Russian citizens who have received permanent residence permits under the so-called Foreigner Law will also have to pass the official language examination. The Saeima made the decision on Thursday, 20 June, adopting in the final reading amendment to the Immigration Law.
The Foreigner Law provided that permanent residence permits could be obtained by foreigners whose place of residence was in Latvia as of 1 July 1992 and who were entered in the Population Register. This Law ceased to be in force on 1 May 2003 when the Immigration Law came into effect.
The authors of the new draft law emphasised the need to change the current residence procedure of Russian citizens in Latvia to strengthen the country’s internal security, to reinforce the position of the Latvian language, and to promote inclusion and belonging to Latvia among foreign citizens residing in our country in the long term.
The changes provide that the permanent residence permits obtained by Russian citizens according to the previous procedure will be valid until 15 July 2025 if the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA) has not received the necessary documents for requesting the status of a long-term resident in the European Union by 30 June 2025.
Residence permits will remain valid until 17 November 2025 for persons who need an official language proficiency certificate to apply for the status of a long-term resident in the EU. These provisions apply if, by 30 June 2025, the person is known to have attempted the official language exam at least once and needs to retake the exam, but the OCMA has not received the necessary documents for requesting the status of a long-term resident in the EU by 31 October 2025.
According to representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, the new requirements will apply to approximately 5000 Russian citizens. As before, passing the official language exam will be required for persons under 75 years of age.
During this period, Russian citizens will have the right to employment without restrictions, as well as the right to receive the existing state-provided services, including pensions and benefits, if the person’s declared place of residence is in Latvia.
Last September, the Saeima adopted amendments to the Immigration Law, which provided that Russian citizens who had applied for but failed to pass the official language examination or had not taken the exam for justified reasons could receive a residence permit for a term of up to two years. The provisions did not apply to Russian citizens who had obtained permanent residence permits under the so-called Foreigner Law and who were previously not required to have official language proficiency.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, many of these persons are Russian military pensioners and their family members. In turn, representatives of the Ministry of the Interior indicated that 3650 persons are citizens of the Russian Federation.
Saeima Press Service