OREANDA-NEWS The Latvian authorities have decided to expel nine Russians, three have already been deported, said the chairman of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (UDM) of Latvia, Maira Rose.

In March 2024, the UDGM reported that it had transmitted to the border service data on about 800 Russians who do not have the right to stay in Latvia, if they are still in the country, they will be deported. In May, Interior Minister Richards Kozlovskis said that less than 600 of them left Latvia by themselves through third Schengen countries, mainly Estonia, 34 Russians were ordered deported by the Interior Ministry, the whereabouts of 100 could not be determined.

"Nine decisions on forced expulsion have been made. Three have already been completed, another has requested asylum, he has reasons, it seems to him that he should not be expelled," said Rose.

According to her, about 900 people who did not comply with the requirements have already died due to old age, another 1,500 left Latvia without waiting for expulsion. About 1,500 applications are still being considered.

Earlier, the Constitutional Court of Latvia considered it legitimate to pass the Latvian exam for Russians who used to be citizens of the country and had a permanent residence permit. The Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs of Latvia in January 2024 stated that 1167 Russian citizens, 789 of whom are over 60 years old, face deportation from Latvia, while it is unknown how many of them have already left the country. The Interior Minister of the country admitted that instead of mass deportations, there will probably be isolated ones.

In August 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia decided to extend temporary residence permits in Latvia to citizens of the Russian Federation only in exceptional cases, and to issue them a permanent residence permit only if they pass the exam in the state language at a level not lower than A2 by September 2023. Persons under 15 and over 75 years of age are exempt from the exam.

According to the amendments to the immigration law, the possibility of re-passing the Latvian language exam for Russian citizens remained until November 30, in which case their residence permit was extended until the end of 2023.
About 1.8 million people live in Latvia, of which about 40% are Russian speakers. At the same time, Latvia has one official language - Latvian, Russian has the status of a foreign language.