No such option has been provided until this point, often creating tricky situations for the large number of Latvian residents overseas when they come home for even a short stay. The changes will also feed into the Diaspora Law to facilitate the return of compatriots, which came into force on January 1 this year.
Currently, if a person who has moved abroad gives his or her official residence address as a foreign address, the declared place of residence in Latvia is replaced by the foreign address without retaining the address of residence in Latvia.
Being able to give one address in Latvia as a secondary place of residence would allow persons wishing to return, for example, to register their children in kindergartens or schools early before remigration. This would generally facilitate and accelerate their integration into the Latvian labor market, society and access to public services, says the bill's annotations.
The amendments also provide that a person whose place of residence is declared in Latvia will be able to indicate one additional place of residence abroad.
Additional addresses can be changed or terminated at any time if the person has a declared home address or a foreign address. This can be done electronically as well as in person at the municipality or the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs.
Currently, a person can provide an unlimited number of additional addresses when declaring their place of residence though multiple additional addresses are used by a small number of people, and creates complications.
In order for the amendments to enter into force, they must be passed by the Saeima at second and third reading.
