According to the current rules, all migrants staying in Estonia with a temporary visa or without a visa and whose short-term employment in Estonia is registered may work in Estonia. It is planned to change this so that in the future, short-term work in Estonia will only be possible on the basis of a long-term visa, i.e. a visa valid for 365 days.

Janek Mägi, head of the Border Guard and Migration Policy Department of the Ministry of the Interior, said this is one possible measure currently being discussed.

He said the ministry is trying to resolve the issue where immigrants from third countries come to Estonia without a visa or with a tourist visa and start working.

"A person who actually knows they want to come to work in Estonia applies for a tourist visa, uses it for a non-targeted purpose, and starts working here. If a person already knows their clear path to come here to work, they should apply for a long-stay visa and that would be perfectly correct," said Mägi.

However, the agricultural sector is concerned that additional rules will make it harder to hire migrant workers.

Ragnar Viikoja, head of the agricultural sector of the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, said that only allowing people to work with a long-term visa prolongs the process and it can become more expensive for both sides. It also increases uncertainty.

"For example, if they have to travel here in advance because it is not possible to apply for a long-stay visa in their home country without knowing whether the application will be accepted. What this means for us is that we may be missing out on the people who could do the job," he said.

Without foreign labor, domestic fruit and vegetable prices will rise significantly as the jobs require manual labor and locals are not eager to do it. The chamber suggested not changing the rules for seasonal workers.

"We do not see this as increasing any security risk. This background check can still be done. After all, companies that bring labor here are predominantly used. From their point of view, it makes more sense to keep all the paperwork in order so that people come here on the right basis," Viikoja said.

Mägi said the rules will not affect seasonal workers: "If we are talking about strawberry pickers, for example, these are definitely seasonal workers who would not be covered by this requirement."

He said feedback on the proposed amendments has been mostly negative.

"But the aim now was to get the views of stakeholders and the responsible agencies and we will make proposals to the government accordingly," the official said.

The bill is expected to reach the government in the summer.

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