Money for a new home, migrants, and citizenship for director Manskij – what will be discussed today in the Saeima of Latvia 0 10

More precisely – 40, since the 41st item is a request from the deputies of "New Unity" to remove the first item from the agenda – the amendments to the law prepared by the government, which exempt from criminal liability, replacing it with administrative liability, in the case of repeated use of narcotic substances.

The deputies from the Union of Greens and Farmers opposed these amendments. Fearing that the "green farmers" would again ally with the opposition, the politicians of "New Unity" simply decided to remove the bill from the agenda. This once again clearly confirms that the Silin government de facto operates as a minority government.

They decided to protect those who build on their own

Nevertheless, "New Unity" will not be able to prevent the "interaction" of the Union of Greens and Farmers with the opposition at today’s plenary session. Thus, it is planned to urgently adopt amendments to the Construction Law in the final reading.

One of the amendments submitted by the "green farmers" states: "When submitting an application for the conditions for the commencement of construction work, the developer – an individual – is not required to indicate information about the origin of the financing planned for the construction work in the construction information system."

The fact is that recently, Cabinet of Ministers regulations were adopted, which, as part of the fight against the shadow economy, required residents of Latvia who decided to build a house or other real estate to provide data on the origin of the financial resources used in construction in the electronic construction information system. The deputies of the Saeima from the Union of Greens and Farmers concluded that such a requirement creates unreasonable obstacles for residents in exercising their right to build a house.

Moreover, fulfilling this requirement is quite problematic – construction can take years, during which time the sources of financial resources may change, the construction process may become more expensive, and other circumstances may arise. To relieve potential home builders of the need to prove the origin of funds, the "green farmers" prepared the corresponding amendment.

"New Unity" did not like it, and the deputies from this faction proposed to simply strike this amendment. However, on Tuesday, the majority of the deputies of the Saeima's commission on public administration and local government rejected the proposal of the ruling party and supported the advancement of the bill in its original form. It can be assumed that today the bill will be adopted with the support of the opposition.

Since the law has a higher status than the Cabinet regulations, the government will have to change the regulations, removing the requirement to indicate the source of the funds for construction. Who is unnecessary in this country?

Today, the deputies will spend a couple of hours on the currently relevant issues of migration regulation in parliament. First, the composition of the parliamentary investigative commission to investigate the circumstances of the increase in third-country citizens in Latvia will be approved. It is expected that the parliamentary investigation will be led by its initiator – National Alliance deputy Janis Dombrava.

Then the deputies will have to consider as many as 130 proposals for the new immigration bill. The new bill regulating the entry of foreign citizens and stateless persons into the country was prepared by the Ministry of the Interior back in 2022. The need for a new bill arose long ago, as the currently effective law was adopted back in 2003 and has become very outdated – including due to geopolitical changes. Moreover, so many amendments have already been made to this "old" law that even experienced lawyers often find it difficult to navigate its provisions.

However, the new bill was submitted to the last Saeima just as the election campaign began, and the deputies urgently needed to restrict the rights of citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus, so numerous amendments had to be made to the existing law. As a result, the document was only adopted in the first reading, that is, as a basis.

The new bill regulating visa and residence permit issuance inherited the current Saeima. However, the deputies of this parliament did not rush to discuss it. Only with the beginning of this autumn session did "the process start": the Saeima's commission on defense and internal affairs began to consider the amendments submitted for the second reading.

It should be noted that during the consideration of the bill, a political decision was made to "not touch" Russian and Belarusian citizens in this bill. A separate law will be prepared for them – of course, with very strict conditions for obtaining the right to enter Latvia. The Ministry of the Interior is already ready to present this document soon.

As for this bill, during the second reading, the "language" article was tightened. While in the original version, foreigners could fill out entry documents in three languages – Latvian, English, and Russian, in the second reading, the proposal of the Minister of Education Dace Melbarde to exclude the phrase "Russian language" was supported. Thus, foreigners will actually be able to fill out entry documents, including applications, only in English.

Will they return residence permits for purchasing an apartment or house?

Interestingly, the new bill retains the possibility to apply for a residence permit in case of investments in production or the creation of a company with a certain number of jobs.

However, the bill no longer provides for obtaining a temporary residence permit in exchange for purchasing real estate. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Economics expressed interest in ensuring that such a right – to apply for a residence permit in exchange for investments in real estate – is retained in the new law. Thus, it cannot be ruled out that by the third reading – already in the second half of February, the corresponding amendment will appear.

And they will grant a Latvian passport

Before going on vacation, the Saeima plans to vote on granting Latvian citizenship for special merits. The candidate for the Latvian passport is documentary filmmaker Vitaly Manskij, who moved from Moscow to Riga more than 11 years ago and organized a documentary film festival together with Latvian colleagues.

As far as can be understood, the law still does not allow Manskij to apply for Latvian citizenship through naturalization, so the deputies of the commission on citizenship, migration, and social cohesion initiated the granting of a Latvian passport to the director through parliament.