NextSpring

Descent Here Is Not A Residence Route But A Shortcut Past Residence Altogether, And It Runs Back To 1881

Answer

The general rule applies to you

No exception is recorded for citizens of Germany on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.

172 exceptions recorded across 63 countries · none match Germany to Latvia · Residency through ancestry

Latvia has two answers to descent and the second one skips the first. The residence answer is point 6 of article 27(1) of the Imigrācijas likums: a temporary residence permit for up to six years where one of the applicant's ascendants in the direct line is a Latvian or a Liv, and article 44(4) attaches unrestricted employment rights to it, so the holder is not tied to an employer. Point 5 is the other half, for up to two years, for a person who was a Latvian citizen on 17 June 1940 or whose parent is a Latvian citizen permanently resident in Latvia. The citizenship answer is article 2(1)(3) of the Pilsonības likums, and it is not naturalisation. A Latvian or a Liv is a Latvian citizen on registration if he shows three things: that his ancestor lived permanently in the territory of Latvia as it was before 17 June 1940 in 1881 or later, that he knows Latvian under article 20, and that he or a parent or grandparent belongs to the state nation or to the autochthonous people - or explains why he cannot show that and offers other proof instead, including a confirmation of belonging to the Latvian community where he lives abroad. Article 9(3) allows dual citizenship on that route, and article 21(3) excuses him from the written essay the language test otherwise requires.

Verified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-10-11

At a glance

Permit length on descent
Up to 6 years

Article 27(1)(6) of the Imigrācijas likums, the longest first permit the Act gives on any family ground.

Work rights on that permit
Unrestricted

Article 44(4) of the Imigrācijas likums, which does not tie the holder to an employer.

Ancestral cut-off for citizenship by registration
1881

Article 2(1)(3)(a) of the Pilsonības likums, measured against the territory of Latvia as it was until 17 June 1940.

Residence needed for that citizenship
None in article 2(1)(3) of the Pilsonības likums, which asks for ancestry, language and belonging and not for time in the country

The five years in article 12(1)(1) are a condition of naturalisation, and registration under article 2 is not naturalisation.

Dual citizenship on that route
Allowed

Article 9(3) of the Pilsonības likums, which says dual citizenship may arise for Latvians and Livs acquiring citizenship under article 2(1)(3).

Written essay in the language test
Not required on that route

Article 21(3) of the Pilsonības likums disapplies article 20(4) to a person under article 2(1)(3) and to anyone over 65.

Requirements

  • For the permit: an ascendant in the direct line who is a Latvian or a Liv
  • For citizenship by registration: an ancestor permanently resident in the territory of Latvia in 1881 or later
  • Knowledge of Latvian under article 20 of the Pilsonības likums
  • Documentary proof of belonging to the state nation or the autochthonous people, or other proof with an explanation

Country-level policy

Every Article Number Published About Latvian Immigration Before September 2026 Is Now Wrong, And So Are The Cabinet Regulations' Own Citations

On 15 September 2026 a wholly new Imigrācijas likums, adopted by the Saeima on 20 August 2026 and published in Latvijas Vēstnesis 167 of 1 September 2026, replaced the Act of 31 October 2002. Transitional provision 1 repeals the old Act outright, and transitional provision 2 repeals the separate law on EU long-term resident status, folding that status into article 24(1)(2) as the pastāvīgās uzturēšanās atļauja. The renumbering is total: the catalogue of temporary residence grounds moved from article 23 to article 27, permanent residence from a separate Act to article 31, employment from article 9 to articles 42 to 47. Three things the new Act brings are new in substance rather than in numbering. Article 12 creates a duty to declare a trip 48 hours before entry for nationals of every state outside ten named groups. Articles 48 and 49 create a compulsory early integration programme - a Latvian culture and history course and Latvian at A1 - for anyone whose temporary permits total 18 months or more, paid for by the foreigner; transitional provision 20 postpones article 48 to 31 December 2027. And article 27 simply does not contain the property and bank investor routes the old Act carried. The subordinate legislation has not caught up. Transitional provision 3 keeps thirty-six Cabinet regulations applicable until 1 December 2027 in so far as they do not conflict with the new Act, and those regulations still cite the repealed Act's article numbers on their face: Regulation No. 675 is issued under article 2.1(2) and Regulation No. 225 under article 4(1)(5) and 4.2(3), and the Act in force has neither article.

What applies to you

Nothing changes for a citizen of Germany

We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.

