Saeima committee approves initiative to terminate non-citizen's status

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Saeima Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee today approved ex-President Raimonds Vejonis’ legislative proposal to end non-citizenship status for non-citizens' children born in Latvia after 2020, to be reviewed by Saeima in the second reading.

Saeima will then have to also review the legislation in the third reading.

The committee today also approved a procedure of granting Latvian citizenship to children born abroad and to children whose mother or father is a foreign citizen.

As reported, the legislative initiative proposed by Vejonis will end the assigning of non-citizenship status to non-citizens’ children born in Latvia after January 1, 2020. Vejonis argued that this would help develop the Latvian nation as a consolidated society, based on common values.

Such children will be automatically recognized as Latvian citizens unless their parents choose a different citizenship for their offspring.

This legislative proposal is similar to that Vejonis already put before the previous Saeima, which voted it down. Vejonis said earlier he was submitting the proposal repeatedly in hopes that this time lawmakers will have a different position.

“It is not right to keep this non-citizen institution in our country and it has to be ended at some point. The children that are born in Latvia must become Latvian citizens. If their parents still want to renounce Latvian citizenship, they can write an application and choose the citizenship of a country of their preference,” said Vejonis.

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