Guidance

Estonia: Knowledge Base profile

Updated 9 April 2024

© Crown copyright 2024

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About: Estonia

This document contains useful information about Estonia which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff process passport applications.

Contacts

If you have any questions about the document and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the document has factual errors then email the Guidance team.

If you notice any formatting errors in this document (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the document then you can email the Guidance team.

Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

  • version 3.0
  • published for Home Office staff on 3 April 2024

Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated with minor formatting changes.

Estonia: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Estonia.

Names in Estonia consist of:

  • up to 3 forenames
  • surname (family name – from either of their parents)

Estonia does not allow surnames to be created by hyphenating the parents’ surnames. If the parents have a double barrelled (hyphenated) surname from their marriage, they must decide which single surname to give to the child. If the parents cannot decide which surname to use the guardianship authority will decide.

Change of name

Change of name following marriage is allowed in Estonia, this includes hyphenating the couples name.

Estonia: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in Estonia.

Dual nationality is not legal in Estonia unless a child has a second citizenship by birth. They must renounce one of their citizenships before they are 21 years old.

Estonia citizens who get their citizenship from birth cannot have their nationality removed.

Naturalised Estonia citizens will lose their Estonia Citizenship if they:

  • become a citizen of another county through naturalisation or registration
  • serves in the armed forces or civil service of another country

Estonia: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Estonia.

Legitimacy

Estonia does not recognise a difference between legitimate and illegitimate births. This means that all births are considered legitimate whether a child’s parents are married or not.

Parental responsibility

Parental responsibility will be held by the:

  • mother
  • father if:
    • the parents are married; or
    • the father acknowledges he is the father of the child

If the parents of a child are not married to each other at the time of birth of the child, they have joint parental responsibility unless one of them have expressed their wish not to exercise parental responsibility. This is done when submitting the declarations of intention concerning the acknowledgement of paternity or maternity.

Estonia: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in Estonia.

Adoption is legal in Estonia.

Estonia: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in Estonia.

Surrogacy is illegal in Estonia.

Estonia: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in Estonia.

Transgender citizens are recognised in Estonia.

Estonia: civil partnerships

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about civil partnerships in Estonia

Civil partnerships and same sex partnerships are legal in Estonia.

Estonia: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from Estonia.

Following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, HM Passport Office cannot accept Multilingual Standard Forms (MSFs) issued by member states. An MSF will:

  • contain a reference to the convention signed at Vienna on September 8 1976, this may be on the reverse of the document
  • be marked as a Formul A (birth certificate), normally in the top right corner on the front of the document in the language of the country where the document was issued
    • there will also be marriage certificates and death certificates that will have a different Formul version that is also not acceptable

These documents are an extract of a civil registration record translated into the language needed and not a full, original certificate.

Birth certificates

All births must be registered within 1 month. When the child is registered the details are held centrally at the Vital Statistics Office.

Death certificates

All deaths are registered in Estonia and held in the Vital Statistics Office. They must be registered within 7 days of the date of death or the date the deceased person was found. Death certificates are issued by request.

Identity documents

All Estonian citizens and permanent residents must legally have an identity card from the age of 15.

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