One-off aid to be granted to families of alternative status in Latvia

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Families of alternative status will be paid a one-off €500 aid for each child, while persons with alternative status with disabilities or of retirement age will be granted a one-off €200 aid, the Saeima decided Thursday, December 16.

Persons whose alternative status was granted between March 1 and April 7, 2021, will be eligible for the aid. This is the timespan when the same one-off aid was paid to families in Latvia.

The aid will be paid by the State Social Insurance Agency on the basis of a submission by the relevant person, parent, guardian, foster family, or child care institution. The aid will be paid within one month from the date of receipt of the application.

Citizenship and Migration Administration data show that 187 individuals will be eligible for the aid, the amendment annotation says. The payment of the aid will start in 2022. This will require €92,000.

Alternative or refugee status in Latvia is granted to asylum seekers.

Alternative status is granted to a person if there is reason to believe that:

  • the person is subject to the death penalty or corporal punishment, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or degrading punishment in the country of citizenship or in the previous country of residence (if the person is a stateless person);
  • because of widespread violence caused by international or internal armed conflicts, the person needs protection and cannot return to the country of his or her citizenship or to his or her former home country (if he or she is a stateless person);
  • temporary protection may be granted to a group of persons who have left their country due to ethnic conflicts or civil war. Temporary protection gives the right to reside in Latvia for a certain period of time. The issue of granting temporary protection is decided by the Cabinet of Ministers.

The amendments will enter into force on the day following the announcement.

72 Members voted for the amendments, two were against, while one Member abstained.

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