The Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) together with the Ministry of the Interior and Cabinet of Ministers have agreed to increase the passport issue fee by EUR 4, as confirmed by PMLP.
Previously it was planned to double the passport issue fee – from the current EUR 30 to EUR 60.
The final decision on this will need to be made by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Under this new solution, the state fee for the issue of passport in an emergency in two days’ time will be set at EUR 60 instead of EUR 55.
It is also planned to maintain discounts for persons who are fully dependent on the state or local government, children under 20 years of age, pensioners, persons with group I or II disability, refugees and persons who have been granted alternative status.
Minister of the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis mentioned in an interview to TV3 programme 900 seconds that by not increasing the passport fee in the previously planned amount, it will be necessary to look for funding to maintain the Personal Identification Documents Information System and e-signature certification system somewhere else. “If there is no financing to procure a new system, we will need to get the financing from somewhere.”
A portion of the previously planned state fee costs, such as the costs of the certification service related to document security, investment in technology to ensure the preparation of documents, is planned to be covered using financing from other sources, including EU funding and the state budget.
Kozlovskis told TV3 that the final decision should be made by the Cabinet of Ministers by February.
PMLP promises to provide residents a consistently high-quality personal identification document service, as well as continue improving service quality to maintain the level of security and reliability of documents issued in Latvia. At the same time, PMLP is already hard at work introducing various novelties for residents’ convenience, such as self-service kiosks and secure document home delivery.
Also read: Latvians to pay twice as much for passports starting with 2024
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