the available vacancies.

See more information about the services of Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund for job-seekers. See more information about work and employment relations.

The two biggest recruitment service portals in Estonia are http://www.cvkeskus.ee and http://www.cv.ee

If you have any questions, just use the communication window on the left or contect us by e-mail veronika@jmk.ee

Legal assistance

Legal assistance is provided by legal bureaus, law offices and notaries. Basic legal assistance is given to least privileged people by several non-profit associations, and the national system of legal assistance makes a lawyer's assistance available to the least privileged. State administrative agencies have information lines that can be called to ask for the information needed. You may also turn to rural municipality and city governments, where officials with a law degree might be able to provide legal advice.

State legal assistance means that legal services are provided to a person at the expense of the state. State legal assistance is given by a lawyer, and legal assistance is offered with regard to pre-trial procedure (in civil, criminal and misdemeanour matters), judicial proceeding (in civil, criminal, misdemeanour and administrative matters), execution proceeding, administrative proceeding, review procedure, drawing up a legal document, or another legal consultation or representation. State legal assistance means that the legal service is initially paid for by the state; however, upon providing legal assistance, an obligation may be put on the person to pay for the legal assistance in part, or to repay the legal expenses in part or in full after the end of the court action. Explanation of the options of state legal assistance is also provided free of charge by law offices.

Free legal assistance

The aim of the free legal assistance portal www.juristaitab.ee (in Estonian) created in cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the Lawyers' Association is to help people find answers to legal questions that they encounter in everyday life. Until 15 December, the Lawyers' Association in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice opened so-called Legal Pharmacies (Õigusapteegid) in Tallinn, Tartu and Jõhvi, where people can receive free legal assistance.

Free legal assistance is periodically also offered by the law office run by the students of the University of Tartu, where the solicitors are students who have not yet fully obtained their law degree.

In Tallinn, free legal assistance is provided by students in the service bureau of Tallinn City Office on Vabaduse square in Estonian on Mondays between 12 and 14; on Tuesdays between 10 and 13; and on Thursdays and Fridays between 10 and 13. On Tuesdays between 14 and 17 and on Thursdays between 13 and 14.30, the service is provided in both Estonian and Russian.

The Students' Legal Bureau also gives free legal assistance to the economically least privileged residents of Tallinn in Tallinn Circuit Court (Pärnu mnt 7) on Mondays between 12 and 17, Tuesdays between 10 and 13, Wednesdays between 14 and 16, and Thursdays between 10 and 16 in Estonian, and on Wednesdays between 10 and 14 in Estonian and Russian.

See more information about Estonian legal system here https://www.eesti.ee/eng/topics/citizen/oigusabi

If you have any questions, just use the communication window on the left or contect us by e-mail veronika@jmk.ee

Driving license and right to drive

Would you like to apply for a driving license or make sure does your driving license issued at home is valid in Estonia?

While driving, a driver has to carry a driving licence or another document certifying the right to drive, a motor vehicle registration certificate and the registration certificate for its trailer or a copy of the registration certificate of the trailer. If the driver carries an identity document, there is no need to carry a driving licence issued in Estonia and a registration certificate while on Estonian territory.

The following driving licences are valid in Estonia:

• a driving licence issued in a member state of the European Economic Area and in the Swiss Confederacy;
• a driving licence issued in a member state of the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic that follows the convention, see the list here;
• a driving licence issued in a member state of the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic with an international driving licence, see the list here;
• a driving licence issued in a foreign state that has a mutual driving licence recognition international treaty with Estonia. It is only valid on the condition that the person's right to drive has not been suspended, removed or invalidated in the state that has issued the driving licence;
• See more information about right to drive and exchanging driving license issued in foreign countrry from the Estonian Road Administration web-page.

The list of the Estonian driving schools can be found here.

Read more about the exchaning the driving license and right to drive from the web-site of Estonian Road Administration.

If you have any questions, just use the communication window on the left or contact us by e-mail:

veronika@jmk.ee

Residence and work permits

When a residence permit is provided or renewed, a residence permit card is issued for the foreign national. A residence permit card contains personal data about the user, residence and work permit information, a photograph and fingerprints. A residence permit is needed by residents of third countries and by people with an unknown citizenship status.

A residence permit may be temporary (validity period up to 5 years) or long-term. State fee for a residence permit card is 30.67€; 63.91€ if processed as urgent.

Foreign nationals living in Estonia according to a temporary residence permit are required to possess a work permit in order to work in Estonia. A work permit gives a foreign national the right to work in Estonia while the work permit is valid. If the foreign national has a temporary residence permit that allows working in Estonia, a work permit is not required.

See more information about the residence permits and work permits from the Police and Border Guard Board web-page.

If you have any questions, just use the communication window on the left or contect us by e-mail veronika@jmk.ee.

Welcome!

Welcome to the e-councelling platform for new-migrants*!

E-councelling is part of the project "Mentorship service for the integration of new immigrants (third-country nationals) in Estonia" (TULE), implemented by Johannes Mihkelson Centre. It is funded by  European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals and supported by Estonian Ministry of Culture and The Integration and Migration Foundation Our People (MISA).

If you have questions about the Estonian society or you would like to have specific information for example about living and working permits, education or legal advice, you can ask your question by e-mail veronika@jmk.ee or just use the communication window on the left side. Please also state your name and country of origin.

We will answer your question as fast as we can, at least during one workday.

*New-migrants are third-country nationals, who have been living in Estonia for less than three years and have legitime ground to be here.