Latvia may deport hundreds of Russians

The Latvian authorities may deport 800 Russians who do not have the right to stay in the country.

Source: Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, citing Madara Puķe, Head of Public Relations for the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs of Latvia (OCMA), in an interview with Latvian TV channel TV3 

Quote: "At the moment, 800 individuals have not been granted the right to stay in Latvia. They have not applied for either permanent or temporary residence...

We have provided information about these individuals to the State Border Guard Service for further verification.

In the coming weeks, it will become clear whether these people are still in Latvia. If they are, they will be issued with orders to depart within 30 days."

Details: Puķe said that Russian citizens who have not passed the Latvian language exam could apply for a temporary residence permit for two years, after which their knowledge of the Latvian language will be re-evaluated, with the threat of deportation.

Background:

• Earlier, the Constitutional Court of Latvia deemed it lawful to require Russians who were previously citizens of the country and had a permanent residence permit to pass an exam in Latvian.
• The OCMA stated in January 2024 that 1,167 Russian citizens were facing deportation from the country, 789 of whom are over 60 years old, and it was unknown how many of them had already left the country.
• However, Latvia’s Minister for the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis acknowledged that instead of mass deportations, individual ones are more likely.

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