EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Society

Last Friday 18 Syrians, including ten children, were relocated to Latvia from Greece yesterday as part of the European Union's relocation program. According to their asylum applications, the persons relocated to Latvia speak Arabic, English, Turkish and Kurmanji. There is a tailor, nurse, weaver and cook among them.

In total, 318 persons have been relocated to Latvia under the EU relocation program so far, which means Latvia has taken in more than half of what Latvia has committed to take in.

In 2015 Latvia committed to taking in 531 asylum seekers in two years. While most of them will be relocated from EU member states Greece and Italy, 50 people have to be resettled from third countries, such as Turkey.

By today, ten of the admitted asylum seekers have been granted refugee status and 189 people had been given alternative protection status that is valid for a year but can be renewed annually. However, most of those people have left Latvia by now, moving on to more prosperous EU member states.

Also, border guards regularly detain foreigners illegally crossing Latvia's "green border", and after detention some of them seek asylum in Latvia.