Real estate scams forced Latvia to rewrite the rules for issuing a residence permit to foreigners

Over the four months of the new version of the Law on Immigration, Latvia was faced with a number of cases of fraud by foreign buyers of real estate. In this regard, the Latvian authorities are going to introduce an amendment to the mentioned law, writes Prian.ru .

Specialists of the Latvian citizenship and migration department (UDGM) note that they have repeatedly identified cases when foreigners tried to find a loophole in the law to obtain a residence permit and, in particular, resorted to fictitious real estate transactions. According to one of the management experts, "in our practice there was a case when the husband sold to his wife 2 sq. M an apartment in Jurmala for 100 thousand lats. Both of them are foreign citizens. Thus, according to the law, the spouse can officially get a residence permit (in Latvia)."

In order to avoid such fraud, the authorities are going to introduce an amendment to the aforementioned law, according to which foreigners will be obliged to buy real estate only from Latvia or citizens of the European Union to receive an investor visa. The entry of the new rule is expected no later than July 1, 2011.

Recall that the "Law on Immigration" was changed on July 1, 2010. As a result, foreigners can get a residence permit in Latvia, having bought one or more real estate objects in the amount of at least 100 thousand armor (141 thousand euros) for Riga and at least 50 thousand armor (70.5 thousand euros) outside the Latvian capital. In this case, not the estimated value of the objects is taken into account, but the real amount of the transaction.

In addition, a foreigner who invests in the fixed assets of the enterprise in Latvia at least 25 thousand armor (35.2 thousand euros) can receive a residence permit and introduces taxes in the amount of at least 20 thousand armor (28.2 thousand euros) to the budget of the state and local governments).

As of November 12, the UDGM received 68 applications for the registration of temporary residence permits, of which 33.42 applicants sought to receive an investor visa on the basis of the purchase of Latvian real estate (of which 26 were approved).