Analytics, Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Latvia, Society

In total, 3,655 consultations have been provided regarding various legal and social issues. Most frequently, customers have chosen to receive consultations in person - in 2,106 cases, 1,021 consultations were provided by phone, 332 using Skype, and 196 times by e-mail. The opportunity of repeated consultations was often used.

Foreign citizens were mostly interested in migration, employment, business opportunities and family matters in Latvia, as well as possibilities to learn Latvian. Customers have used consultations of an ICI psychologist 121 times.

In total, free consultations were provided to people from 81 countries. The TOP 20 countries are Russia, Syria, Ukraine, India, China, Turkey, Belarus, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Georgia, Afghanistan, Egypt, United States, Azerbaijan, Eritrea, Armenia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka.

Professional support for working with third-country nationals has been provided to 422 specialists of various areas (social workers, managers of companies and NGOs, librarians, employees of custody courts and education institutions).

More than 130 volunteers have made significant contributions to organizing the ICI's activities. They have implemented 48 informative and integration events in different regions of Latvia, including cultural nights of different nations, which have become popular in many places in Latvia.

The ICI started to operate as a one-stop agency on May 18, 2016. The ICI was created and developed with the EU co-financing. Until December 31, 2017, its operations have been ensured by a non-governmental organization, Shelter "Safe House", within the framework of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund. The Culture Ministry has announced a new tender to pick the organization to act as the national coordinator and to operate the information and consulting center for immigrants in the next period.