What the law says

Text layer - verbatim verifiedImigrācijas likums · 27. panta pirmās daļas 6. punkts · consolidated to 2026-09-15
«6) uz laiku līdz sešiem gadiem, ja viens no viņa augšupējiem radiniekiem taisnā līnijā ir latvietis vai lībietis (līvs);»

Our translation - not official

for a period of up to six years, if one of his ascendant relatives in the direct line is a Latvian or a Liv;

Read it at the source
About this source

The systematisation service of Latvia's official publisher. The state joint-stock company Latvijas Vēstnesis issues the official gazette at vestnesis.lv and separately runs likumi.lv, where every instrument is kept as a series of point-in-time versions. An instrument is addressed by a numeric document id, as /ta/id/370622-imigracijas-likums or simply /ta/id/370622, and the slug is decorative: the bare id answers. Each page carries a version selector showing the redaction in force and the date range it covers - Attēlotā redakcija, 15.09.2026.-30.12.2027. Spēkā esošā - and, where an amendment has been adopted but has not yet taken effect, a future redaction with its own date. The page footer carries the act's identity card: issuing body, date adopted, date in force, and the Latvijas Vēstnesis issue and OP number of the official publication. A repealed instrument keeps its address and gains a banner naming its successor, which is how the replacement of the Imigrācijas likums on 15 September 2026 is discoverable at all. Firecrawl reads the site without a proxy or a warm-up.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: **Nothing here is the official text.** Every page carries, in its own words, "Sistematizēti tiesību akti ir informatīvi. Pretrunu gadījumā vadās pēc oficiālās publikācijas" - systematised legal acts are informative, and in case of contradiction the official publication governs. The official publication is the gazette at vestnesis.lv, identified by issue number and OP number, and a point that turns on an exact wording should be checked there. **The hyperlinks in a consolidated text follow a name rather than an instrument, and they move silently.** Cabinet regulations issued under the Imigrācijas likums still cite the repealed 2002 Act's article numbers on their face, and likumi.lv now renders those references as links to the 2026 Act: Regulation No. 675 reads "Izdoti saskaņā ar Imigrācijas likuma 2.1 panta otro daļu" linking to an Act that has no article 2.1, and Regulation No. 225 does the same for articles 4(1)(5) and 4.2(3). Nothing on either page says the reference has moved. **A statute's body is served inside an HTML table and extracts with literal `<br>` between every paragraph and every numbered point.** A quotation that crosses one carries the tag, so quotations must be taken within a single point. **The version date is the date the redaction took effect, not a sweep date**, so the cut-off recorded from it says what has been incorporated and not when the editors last looked. It cannot be cited for anything the Collection does not carry: the sector average wages that Cabinet Regulation No. 225 point 5.3 measures a work visa against, which the Central Statistical Bureau publishes; the needy-person income level that Cabinet Regulation No. 675 measures a Union citizen's means against; the average payment-account fee that caps the basic account, which the Finance Latvia Association publishes quarterly; the list of states Latvia has a bilateral visa-waiver treaty or a driving-licence treaty with, which appears in no instrument read here; and the practice of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, which publishes at pmlp.gov.lv and is a different publisher.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedImigrācijas likums · 27. panta pirmās daļas 5. punkts · consolidated to 2026-09-15
«5) uz laiku līdz diviem gadiem, ja viņš 1940. gada 17. jūnijā bijis Latvijas pilsonis vai viens no viņa vecākiem ir Latvijas Republikā pastāvīgi dzīvojošs Latvijas pilsonis;»

Our translation - not official

for a period of up to two years, if he was a Latvian citizen on 17 June 1940 or one of his parents is a Latvian citizen permanently residing in the Republic of Latvia;

