We continue to tell about interesting facts in the field of migration and its history!
Find out:
- What were the first steps in introducing residence permits in Latvia?
- When was introduced residence permit in eID format ?
- How have statistics on the issuance of residence permits changed from the beginning of the 1990s to the present day?
Origins of residence permits
In 1992, when the Law “On Entry and Residence of Foreigners and Stateless Persons in the Republic of Latvia” entered into force, five grounds for granting a temporary residence permit and five grounds for granting permanent residence permits were offered in Latvia.
At that time, a great deal of work was done in assessing which people who entered Latvia during the USSR should be granted residence permits in Latvia and who would have to leave the country.
In the early 1990s, administrative staff filled in the residence permit sticker manually and issued an average of 7,000 temporary residence permits a year. The issue of permanent residence permits was not yet started at that time.
Regulations of the European Union
Later, in 2004, when Latvia became a member of the European Union, the issuance of uniform format residence permit stickers was started.
The new immigration law, which entered into force in 2003, already provided 20 different grounds for granting temporary residence permits and 10 for granting permanent residence permits.
It is significant that in 2004 the employees of the Office issued already 7,500 temporary residence permits and 27,000 permanent residence permits.
Residence permit in eID format
In 2012, the issuance of residence permits in the format of an identity card (or eID card) was launched, including electronic signatures and biometric data of persons - fingerprints and a digital facial image.
The main grounds for entry into the country in this and the two following year was the extensive investment program introduced by the Parliament. This was the reason for issuing about 50% of all first-time temporary residence permits.
By 2012, the number of temporary residence permits issued had doubled to reach 15,000. At the same time, the number of issued permanent residence permits decreased. Their number in 2012 was only 10,000.
New model of residence permits
The year 2021 is significant in that the Office started to issue a new type of eID card - residence permits.
We are proud that today the Immigration Law already provides 40 different grounds for granting temporary residence permits and 10 grounds for granting permanent residence permits, which give foreigners the right to stay in the Republic of Latvia for a certain period of time or permanently.
