Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Society

The immigration quota was set at 0.1% of the permanent population also for 2015, spokespeople for the government said.

The limit does not apply to citizens of the European Union, of a member state of the European Economic Area, and Switzerland, and does not include the war refugees to be accepted by Estonia from Greece and Italy under the EU refugee distribution scheme.

For 2012-2014, the government set the limit at 0.075% of the permanent population of Estonia, raising it to 0.1% of the population in 2015.

In 2013, the number of temporary residence permits to be issued was capped at 1,000 and altogether 602 such permits were issued during the year, meaning that 398 units of the quota were not used. The maximum number of permits that could be issued last year was 996 and 720 permits were issued during the year. The quota for this year is 1,322 and 1,137 permits had been issued by December 1.