Baltic States – CIS, Investments, Latvia, Legislation, Real Estate

According to the Office's data, LVL 74.68 million from the total were invested in real estate, LVL 26.97 million – in subordinated capital of banks, while LVL 1.86 million – in share capital of companies.

Asked about the business trends of the investors who have received the permits, Jekabsons noted that real estate purchases in Riga, Jurmala, Babite District and the Riga metropolitan area are predominant. Interest about real estate in other Latvian regions is insignificant.

"It is clear that previously people also made such purchases, but the amendments to the Immigration Law did not apply to them. We did not have precise data before, but now we can see that those who buy property from third countries, also request a residency permit. It is a bonus for them. Most of the investors come from Russia, about ten times less from Ukraine, followed by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, etc. At the same time people from France and Germany also buy real estate in Latvia, but they do not appear in the statistics," explained Jekabsons.

Jekabsons noted that many details emerged immediately after the amendments came into force, which could not be predetermined, for example, third country residents, who had previously bought property in Latvia, began to sell it to one another to receive residency permits. Many fictitious agreements were also signed, but this past May, Saeima revised the law to exclude such possibilities.

He believes that not enough time has passed since the amendments were passed to evaluate the true economic gain they have brought to Latvia's national economy.

"A full fiscal year has not passed since the amendments came into force, therefore it is clear that money does flow into Latvian economy, but the amount of it, how much have these people paid in taxes and what is the money's influence on the national economy is unknown. In fact, it would be difficult to account all the money that brings economic gain to the national economy because many of the foreigners spend some time in their properties, buy services and employ people to supervise their houses," said Jekabsons.