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How to obtain dual citizenship in Latvia

INLAT PLUS, Riga, 28.04.2014.Print version
Owing to the amendments to the Citizenship Law dual citizenship has been allowed in Latvia starting from October 1, 2013. The term “dual citizenship” means a person's citizenship status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen of more than one state under the laws of those states.

Jevgenijs Belajevs, lawyer of the law office INLAT PLUS.

It should be noted that persons covered by this definition have many advantages in comparison to other people especially when it comes to the citizenship of the European Union member states. Freedom of movement, right to live and work in any EU country without any restrictions – these are just some of the benefits.

 

Being involved into the procedure of preparing documents for the citizenship for our clients we come across different issues. For instance, it is a common belief that dual citizenship is allowed only with a specific list of states. It is not entirely true though. Indeed, the law contains a list of countries with which dual citizenship is allowed, and namely: EU, EFTA, NATO, the Commonwealth of Australia, Brazil, New Zealand and countries with which Latvia has entered into the agreement on the recognition of dual citizenship. However, there are some exceptions to the rule.

 

Under certain circumstances, dual citizenship in Latvia can still be granted to the nationals of countries not included in the above list. The law provides two main categories allowing dual citizenship with any country provided that the applicant meets certain requirements.

 

Both categories allow a person to obtain a Latvian citizenship by descent (the so –called principle of «jus sanguinis» (right of blood) imposing the following requirements on the applicants:

 

- Category "Latvian exiles" – individuals or their descendants who were citizens of Latvia on June 17, 1940, but in the period from 17 June 1940 to May 4, 1990 were deported or left the country as a result of the occupation and due to this reason up till May 4, 1990 did not return to Latvia for permanent residence.

- Category "Latvians and Livs" – individuals who are Latvians and Livs by nationality whose ancestors in 1881 or later, up to June 17, 1940, resided in the territory of Latvia.

 

Number of people falling into either category is quite arge. Officials estimate that the number of applicants for citizenship under these categories may exceed 15,000. Our company has been receiving recently an increasing number of requests regarding Latvian citizenship.
 

It should be noted that the majority of people contacting us often do not have all the necessary documents meeting the requirements of the law. Due to this fact we often have to get in touch with archives and in more complex situations also go to the courts. Based on our experience in this field we can say that the process of obtaining a citizenship often involves certain legal issues which makes it impossible for a person to try to resolve the question without the lawyer’s assistance.
 

Nevertheless, some clients contact us only after they were denied citizenship for one reason or another. For example, in our experience there was a case where a person was denied citizenship because of the fact that his name in the passport did not match the name specified in the birth certificate. As it turned out, the applicant while undergoing a naturalization process in some other country in 1960 decided to add a second name to his name. Logically, in the authority’s point of view now he is another person because formally the name is now different. It was really hard to obtain information confirming that the name was changed but we managed to do it though. Finally we found a solution to this problem still the procedure of obtaining a citizenship has lasted for several years.

 

While undergoing the procedure of obtaining a citizenship by descent our clients often have problems with the documents confirming certain facts that give them the right to citizenship. It happens that in historical documents names or dates of birth have been confused, or they just do not coincide with other documents. Sometimes it can be a major obstacle in the process of obtaining a citizenship.

 

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that since the amendments came into force another issue has become quite common, and namely – deprivation of citizenship of Latvia. The thing is that some people have had a dual citizenship for a long time but, unfortunately, sometimes without having a relevant right, at least in the authorities’ opinion. Now a person can be deprived of Latvian citizenship on the basis of the decision of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, whereas previously only district courts had a power to make such decisions. In other words, now the process of deprivation has been greatly simplified.

 

For more than 15 years our law firm has been specializing in the issues of citizenship and immigration, assisting both in appealing against the decisions of deprivation of citizenship and in obtaining of Latvian citizenship. Given the diversity and specificity of legislation we apply individual approach to each case.

 

Law office INLAT PLUS

Brivibas 40-15, Riga

+371 67505970

+371 26403577

[email protected]






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