Broader range of Russian citizens to be required to confirm knowledge of state language in Latvia - law

RIGA. June 20 (Interfax/BNS) - The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, adopted a bill that expands the range of Russians with permanent residence permits who are required to confirm their knowledge of the state language at its final reading on Thursday.

The adopted amendments to the law on immigration state that Russian citizens who received permanent residence permits under the so-called law on foreigners will be required to confirm their knowledge of the state language, the Saeima's press service told BNS. The law, which lost its legal force on May 1, 2003 with the entry into force of the law on immigration, envisaged that permanent residence permits could be issued to those foreigners whose place of residence was registered in Latvia as of July 1, 1992 and who were registered in the register of residents.

The adopted amendments provide that permanent residence permits will be valid for such Russian citizens until July 15, 2025 if the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA) does not receive documents needed for granting the status of a permanent resident of the European Union by June 30, 2025.

For those who will need to confirm their knowledge of the state language to apply for the status of permanent residents of the EU, residence permits will be valid until November 17, 2025 on condition that information that a specific person has taken a test to confirm knowledge of the state language at least once and was scheduled to take another test is received by June 30, 2025 and if the OCMA does not receive the documents required for granting the status of a permanent resident of the EU by October 31, 2025.

Latvian Foreign Ministry officials earlier said the new requirements will apply to some 5,000 Russian citizens. People under the age of 75 will be required to confirm their knowledge of the language.