Licensed recruitment of skilled Filipino professionals for Estonian employers. Your company is the direct employer — we run selection in Manila, the Estonian permit process and the Philippine exit formalities end to end. From 1 worker.
Every Estonian project runs on the same backbone: you define the roles, headcount and start date; our own DMW-licensed agency in Manila, Prime Search, sources and trade-tests candidates; you approve the shortlist (on-site or online); and we manage the Estonian permit process under your power of attorney while the Philippine side — contract verification, medical, pre-departure orientation and the Overseas Employment Certificate — runs in parallel. The employment contract is signed and verified before departure; your new employee lands, completes local onboarding and clocks in.
The Estonian specifics below are the part that makes Estonia different from every other market we serve.
Short-term employment registration with a long-stay visa (up to 365 days), or a temporary residence permit for employment (quota); from 2027 also the labour-shortage-sector permit. Estonia has one hard number and three routes. The number: the employer must pay at least the latest annual average gross wage published by Statistics Estonia — €2,092 a month for 2025, the reference in force from March 2026 — and the Police and Border Guard Board checks it against tax data. Route A, registration of short-term employment: the employer registers the worker with the PPA (decision within 15 working days), the worker obtains a D visa, and may work for up to 365 days within 455; no quota, no labour-market test. Route B, a temporary residence permit for employment: Unemployment Insurance Fund permission and a place inside the annual immigration quota — 1,292 permits in 2026, allocated from January and historically exhausted within weeks — for a permit of up to five years; top specialists paid at least 1.5 times the average wage are outside the quota. Route C, from 1 January 2027: a residence permit for work in a labour-shortage sector — no quota, no Unemployment Insurance Fund permission, salary of at least 80 % of the average wage (€1,674 at the current reference), within a separate annual cap of about 1,300 (0.1 % of the permanent population, higher in years of more than 2 % GDP growth); the sector list is set by government regulation for up to five years, with manufacturing and transport and warehousing named as the primary candidates, and the route is closed to leased or temporary-agency workers. The practical sequence for most industrial employers is A now, C in 2027 if the sector is listed, B otherwise — planned from day one, because a worker on short-term registration must leave after 365 days unless a residence permit has been granted.
Labour-market test: None for short-term employment registration. The standard residence permit for employment requires Unemployment Insurance Fund permission; the labour-shortage-sector permit (from 1 January 2027) and the top-specialist route do not.
Shortage occupations: No occupation list today — the gate is the salary floor and, for residence permits, the quota (1,292 in 2026). From 1 January 2027 a government regulation will designate labour-shortage sectors — manufacturing and transport and warehousing are the named candidates — in which residence permits are issued outside the quota at 80 % of the average wage. The quota-exempt residence permit for short-term work (after nine months with the same employer) is abolished from 2027.
Deploying a Filipino worker abroad is regulated by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW). MWO Prague has jurisdiction for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — employer accreditation and contract verification. The verified contract, together with the job order approved by the DMW, allows the worker to obtain the Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) — the exit clearance without which no Filipino worker can legally leave for a job abroad. Pre-employment orientation, medical examination at a DOH-accredited medical clinic authorised to examine overseas Filipino workers and pre-departure orientation complete the sequence. Because we operate the licensed agency ourselves, this runs in parallel with the Estonian permit rather than after it.
Typical gate-to-gate time for Estonia is 4–5 months to first arrivals on short-term registration, if the visa appointment is planned in advance; the standard residence permit depends on the January quota window from signed engagement to the first arrival, driven mainly by the D-visa appointment outside the Philippines, the €2,092 salary floor and, for residence permits, the January quota. Sourcing and trade testing usually take two to four weeks and are not on the critical path. We give you a written timeline for your specific role before you commit.
Sectors where Estonian employers most often hire Filipino workers through us:
Our contractual partner is the employer, and it is the employer we invoice for the service. You receive an individual offer for Estonia covering sourcing, trade testing, documentation, the permit process and arrival support — there is no price list, because volumes, roles and the Estonian route differ from project to project. Direct employment means the worker's wage is paid by you under your Estonian contract; there is no intermediary employer.
An Estonian employer briefs us on roles and headcount. Within two to four weeks we present trade-tested candidates from Manila with video assessments; the employer interviews online and approves. We file the short-term employment registration with a long-stay visa under power of attorney while Prime Search completes the DMW documentation. The employment contracts are signed and MWO-verified before departure; on arrival the workers complete registration and local onboarding and start on the floor — with our team reachable for the first months of integration. Whether the project is one specialist or a full shift, the mechanics are identical.
At least the latest annual average gross wage published by Statistics Estonia: €2,092 a month for 2025, the reference used from March 2026 until the next publication. It applies to short-term registration and to the standard residence permit alike; the PPA verifies actual payments against Tax and Customs Board data.
For the standard residence permit, yes — 1,292 permits in 2026, allocated from January and usually exhausted within weeks. Short-term registration is outside the quota, and from 1 January 2027 so is the labour-shortage-sector permit, within its own cap of about 1,300 a year.
Residence permits for work in government-designated labour-shortage sectors — manufacturing and transport and warehousing are the named candidates — will be issued without quota and without Unemployment Insurance Fund permission at 80 % of the average wage (€1,674 at the current reference). The sector list is still to be published; we update this page when it is.
Estonia has no visa-issuing representation in the Philippines. Denmark handles short-stay Schengen visas for Estonia in Manila, but not long-stay D visas; the mission accredited to the Philippines is the Estonian Embassy in Tokyo. We fix the intake point and the appointment before the registration is filed.
The PPA decides within 15 working days; the D visa and the Philippine exit steps take the rest. Four to five months from brief to arrival is realistic when the visa logistics are planned, not weeks.
Yes on most industrial sites; Estonian at level B1 is required only for a long-term residence permit after five years (Aliens Act § 232).
Fines for a legal entity rose to up to €100,000 under the Aliens Act amendments in force from 22 May 2026 — one more reason to keep the salary at the required level every month and the Employment Register entry correct.