EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation, Society

Under amendments to the government regulations the monthly benefit to be paid to an adult immigrant with refugee status has been set at EUR 139. If a group of refugees are members of one family, one of them will receive EUR 139 a month, while others, including children, will be paid EUR 97 a month each.

Previously, the monthly benefit for adult refugees had been set at EUR 256, while the monthly benefit for underage refugees was 30% smaller.

As the EU decided on the relocation of refugees across the bloc's member states, Latvia's government coalition decided that the refugee benefits have to made equal to the current subsistence minimum to establish equality between the refugees and those Latvia who live on minimum income. The reduction of the refugee benefit will allow saving about EUR 380,000.

As reported, Latvia has agreed to accept a total of 776 asylum seekers to be relocated from other EU member states. So far, a practical agreement has been reached on relocation of 531 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to Latvia.

The first ten asylum seekers are expected to arrive in Latvia from Greece in January 2016.