Amendments to the Immigration Law

Following the global trends regarding the performance of remote work, Saeima has adopted amendments to the Immigration Law, planning to introduce remote work visas or so-called “Nomad visas”. The new regulation has the aim of promoting the entry of highly - qualified workers to Latvia from third countries.

Before that third-country nationals whose work specificities allowed their work to be performed remotely, had limited opportunities to receive the right of residence in Latvia. In turn, law amendments will provide rights for a foreigner to request a long - term visa for one year if he wants to reside in Latvia, while being in employment relations with an employer registered in another Member State of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), or being registered as a self-employed person in the OECD Member State.

The similar regulation is already foreseen in several other Member States of the European Union, for example, Estonia, Germany, Spain and Croatia.

It is planned that a number of prerequisites will be set for the receiving a remote work visa, including:

  1. employment with an employer that is registered abroad has lasted for at least six months;
  2. the specificity of work permits the work to be carried out remotely;
  3. the remuneration for work must be at least in the amount of 2.5 average wages (the monthly average gross salary in 2021 was EUR 1277);

At the beginning the remote work visa will be issued for a one-year period. However, in order to diminish administrative obstacles to remote workers, the law provides that, after the expiration of the visa, the visa may be requested again for the one-year period on the base of the performance of remote work. Such regulation will allow the possibility to stay in Latvia additionally for one year, but during the next long-term visa validity period, if a person has decided to start a business or employment in Latvia, to perform the necessary procedures for registration of his or her company or procedures related to obtaining a temporary residence permit or visa on the base of employment, is stated in the annotation of the draft law project.

It is essential to mention that, after the expiry of these two years, the person will not be entitled to receive a visa for at least six months in relation to the same reason - the performance of the remote work in the company that is established in the OECD Member State or in order to work remotely as a self-employed. Additionally, it should be pointed out that a remote work visa does not give rights to employment in the country that has issued the visa, so in order to be employed by a company registered in Latvia, at first it is obligatory to obtain a temporary residence permit or a visa with the rights to employment.

Among others, aspects of paying taxes are important in obtaining remote work visas, thus the amendments to the law require the Cabinet of Ministers to submit to the Saeima by 1st September, 2022 amendments to the Law "On Taxes and Fees" and the Law "On Personal Income Tax", which would provide the reduced personal income tax rate for one year for a foreigner who has received a long term remote work visa and has transferred his or her tax residence to the Republic of Latvia.

Amendments to the Immigration Law will come into force on 29 June, however it is still necessary to adopt amendments to the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers subordinate to the Immigration Law, providing for the documents that has to be submitted by the visa applicant, as well as to determine the amount of financial resource required for remote work visa applicants.

The BDO Law is ready to provide consultations and assistance on the Immigration Law issues, including, the assistance for obtaining the visa for a remote work.