On Tuesday, January 20, the Saeima Defense, Internal Affairs, and Corruption Prevention Commission will begin considering the residents' initiative calling for the expulsion of disloyal individuals from Latvia, according to the commission's agenda, LETA reports.
The initiative, signed by residents, calls for the urgent development of a new law or amendments to existing regulations to ensure the possibility of expelling individuals disloyal to the state from Latvia and revoking their Latvian citizenship.
The aim of the initiative is to create a safe environment, prevent threats, and strengthen national security. The authors emphasize that this will contribute to strengthening the self-awareness of Latvians and affirm the indivisibility of the state in relation to national values, territory, laws, and language.
The agenda of the commission meeting also includes amendments to the Immigration Law.
According to European Union regulations, the amendments provide for the improvement of the mechanism for issuing single residence and work permits for third-country nationals, as well as clarifying other conditions related to obtaining a residence permit.
In accordance with the EU directive, the temporary residence permit for employed third-country nationals will no longer be revoked if the unemployment period does not exceed three months within the validity period of the permit. If a foreigner has worked in Latvia for more than two years, the allowable unemployment period will be extended to six months.
Changes to the Immigration Law also include clarifying the application process for residence permits at the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, establishing legal residence as a prerequisite, as well as defining the procedure for submitting missing documents and introducing a single deadline of 14 days to ensure transparency and predictability of procedures.
The draft law provides for the possibility of delegating the acceptance of residence permit applications to an external service provider, as well as verifying the authenticity of documents in case of doubts when applying for a visa or residence permit.
It is also proposed to introduce a number of important restrictions and clarifications, for example, citizens of Russia and Belarus studying in Latvia will not be able to apply for a permanent residence permit during the validity of their student permit.
Furthermore, based on data from recent years, the possibility of obtaining a temporary residence permit through the purchase of government bonds without interest is excluded from the law, as this provision has lost its relevance.
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