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Investments made in Latvia in return for residence permits dwindle

Xinhua, October 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

Investments foreigners make in Latvia in order to receive temporary residence permits dwindled nearly six times in the first half of 2015 against the same period a year ago, according to the Latvian migration authority's data.

In the first six months of this year Latvia received just 34.3 million euros (38.4 million U.S. dollars) in such foreign investments, which was 5.8 times less than a year ago when these investments totalled 198.9 million euros, the data of the Office of Citizenship and Migration shows.

Between July 1, 2010 when the scheme was launched, and June 30, 2015 non-residents had invested 1.313 billion euros in the Latvian economy, receiving in exchange residence permits for themselves and family members.

"Investments made in real estate accounted for the bulk of these investments," said Gunta Skrebele, a representative of the Latvian Interior Ministry, who reported on the investment program's results to the government this week.

She attributed the slump to changes in the investment program's rules and amendments to Latvia's immigration law, which have raised the minimum size of an investment that has to be made to receive a residence permit from 150,000 euros to 250,000 euros, as well as to external factors like Russia's economic difficulties, as Russian citizens have been making up a large part of the foreign investors seeking residence permits in Latvia. Endit