Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Integration, Latvia, Legislation, Society

These are the first asylum seekers to be brought to Latvia from Turkey under the EU-wide relocation scheme.

The family has been placed in the asylum center in Mucenieki, outside Riga.

One of the relocated persons has worked in construction in Syria.

So far, Latvia has admitted 29 people under the EU-wide relocation program.

The eight people in Estonia  were met by their support persons and thereafter went to their new homes in Tallinn and Haapsalu.

One of the families consists of a mother, a father and a preschool-age child. The father has studied to be a carpenter and an excavator driver. The mother has studied in a university for a short period of time and besides her native language speaks English.

The other family has three children. Both the mother and the father speak English besides their native language. The mother has worked as a teacher, while the man has studied in a university and kept a shop.

Officials of the Police and Border Guard Board, the Internal Security Service and the Ministry of Social Affairs have all conducted interviews with the refugees and Estonia has authorized accepting them into the country.

Estonia has now relocated 27 refugees from Greece. Estonian experts have also conducted interviews in Turkey and the first refugee families from Turkey might arrive in Estonia in July.