Latvia’s Repatriation Law has been amended to grant repatriates temporary residence permits, but permanent residence permits will be granted only if the person has stayed in Latvia continuously for five years and has learned the official language at least at the basic level. 

Repatriates will be able to benefit from the support measures provided for in the Diaspora Law, but as of January 1 2024, persons will no longer be granted repatriated status. The change comes in the wake of Russian citizens exiting Russia in increasing numbers after Russia launched its war against Ukraine. With the number of applications for residence permits increasing, particularly from Russian citizen-returnees, the law hopes to reduce the threat to Latvia’s internal security by limiting the flow of persons to Latvia whose entry does not correspond to the basic idea contained in the preamble of the Repatriation Law.

The move, which threatens to cut many Russian speaking Latvians from their pensions,  is controversial. Latvian MEP, Nils Ušakovs, is trying to get permanent residency permits for Russia’s citizens living in Latvia.

Ušakovs submitted a petition to the European Parliament, trying to achieve the status of a permanent resident of the European Union to those Russian citizens who were previously Latvian citizens or non-citizens, without requiring language knowledge and minimum income level. 

The petition was signed by approximately 1,500 people in Riga, Daugavpils, and Liepaja. The previous session of the Saeima adopted amendments to the Immigration Law, which provide that Russian citizens’ permanent residence permits in Latvia are valid until the 1st of September, 2023. If these persons wish to receive a permanent residence permit again, they must submit to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs a Certificate of Latvian Language Knowledge.