Read it at the source
About this source

The systematisation service of Latvia's official publisher. The state joint-stock company Latvijas Vēstnesis issues the official gazette at vestnesis.lv and separately runs likumi.lv, where every instrument is kept as a series of point-in-time versions. An instrument is addressed by a numeric document id, as /ta/id/370622-imigracijas-likums or simply /ta/id/370622, and the slug is decorative: the bare id answers. Each page carries a version selector showing the redaction in force and the date range it covers - Attēlotā redakcija, 15.09.2026.-30.12.2027. Spēkā esošā - and, where an amendment has been adopted but has not yet taken effect, a future redaction with its own date. The page footer carries the act's identity card: issuing body, date adopted, date in force, and the Latvijas Vēstnesis issue and OP number of the official publication. A repealed instrument keeps its address and gains a banner naming its successor, which is how the replacement of the Imigrācijas likums on 15 September 2026 is discoverable at all. Firecrawl reads the site without a proxy or a warm-up.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: **Nothing here is the official text.** Every page carries, in its own words, "Sistematizēti tiesību akti ir informatīvi. Pretrunu gadījumā vadās pēc oficiālās publikācijas" - systematised legal acts are informative, and in case of contradiction the official publication governs. The official publication is the gazette at vestnesis.lv, identified by issue number and OP number, and a point that turns on an exact wording should be checked there. **The hyperlinks in a consolidated text follow a name rather than an instrument, and they move silently.** Cabinet regulations issued under the Imigrācijas likums still cite the repealed 2002 Act's article numbers on their face, and likumi.lv now renders those references as links to the 2026 Act: Regulation No. 675 reads "Izdoti saskaņā ar Imigrācijas likuma 2.1 panta otro daļu" linking to an Act that has no article 2.1, and Regulation No. 225 does the same for articles 4(1)(5) and 4.2(3). Nothing on either page says the reference has moved. **A statute's body is served inside an HTML table and extracts with literal `<br>` between every paragraph and every numbered point.** A quotation that crosses one carries the tag, so quotations must be taken within a single point. **The version date is the date the redaction took effect, not a sweep date**, so the cut-off recorded from it says what has been incorporated and not when the editors last looked. It cannot be cited for anything the Collection does not carry: the sector average wages that Cabinet Regulation No. 225 point 5.3 measures a work visa against, which the Central Statistical Bureau publishes; the needy-person income level that Cabinet Regulation No. 675 measures a Union citizen's means against; the average payment-account fee that caps the basic account, which the Finance Latvia Association publishes quarterly; the list of states Latvia has a bilateral visa-waiver treaty or a driving-licence treaty with, which appears in no instrument read here; and the practice of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, which publishes at pmlp.gov.lv and is a different publisher.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedImigrācijas likums · 44. panta 4. punkts · consolidated to 2026-09-15
«4) termiņuzturēšanās atļauju kā persona, kurai viens no augšupējiem radiniekiem taisnā līnijā ir latvietis vai lībietis (līvs);»

Our translation - not official

a temporary residence permit as a person one of whose ascendant relatives in the direct line is a Latvian or a Liv;

Read it at the source
About this source

The systematisation service of Latvia's official publisher. The state joint-stock company Latvijas Vēstnesis issues the official gazette at vestnesis.lv and separately runs likumi.lv, where every instrument is kept as a series of point-in-time versions. An instrument is addressed by a numeric document id, as /ta/id/370622-imigracijas-likums or simply /ta/id/370622, and the slug is decorative: the bare id answers. Each page carries a version selector showing the redaction in force and the date range it covers - Attēlotā redakcija, 15.09.2026.-30.12.2027. Spēkā esošā - and, where an amendment has been adopted but has not yet taken effect, a future redaction with its own date. The page footer carries the act's identity card: issuing body, date adopted, date in force, and the Latvijas Vēstnesis issue and OP number of the official publication. A repealed instrument keeps its address and gains a banner naming its successor, which is how the replacement of the Imigrācijas likums on 15 September 2026 is discoverable at all. Firecrawl reads the site without a proxy or a warm-up.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: **Nothing here is the official text.** Every page carries, in its own words, "Sistematizēti tiesību akti ir informatīvi. Pretrunu gadījumā vadās pēc oficiālās publikācijas" - systematised legal acts are informative, and in case of contradiction the official publication governs. The official publication is the gazette at vestnesis.lv, identified by issue number and OP number, and a point that turns on an exact wording should be checked there. **The hyperlinks in a consolidated text follow a name rather than an instrument, and they move silently.** Cabinet regulations issued under the Imigrācijas likums still cite the repealed 2002 Act's article numbers on their face, and likumi.lv now renders those references as links to the 2026 Act: Regulation No. 675 reads "Izdoti saskaņā ar Imigrācijas likuma 2.1 panta otro daļu" linking to an Act that has no article 2.1, and Regulation No. 225 does the same for articles 4(1)(5) and 4.2(3). Nothing on either page says the reference has moved. **A statute's body is served inside an HTML table and extracts with literal `<br>` between every paragraph and every numbered point.** A quotation that crosses one carries the tag, so quotations must be taken within a single point. **The version date is the date the redaction took effect, not a sweep date**, so the cut-off recorded from it says what has been incorporated and not when the editors last looked. It cannot be cited for anything the Collection does not carry: the sector average wages that Cabinet Regulation No. 225 point 5.3 measures a work visa against, which the Central Statistical Bureau publishes; the needy-person income level that Cabinet Regulation No. 675 measures a Union citizen's means against; the average payment-account fee that caps the basic account, which the Finance Latvia Association publishes quarterly; the list of states Latvia has a bilateral visa-waiver treaty or a driving-licence treaty with, which appears in no instrument read here; and the practice of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, which publishes at pmlp.gov.lv and is a different publisher.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedPilsonības likums · 2. panta pirmās daļas 3. punkts · consolidated to 2023-04-01
«3) latvietis vai līvs, kurš Latvijā apliecinājis visus šādus nosacījumus:»

