Riga 17 August : Latvia plans to increase the strictness of its rules for granting or renewing residence permits to Russian as well as Belarusian citizens, the Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins announced.Temporary residence permits granted to residents of the two countries will typically not be renewed in the near future, dpa news agency quoted Karins as saying in an official session on Tuesday.
There could be a few exceptional exceptions, he added.
Interior Minister Kristaps Eklons suggested that permanent residence permits for family members, like the family members, are only issued when they have completed the Latvian test of Latvian.
Final decisions regarding the new regulations are expected to be taken by the government in the near future.
Latvia has suspended of the granting of residency permits to Russians and Belarusians in response to Russia’s incursion of Ukraine and has also cancelled more than 1,000 permits.
According to the immigration authority more than 9000 Russian citizens are granted permission to stay temporarily in Latvia.
Additionally there are around 37,000 Russians with permanent residence permits.
Latvia is bordered by Russia and Moscow’s allies Belarus and a large Russian minority is found in the Baltic state.
