The transitional provisions of the already valid Immigration Law stipulate that permanent residence permits for Russian citizens are valid until September 1, 2023. If the relevant persons wish to receive a permanent residence permit, these persons must, among other things, submit a certificate of learning the national language to the Citizenship and Migration Affairs Administration (PMLP) by September 1, 2023.
It was previously estimated that about 17,500 Russian citizens living in Latvia will have to prove their knowledge of the national language, most of whom are former non-citizens who once decided not to acquire Latvian citizenship, but to accept Russian citizenship.
Concerned that the state authorities will not be able to handle all applications for state language proficiency tests and residence permit extensions, the Minister of the Interior Māris Kučinskis (AS) proposed at the beginning of February to soften the conditions of Russian citizens’ stay in Latvia and to waive the September 1st deadline, by which residence permit holders must knowledge of the Latvian language should be certified, instead encouraging the process to be carried out gradually over several years, requiring proof of language knowledge to be presented only when a specific person’s residence permit expires. Due to the objections of the national association, this idea was abandoned.
Therefore, the Saeima today adopted the changes to the law directed by the Ministry of Interior, which stipulate that if the documents for the extension of the residence permit are submitted by September, Russian citizens will be able to continue living in Latvia, but PMLP applications would have the right to be considered within a period of up to a year. If you fail to pass the national language test the first time, you can take it again until the end of November and, accordingly, you can submit a certificate of language knowledge until the end of the year.
The new proposal of the IeM adopted in the Saeima today states that the permanent residence permit for a Russian citizen will be valid until September 1, 2023, if the necessary documents for requesting the status of a permanent resident of the European Union (EU) have not been received by the PMLP by the said deadline.
Regarding persons who require a certificate of mastering the national language in order to request EU permanent resident status, the residence permit will be valid until December 31, 2023, if the PMLP receives information by September 1 that this person by September 1, 2023 has taken the state language proficiency test at least once before September 2023 and this person is scheduled to take the state language proficiency test again until November 30, 2023, but the PMLP will not have received the necessary documents for requesting EU permanent resident status by the end of December. The permits will be valid until the date of entry into force in the case of applying for EU permanent resident status.
The application for EU permanent resident status will be considered by the PMLP within one year from the date of receipt of the application. Regarding these applications, the lowest state fee will be applied, which is intended for a foreigner to review the documents submitted for requesting EU permanent resident status in Latvia.
Persons who wish to continue staying in Latvia on an equivalent legal basis will have to submit an application for EU permanent resident status along with a certificate of passing the national language proficiency test.
The term of consideration of such an application is up to three months.
Considering the relevant application review process, as well as the large number of possible applications in a short period of time, situations may arise where a person has fulfilled the requirements of the Immigration Law, but his right of permanent residence has lost its validity before the application for EU permanent resident status is considered, and the person loses with the permanent the scope of health care, education, employment and similar rights related to the right of residence.
In order to prevent such situations, the Immigration Law sets a longer time for the consideration of the relevant applications and, accordingly, for the loss of the right to permanent residence, so that persons who have passed the test of national language skills within the specified period can submit the necessary documents for requesting the status of a permanent resident of the EU, and during the examination of this application could continue to stay in Latvia.
Taking into account the expected large number of applications, which is around 25,000 persons, as well as the need for each application to be checked by the competent state security authorities, the law sets a longer period – up to one year – for the examination of the application, during which time the permanent residence permits previously issued to persons will remain valid.