On Thursday, 8 June, the Saeima adopted amendments to the Repatriation Law changing the procedure for repatriation and providing that persons no longer will be granted the status of repatriate from 1 January 2024.

From 1 July this year, beneficiaries of the status of repatriate and their family members will be granted a temporary residence permit for five years. Until now, the Law provided for granting a permanent residence permit to a repatriate – a person whose ascendant in the direct line is a Latvian or a Livonian (Liv) – and his or her family members.

As of 1 January 2024, persons will no longer be granted the status of repatriate. After this date, the procedures laid down in the Immigration Law will give the right to request a temporary residence permit for five years to those third-country nationals and their family members whose ascendant in the direct line is a Latvian or a Livonian (Liv). Those who have already acquired the status of a repatriate will retain it even after the Law expires.

The Law also provides for a transitional period after which repatriates will no longer be granted material benefit. After 1 July 2024, repatriates – both Latvian citizens and third-country nationals – will be able to benefit from the support measures provided for in the Diaspora Law.

The amendments were necessary because the public authorities involved in addressing repatriation issues have observed in recent years that citizens of Russia and other countries whose future life and residence are not related to Latvia wish to receive residence permits. Thus, the actual flow of repatriation to Latvia no longer complies with the basic idea included in the preamble of the Law, namely, to promote the return of compatriots who have left Latvia due to genocide, war, or assimilation threats, to their ethnic homeland, states the explanatory note to the Draft Law.

The Saeima has also adopted the related amendments to the Immigration Law.

Saeima Press Service