Our translation - not official

a Latvian or a Liv who has confirmed in Latvia all of the following conditions:

The point opens the list of persons who are Latvian citizens, which is a statement of status rather than a grant.

Read it at the source
About this source

The systematisation service of Latvia's official publisher. The state joint-stock company Latvijas Vēstnesis issues the official gazette at vestnesis.lv and separately runs likumi.lv, where every instrument is kept as a series of point-in-time versions. An instrument is addressed by a numeric document id, as /ta/id/370622-imigracijas-likums or simply /ta/id/370622, and the slug is decorative: the bare id answers. Each page carries a version selector showing the redaction in force and the date range it covers - Attēlotā redakcija, 15.09.2026.-30.12.2027. Spēkā esošā - and, where an amendment has been adopted but has not yet taken effect, a future redaction with its own date. The page footer carries the act's identity card: issuing body, date adopted, date in force, and the Latvijas Vēstnesis issue and OP number of the official publication. A repealed instrument keeps its address and gains a banner naming its successor, which is how the replacement of the Imigrācijas likums on 15 September 2026 is discoverable at all. Firecrawl reads the site without a proxy or a warm-up.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: **Nothing here is the official text.** Every page carries, in its own words, "Sistematizēti tiesību akti ir informatīvi. Pretrunu gadījumā vadās pēc oficiālās publikācijas" - systematised legal acts are informative, and in case of contradiction the official publication governs. The official publication is the gazette at vestnesis.lv, identified by issue number and OP number, and a point that turns on an exact wording should be checked there. **The hyperlinks in a consolidated text follow a name rather than an instrument, and they move silently.** Cabinet regulations issued under the Imigrācijas likums still cite the repealed 2002 Act's article numbers on their face, and likumi.lv now renders those references as links to the 2026 Act: Regulation No. 675 reads "Izdoti saskaņā ar Imigrācijas likuma 2.1 panta otro daļu" linking to an Act that has no article 2.1, and Regulation No. 225 does the same for articles 4(1)(5) and 4.2(3). Nothing on either page says the reference has moved. **A statute's body is served inside an HTML table and extracts with literal `<br>` between every paragraph and every numbered point.** A quotation that crosses one carries the tag, so quotations must be taken within a single point. **The version date is the date the redaction took effect, not a sweep date**, so the cut-off recorded from it says what has been incorporated and not when the editors last looked. It cannot be cited for anything the Collection does not carry: the sector average wages that Cabinet Regulation No. 225 point 5.3 measures a work visa against, which the Central Statistical Bureau publishes; the needy-person income level that Cabinet Regulation No. 675 measures a Union citizen's means against; the average payment-account fee that caps the basic account, which the Finance Latvia Association publishes quarterly; the list of states Latvia has a bilateral visa-waiver treaty or a driving-licence treaty with, which appears in no instrument read here; and the practice of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, which publishes at pmlp.gov.lv and is a different publisher.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedPilsonības likums · 2. panta pirmās daļas 3. punkta "a" apakšpunkts · consolidated to 2023-04-01
«a) ka viņa priekštecis 1881.gadā vai vēlāk pastāvīgi dzīvoja Latvijas teritorijā, kāda tā pastāvēja līdz 1940.gada 17.jūnijam,»

Our translation - not official

that his ancestor lived permanently in the territory of Latvia as it existed until 17 June 1940, in 1881 or later,

The territory test is historical, not current: the borders of 1940 rather than the borders of today.

