On January 10, the Government of Latvia conceptually supported the termination of the Law on Repatriation due to the growing interest in it on the part of Russian citizens.
This is reported by the Latvian public broadcaster.
According to the law, people whose ancestors were Latvians or Livonians can come to Latvia. The law has been in force since 1995. If earlier interest in repatriation was expressed from many parts of the world, now Russian citizens are most interested in it.
According to the Executive Director of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs Myra Rose, these applicants are not really interested in Latvia, but only want to get a residence permit.
In 2022, the share of Russian citizens reached 81% of the total number of repatriates and their family members. The number of appeals increased significantly during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Last year, 430 applications were received from Russians. About half of them — 220 — received the status of a repatriate or a family member of a repatriate.
“If a Russian citizen is against the mobilization, but not against the war, and has not protested in any way, then this is not a sufficient reason to demand a visa, a temporary residence permit, or a repatriate status... I think it is time for the legislature to say that this Law on Repatriation is subject to reform,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevičs emphasized.
Another problem with this law is document forgery. In recent years, about 220 documents have been suspected of forgery. In at least 200 cases, people were refused or canceled their residence permits.
The Latvian authorities plan to keep the possibility of repatriation, but under stricter conditions. In order to obtain a permanent residence permit, a person will have to live in Latvia for five years and learn the language at least at the A2 level.
- From September 19, Russian citizens are prohibited from entering Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland with tourist Schengen visas issued in any EU country.
- After Putin announced partial mobilization, many Russians began to flee the country. Latvia, Estonia, and the Czech Republic then declared that they would not issue humanitarian visas to Russians fleeing mobilization.