More foreigners settling in Latvia for work purposes, research shows

More foreigners are settling to Latvia for long term work purposes, new statistics show.

Latvia's office of citizenship and migration affairs says it registered a total of 2,309 work permits for third-country citizens this year.

The majority of third party workers are from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, figures show. The Philippines, India and the United States also feature on the list, whilst Uzbekistan, Turkey and China also feature.

State Revenue Service (SRS) has registered a total of 2,784 European Union (excluding Latvia) citizens and 1,744 other countries' residents as tax payers. 

The Immigration Law stipulates that any citizen from a third-country is eligible to request a permanent residence permit, if he or she has continuously resided in Latvia for at least five years and has acquired the Latvian language. 

The European Commission forecasts that the necessity to attract third-country citizens to the European Union will increase with time.