Until now, the Immigration Law provided that Russian citizens who have received permanent residence permits, since they were previously Latvian nationals or non-citizens, have to submit a statement regarding the proficiency of the official language to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) until September 1 2023. In order to obtain a new residence permit after September 1, the person must, together with a statement of proficiency in the language, request the status of long-term resident of the European Union (EU) and the application must be examined within three months.
However, the changes adopted by the Saeima allow Russian citizens who do not pass the language test the first time, to retake it until the end of November, keeping the residence permit and extending the submission of documents until the end of the year.
Those who have not applied for a language check must take into account that the permanent residence permit will expire on September 1 .
People older than 75 and people with serious health problems, as well as those who have obtained education in the state language, have been exempted from language examinations.
As reported earlier, the amendments were supported due to the authorities' inability to cope with the large influx of documents to be processed.
