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Number of foreigners buying real estate to obtain Latvian residence permits dwindles

Xinhua, May 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

Demand for Latvian residence permits that foreign nationals can obtain by investing their money in costly real estate, banks or other businesses, has dwindled recently, according to a report published on Latvian public media website lsm.lv on Tuesday.

Furthermore, many of the foreign investors who had previously obtained such temporary residence permits had lost them, either because they did not bother to extend them for another five years or because their extension request was denied.

According to statistics released by the Latvian Office of Citizenship and Migration, the number of non-European Union (EU) nationals applying for Latvian residence permits in return for investments in real estate fell from 2,250 in 2014 to just 205 in the period between Jan. 1, 2016 and April 25, 2017.

A significantly smaller number of applications has been submitted by foreign investors seeking Latvian residence permits against investments in banks or other businesses.

The economic difficulties in Russia, which is the country of origin of most of the foreign investors applying for Latvian residence permits, and Latvia's decision to increase the amount of money that has to be invested to obtain such permits are considered to be the main reasons for the slump.

The Office of Citizenship and Migration's deputy head Maira Roze believes that for some of the foreigners, maintaining a property in Latvia might have become too expensive.

Furthermore, Latvian security services are now vetting residence permit applicants and foreigners seeking an extension of their residence permits much more thoroughly than before.

"The competent authorities are checking extension requests more closely because they have received extra funding for such activities. Their capacity has been increased. Quite a lot of these permits are extended, but there are rather many denials as well," said Roze.

Some of the residence permit holders that have attracted security services' attention give up their residence permits in order to avoid in-depth examination, the migration authority's official said.

Last year, the Latvian Security Police recommended denying 30 residence permit applications and annulling 11 residence permits, according to its annual report. Endit