Photo credit: Baltic Point / youtube.com
Latvian parliamentarians approved amendments to the law on immigration in the first reading, the telegram channel of the Russian Union of Latvia (RUL) party reports. They were discussed at the meeting, which took place on Thursday, September, 7. The final reading is scheduled for September, 14.
Changes in the legislation lift some of the problems of Russian citizens who were supposed to be forced to re-register a permanent residence permit.
According to the amendments, all Russians who failed to pass the state language exam the first time will be able to retake it within two years. During this time, they will be able to live and work in Latvia without restrictions.
Those who passed the exam, but were unable to renew their residence permit due to a long absence from the country or due to insufficient income, will now be able to apply for a permanent residence permit.
A little over 25,000 Russian citizens with a residence permit live in the territory of the Baltic republic. About 60% of those who came to the Latvian language exam failed to pass it. Most of them are elderly people, pensioners. They have been living in Latvia since the times of the Soviet Union, and for most of them, passing the exam is an impossible task.
Tatyana Moskalkova promised that she would appeal to the UN and the Council of Europe with a request to pay attention to the violation of the rights of Russians.
Russkiy Mir