Read it at the source
About this source

The systematisation service of Latvia's official publisher. The state joint-stock company Latvijas Vēstnesis issues the official gazette at vestnesis.lv and separately runs likumi.lv, where every instrument is kept as a series of point-in-time versions. An instrument is addressed by a numeric document id, as /ta/id/370622-imigracijas-likums or simply /ta/id/370622, and the slug is decorative: the bare id answers. Each page carries a version selector showing the redaction in force and the date range it covers - Attēlotā redakcija, 15.09.2026.-30.12.2027. Spēkā esošā - and, where an amendment has been adopted but has not yet taken effect, a future redaction with its own date. The page footer carries the act's identity card: issuing body, date adopted, date in force, and the Latvijas Vēstnesis issue and OP number of the official publication. A repealed instrument keeps its address and gains a banner naming its successor, which is how the replacement of the Imigrācijas likums on 15 September 2026 is discoverable at all. Firecrawl reads the site without a proxy or a warm-up.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: **Nothing here is the official text.** Every page carries, in its own words, "Sistematizēti tiesību akti ir informatīvi. Pretrunu gadījumā vadās pēc oficiālās publikācijas" - systematised legal acts are informative, and in case of contradiction the official publication governs. The official publication is the gazette at vestnesis.lv, identified by issue number and OP number, and a point that turns on an exact wording should be checked there. **The hyperlinks in a consolidated text follow a name rather than an instrument, and they move silently.** Cabinet regulations issued under the Imigrācijas likums still cite the repealed 2002 Act's article numbers on their face, and likumi.lv now renders those references as links to the 2026 Act: Regulation No. 675 reads "Izdoti saskaņā ar Imigrācijas likuma 2.1 panta otro daļu" linking to an Act that has no article 2.1, and Regulation No. 225 does the same for articles 4(1)(5) and 4.2(3). Nothing on either page says the reference has moved. **A statute's body is served inside an HTML table and extracts with literal `<br>` between every paragraph and every numbered point.** A quotation that crosses one carries the tag, so quotations must be taken within a single point. **The version date is the date the redaction took effect, not a sweep date**, so the cut-off recorded from it says what has been incorporated and not when the editors last looked. It cannot be cited for anything the Collection does not carry: the sector average wages that Cabinet Regulation No. 225 point 5.3 measures a work visa against, which the Central Statistical Bureau publishes; the needy-person income level that Cabinet Regulation No. 675 measures a Union citizen's means against; the average payment-account fee that caps the basic account, which the Finance Latvia Association publishes quarterly; the list of states Latvia has a bilateral visa-waiver treaty or a driving-licence treaty with, which appears in no instrument read here; and the practice of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, which publishes at pmlp.gov.lv and is a different publisher.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedPilsonības likums · 9. panta trešā daļa · consolidated to 2023-04-01
«(3) Latviešiem un līviem, kuri pēc 2013.gada 1.oktobra iegūst Latvijas pilsonību atbilstoši šā likuma 2.panta pirmās daļas 3.punktam, var izveidoties dubultā pilsonība.»

Our translation - not official

Dual citizenship may arise for Latvians and Livs who, after 1 October 2013, acquire Latvian citizenship under point 3 of the first paragraph of article 2 of this Act.

The contrast that matters: article 9(4) forbids dual citizenship to anyone naturalised, outside the listed states.

Read it at the source
About this source

The systematisation service of Latvia's official publisher. The state joint-stock company Latvijas Vēstnesis issues the official gazette at vestnesis.lv and separately runs likumi.lv, where every instrument is kept as a series of point-in-time versions. An instrument is addressed by a numeric document id, as /ta/id/370622-imigracijas-likums or simply /ta/id/370622, and the slug is decorative: the bare id answers. Each page carries a version selector showing the redaction in force and the date range it covers - Attēlotā redakcija, 15.09.2026.-30.12.2027. Spēkā esošā - and, where an amendment has been adopted but has not yet taken effect, a future redaction with its own date. The page footer carries the act's identity card: issuing body, date adopted, date in force, and the Latvijas Vēstnesis issue and OP number of the official publication. A repealed instrument keeps its address and gains a banner naming its successor, which is how the replacement of the Imigrācijas likums on 15 September 2026 is discoverable at all. Firecrawl reads the site without a proxy or a warm-up.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: **Nothing here is the official text.** Every page carries, in its own words, "Sistematizēti tiesību akti ir informatīvi. Pretrunu gadījumā vadās pēc oficiālās publikācijas" - systematised legal acts are informative, and in case of contradiction the official publication governs. The official publication is the gazette at vestnesis.lv, identified by issue number and OP number, and a point that turns on an exact wording should be checked there. **The hyperlinks in a consolidated text follow a name rather than an instrument, and they move silently.** Cabinet regulations issued under the Imigrācijas likums still cite the repealed 2002 Act's article numbers on their face, and likumi.lv now renders those references as links to the 2026 Act: Regulation No. 675 reads "Izdoti saskaņā ar Imigrācijas likuma 2.1 panta otro daļu" linking to an Act that has no article 2.1, and Regulation No. 225 does the same for articles 4(1)(5) and 4.2(3). Nothing on either page says the reference has moved. **A statute's body is served inside an HTML table and extracts with literal `<br>` between every paragraph and every numbered point.** A quotation that crosses one carries the tag, so quotations must be taken within a single point. **The version date is the date the redaction took effect, not a sweep date**, so the cut-off recorded from it says what has been incorporated and not when the editors last looked. It cannot be cited for anything the Collection does not carry: the sector average wages that Cabinet Regulation No. 225 point 5.3 measures a work visa against, which the Central Statistical Bureau publishes; the needy-person income level that Cabinet Regulation No. 675 measures a Union citizen's means against; the average payment-account fee that caps the basic account, which the Finance Latvia Association publishes quarterly; the list of states Latvia has a bilateral visa-waiver treaty or a driving-licence treaty with, which appears in no instrument read here; and the practice of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, which publishes at pmlp.gov.lv and is a different publisher.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Practical notes

