Estonian nationality law

rdf:langString Estonian nationality law

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rdf:langString Citizenship Act

rdf:langString amended

rdf:langString Estonian citizenship law details the conditions by which a person is a citizen of Estonia. The primary law currently governing these requirements is the Citizenship Act, which came into force on 1 April 1995. Estonia is a member state of the European Union (EU) and all Estonian citizens are EU citizens. They have automatic and permanent permission to live and work in any EU or European Free Trade Association (EFTA) country and may vote in elections to the European Parliament. Any person born to at least one Estonian parent receives Estonian citizenship at birth. Noncitizens may naturalise as Estonian citizens after living in the country for at least eight years as a permanent resident or on a valid long-term residence permit and showing proficiency in the Estonian language. Estonia was in 1940–1941 and 1944–1991 occupied by the Soviet Union and all local residents were considered citizens of the USSR by the former Soviet authorities. Since the restoration of the country's full independence in 1991, the Estonian government has asserted legal continuity with its pre-1940 predecessor and therefore all citizens of Estonia as of 1940 as well as all of their descendants are automatically considered citizens of Estonia now. Anyone who settled in the country during the 1940–1991 German and Soviet occupations, and their children, did not automatically become Estonian citizens in 1991, and many of these first and second generation immigrants have remained in Estonia as noncitizen residents.