President promulgates Immigration Law preserving residence permits in exchange for investment
After the Saeima's repeat vote at an extraordinary sitting on August 20, the president has promulgated the Immigration Law, keeping foreigners' option to obtain a temporary residence permit in exchange for investment in a state-created fund. The Progressives plan to push again in September to end the scheme entirely.
Latvia's president has promulgated the Immigration Law in the version the Saeima re-approved during a second reading at an extraordinary sitting on August 20. Lawmakers kept the wording backed by the parliamentary committee, which allows foreigners to obtain a temporary residence permit (TUA) in exchange for investment.
Conditions for investors
Under the law, a foreigner can receive a residence permit valid for up to five years if they have signed a contract and transferred at least €150,000 for a minimum five-year investment into a manager of a state-established alternative investment fund, and have also paid €10,000 into the state budget. For the permit to remain valid, the fund manager must periodically confirm that the investment contract has not been terminated and that the investment balance has not fallen below €150,000.
Proposals that were rejected or blocked
Several amendments were submitted for the second reading, but the Saeima's Legal Bureau ruled that only proposals directly tied to the president's objections could be considered — eleven proposals were declared out of scope. Among them was a proposal by Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs to preserve the option of granting residence permits for investments in alternative funds more broadly, which the Legal Bureau judged to introduce a new mechanism rather than address the president's objections.
A proposal by Economy Minister Viktors Valainis to restore residence permits for real-estate investment was allowed for debate, but it had already been rejected earlier by the Saeima's Defence, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee. A majority of lawmakers did not support granting permits for investments of at least €300,000 in real estate, or at least €100,000 in apartment-building construction projects in the Latgale planning region and Alūksne municipality. The National Alliance, New Unity and the Progressives had previously opposed this idea, citing security, geopolitical and money-laundering risks, as well as negative experience with so-called "golden visas."
After the vote, Progressives faction leader Andris Šuvajevs told LETA that in September his party will again push to fully suspend the "golden visa" programme, arguing it harms Latvian young people and families.
As a reminder, in June President Edgars Rinkēvičs sent the law back for a second reading, citing the need to further assess whether the investment-based residence permit rules align with national security interests and ensure proper control over the origin of funds.
