On Tuesday, the 6th of February, Latvian government approved amendments to passport-related regulations. The approved changes increase the state fee for the issue of a new passport.
From now on the price of the issue of a new passport will be EUR 34 (EUR 30 before) if a passport is issued within ten workdays. If a passport is issued in two workdays, the fee will be EUR 60 instead of the current EUR 55.
Exemptions from the state fee have been established for the issuance of an identity document, if the document is issued to a child who receives out-of-family care by a decision of an Orphan Court, and if the document is issued to a person who is placed in a long-term social care and social rehabilitation institution and the state or local government fully or partially pays for the long-term rehabilitation service.
Persons serving time in prison or undergoing court-mandated treatment in a medical institution are exempt from the fee. Persons provided with temporary asylum in Latvia are exempt from the fee.
Amendments will come into force on the 12th of February.
The government also passed amendments to regulations that govern the issuance of personal ID documents. These amendments provide a legal framework for new passports.
To reduce risks related to fake documents, it is necessary to update the design and protection measures of personal identification documents. The current passport model was adopted in Latvia in 2015.
Prototypes of new passports are ready. The Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs has already performed a procurement of technical equipment necessary for the personalisation pf passport blanks. All the remaining old passport blanks were used to issue passports until February 2024.
The government’s decision is intended to provide a legal framework to justify the issuance of a new generation of passports and approval of new passport models for passports of Latvian citizens, Latvian non-citizens and travel documents of stateless persons, refugees and persons granted alternative status.
The new passports include innovative security solutions. The new model of passports have 42 pages instead of 34, with more space for visa tags, and so that the passport becomes more usable for its intended purpose – travel and obtaining visas, as well as keeping records of the passport holder’s children.
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