Why Rinkēvičs Returned the Immigration Law? Three Reasons

This was already the sixth law that the head of state sent back for revision to the Saeima.

As already reported, today Edgars Rinkēvičs decided to return the Immigration Law, which was adopted just over a week ago, back to parliament. It might have seemed that the president "played along" or even "caved in" to the Progressive Party, which appealed to Rinkēvičs not to proclaim the law. But this is not entirely true, or even completely untrue.

Here are three main reasons why Rinkēvičs did not sign the law.

The first reason is that due to the proximity of the summer holidays and elections, the law turned out to be raw and, to put it mildly, illogical. Moreover, it cannot be considered normal when, already at the stage of the third (final) reading, 158 amendments are submitted to the bill, including conceptual ones! At the same time, the deputies forgot to specify that citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus would not be able to obtain a residence permit through investments in an alternative investment fund. As a result, yesterday the deputies made a corresponding amendment to the law, which has not yet come into force.

The second reason is that the deputies "forgot" to include in the law a requirement for investors applying for a residence permit to prove the legality of the origin of their funds.

And finally, the third reason is that it is unclear why the deputies supported the proposal at that time by deputy, and now prime minister, Kuldīga to issue residence permits for investments of 150,000 plus 10,000 to the state budget, while rejecting the proposal by Minister of Economics Viktor Valainis to issue residence permits for purchasing real estate for 250,000 euros and more! Where is the logic? By the way, representatives of the real estate sector pointed this out in their appeal to the president, which Rinkēvičs, albeit "modestly," mentioned as a reason for his decision to return the law for revision.

It cannot be ruled out that, despite the holidays, an extraordinary meeting of the Saeima may take place in July, at which the deputies will send the returned law to the Saeima committee.