Usakovs wants permanent EU resident's status for residents of Latvia who are citizens of Russia

RIGA - European Parliament member and head of the Harmony political party, Nils Usakovs has submitted a petition to the European Parliament, claiming that Latvia automatically grant the status of a permanent resident of the European Union to those Russian citizens who were previously citizens or non-citizens of Latvia, without any language skill tests and the minimum income level requirement.

According to Usakovs, the petition was signed by about 1,500 people in Riga when Harmony organized consultations on residence permits, and by another 1,500 people Daugavpils and more than 500 in Liepaja.

"The main objective of the petition is to make the Latvian authorities stop all this nonsense that is now happening to Russian pensioners, our former compatriots, former Latvian citizens and non-citizens," said the MEP.

As reported, the 13th Saeima passed amendments to the Immigration Law, which provide that permanent residence permits for Russian citizens in Latvia are valid until September 1, 2023. If a Russian citizen residing in Latvia wishes to obtain a permanent residence permit again, he or she has to, inter alia, submit to the Office for Citizenship and Migration Affairs a certificate of the state language command.

It is estimated that around 17,500 Russian citizens currently live in Latvia, most of which are former non-citizens who decided to adopt Russian citizenship rather than Latvian citizenship.