In Q1 2022 a total of 111 people returned to Latvia with assistance from re-emigration coordinators. In spite of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russian aggression in Ukraine, the interest of Latvian residents living abroad to return to live in Latvia remains high.
Latvian residents living abroad are now able to return to their homeland in a more organised and safe manner than before, as reported by lsm.lv.
A total of 810 people have returned to Riga region with assistance from re-emigration coordinators in the last four years. A similar number of people have returned to Kurzeme and Latgale.
Riga planning region coordination Daina Šulca said at total of 40 people, children included, have returned to Latvia in Q1 2022. She said the re-emigration process was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Russian-Ukrainian war also had an impact on Latvian citizens’ interest for returning to the country for a moment.
Riga region’s coordinator said that she has received two applications from Ukrainian citizens who had left for Ukraine when they were children and now want to return to Latvia.
Kurzeme received a total of 30 returnees at the beginning of 2022. Another 30 are planning to return. Kurzeme region’s re-emigration coordinator Agnese Berģe said there are many global processes that affect the re-emigration process. However, many people who are already returning to Latvia have planned to do so for a long time. She also concluded that more than before re-emigrants seem very interested in real estate in the countryside.
Coordinators also say under the pandemic there is also an increased interest for remote work opportunities – living in Latvia but still working in the country where they lived before returning.
Latgale planning region’s re-emigration coordinator Astrīda Leščinska said this year 11 people returned to the region this year.
«It is more difficult for teenagers who are not used to Latvia’s education system and are forced to use translation tools. In spite of different recent challenges, I have yet to receive a single e-mail in which senders say they have lost all interest in returning to Latvia because of the pandemic or the war in Ukraine. Latgale continues developing, and I am happy that people with new ideas are returning to help with entrepreneurship and create new jobs. They come over and immediately see there are free niches available in their regions, such as beautification and tourism. Families that want to have a child and give birth here in Latvia also keep returning,» said Leščinska.
Since the start of the re-emigration coordination project in March 2018 more than 3 000 people have returned to live in Latvia so far.