Due to requirements of the Immigration Law 3 541 Russian citizens may have to leave Latvia by November 2023, as LETA was told by the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP).
This week PMLP will send notifications regarding the expiration of residence permits held by Russian citizens who have not submitted applications to receive permanent EU resident status.
If a person fails to submit documents to request permanent EU resident status or fails to sign up for a repeated attempt at state language exam,
and if his or her residence permit expired on the 2nd of September, that person will have to leave the country by the 30th of November.
In the event that these persons want to remain in Latvia, and they are subject to the Law on the Status of the Long-term Resident of the European Union in the Republic of Latvia or any of the conditions listed in the Immigration Law for requesting a temporary residence permit or permanent residence permit, they can submit a corresponding application to PMLP.
The Immigration Law states that the residence permits issued to Russian citizens are null and void as of September 2023.
To continue living in Latvia these Russian citizens have to apply for permanent EU resident status. To receive it, they have to submit to PMLP a document confirming his or her state language knowledge at level A2, as well as documents confirming sufficient finances.
Nevertheless, Latvian politicians have extended the period of time within which Russian citizens are to pass the state language exam by two more years.
Also read: ECHR finds no violations in national minority schools’ switch to Latvian language only