The Estonian ID-card was first issued in 2002. During these years, the card’s visual security elements and design have changed, as has the chip firmware. The changes related to the chip are important, first and foremost, for software developers. For more information on the firmware specifications, consult the ID-card documentation.
It’s also important to be aware that all of the previous generations of the card are supported by the latest version of the ID-software. Older versions of the software may not support later cards.
Validity of digital documents:
- ID-cards issued from 2002 to 2006 were valid for 10 years and certificates had to be updated every three years. Since 2007, the ID-card has a validity of five years, as do the certificates.
- Since 2018, the validity of the digital ID and the e-resident card and their certificates are likewise, 5 years.
- The residence permit card is valid for up to five years, and not past the expiration date of the residence permit or right of residence granted to the person.
ID-software support for different ID-card generations:
| When issuing was started? | Document type | ID-card chip application version | Which ID-software versions are supported? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02.2002 | ID-card | 1.0 | ver. 3.1 and later |
| 10.2010 | digital ID | 1.1 | Windows OP system ver. 3.2 and newer, all other OP systems ver. 3.3 and later |
| 01.2011 | ID-card, residence permit card | 3.0 | ver. 3.3 and later |
| 01.2012 | ID-card, residence permit card | 3.4 | ver. 3.5 and later |
| 10.2014* | ID-card, digital ID, e-Resident's digital ID, residence permit card | 3.5 | ver. 3.8 and later |
| 25.10.2017** | ID-card, digital ID, e-Resident's digital ID, residence permit card | 3.5.8 | ver 17.10 and later |
| 03.12.2018 | ID-card, digital ID, e-Resident's digital ID, residence permit card | ver 18.12 and later |
*The issuing of ID-cards was started on 16 October 2014, residence permit cards on 19 December 2014, incl. certificates with SHA-256 hash algorithms, which have been issued since 01 January 2015. Digital ID and e-Resident’s digital ID cards have been issued since 1 December 2014.
**For ID-card certificates, elliptic curve cryptography is taken into use.
