Residence permit for Ukrainian citizens

Latvian legislation provides for various grounds for obtaining a residence permit in Latvia. They can be conventionally divided into three groups:
– investment (buying real estate, doing business, investing in a bank and securities)
– employment and commercial activities (work in Latvia, EU Blue Card – work for highly qualified experts, company directors)
– family (marriage, parents, kids, relatives)
– other grounds.

The residence permit in Latvia has become especially popular for Ukrainians since 2010, when the residence permit programs were introduced in exchange for investments.
Let’s get down to numbers.

As part of the investment program, in the period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2019, more than 19,000 applications were submitted, including 7,735 investors and 11,386 members of their families. During this period, 18,618 residence permits were issued. Denied only in 177 cases.

Investments related to obtaining a residence permit amounted to 1.5 billion euros, while 82.9% or 1.25 billion euros were related to investments in real estate in Latvia.
It should be noted that for almost all types of grounds, incl. and in terms of investment, Ukrainian citizens are among the top three. So, for example, at the end of 2019, a residence permit in Latvia for citizens of Ukraine was issued on the following grounds:
EU Blue Card (work for highly qualified professionals) – 2nd place;
investments in government securities – 2nd place;
deposits in banks – 2nd place;
real estate investments – 3rd place;
investments in Latvian companies – 3rd place.

However, the most popular residence permit in Latvia for Ukrainian citizens is employment – 1 place – 50% of all issued residence permits with work permits.
Among other, general, advantages of a residence permit in Latvia, Ukrainians highlight:
– flight time from Kiev to Riga – 1 hour 40 minutes;
– possibility of obtaining a visa of a third country (USA, Great Britain, Israel Canada, Japan and others) at the embassy of these countries in Latvia;
–ability to fly from Riga to more than 100 cities around the world without a transfer.

The conditions for obtaining a residence permit for citizens of Ukraine practically do not differ from the standard ones, however, there are some peculiarities.
According to the legislation of Latvia, it is possible to apply for a residence permit for certain reasons only at the embassy of Latvia, for example, on the basis of employment, marriage, study.

However, holders of biometric Ukrainian passports can also apply in Latvia, regardless of the basis of the requested residence permit. In addition, citizens of Ukraine with biometric passports do not have to provide a police clearance certificate.

Official documents issued in Ukraine (such as certificates of marriage, birth, police clearance certificates, etc.) must have an apostille.

There are three types of terms for consideration of documents:
– 5 working days;
– 10 working days;
– 30 calendar days

However, for persons whose place of residence or place of birth is Crimea, Luhansk region or Donetsk region, an additional check is possible, for a period of up to 4 months.