The two answers are reached by different bodies and have different evidence. The residence permit is decided by the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs on proof of a direct-line ascendant; citizenship by registration is decided under article 2(4) of the Pilsonības likums, and that paragraph gives the responsible institution a year to examine an application under point 3.

Article 2(3) of the Pilsonības likums carries the child along: a child up to the age of 15 may acquire Latvian citizenship at the same time as the person registering under point 2 or point 3.

Nothing in either Act asks for a generation limit the way Italy or Spain do. The limit is the ancestor's residence in the territory in 1881 or later, and the applicant's own ability to show that he or a parent or grandparent belongs to the nation.

Sources1 · all accessed 2026-10-11
  • consolidates
    Pilsonības likums

    Likumi.lv - VSIA "Latvijas Vēstnesis" · consolidated to 2023-04-01

    About this source

    The systematisation service of Latvia's official publisher. The state joint-stock company Latvijas Vēstnesis issues the official gazette at vestnesis.lv and separately runs likumi.lv, where every instrument is kept as a series of point-in-time versions. An instrument is addressed by a numeric document id, as /ta/id/370622-imigracijas-likums or simply /ta/id/370622, and the slug is decorative: the bare id answers. Each page carries a version selector showing the redaction in force and the date range it covers - Attēlotā redakcija, 15.09.2026.-30.12.2027. Spēkā esošā - and, where an amendment has been adopted but has not yet taken effect, a future redaction with its own date. The page footer carries the act's identity card: issuing body, date adopted, date in force, and the Latvijas Vēstnesis issue and OP number of the official publication. A repealed instrument keeps its address and gains a banner naming its successor, which is how the replacement of the Imigrācijas likums on 15 September 2026 is discoverable at all. Firecrawl reads the site without a proxy or a warm-up.

    Standing: Maintains the text in force

    Cannot be cited for: **Nothing here is the official text.** Every page carries, in its own words, "Sistematizēti tiesību akti ir informatīvi. Pretrunu gadījumā vadās pēc oficiālās publikācijas" - systematised legal acts are informative, and in case of contradiction the official publication governs. The official publication is the gazette at vestnesis.lv, identified by issue number and OP number, and a point that turns on an exact wording should be checked there. **The hyperlinks in a consolidated text follow a name rather than an instrument, and they move silently.** Cabinet regulations issued under the Imigrācijas likums still cite the repealed 2002 Act's article numbers on their face, and likumi.lv now renders those references as links to the 2026 Act: Regulation No. 675 reads "Izdoti saskaņā ar Imigrācijas likuma 2.1 panta otro daļu" linking to an Act that has no article 2.1, and Regulation No. 225 does the same for articles 4(1)(5) and 4.2(3). Nothing on either page says the reference has moved. **A statute's body is served inside an HTML table and extracts with literal `<br>` between every paragraph and every numbered point.** A quotation that crosses one carries the tag, so quotations must be taken within a single point. **The version date is the date the redaction took effect, not a sweep date**, so the cut-off recorded from it says what has been incorporated and not when the editors last looked. It cannot be cited for anything the Collection does not carry: the sector average wages that Cabinet Regulation No. 225 point 5.3 measures a work visa against, which the Central Statistical Bureau publishes; the needy-person income level that Cabinet Regulation No. 675 measures a Union citizen's means against; the average payment-account fee that caps the basic account, which the Finance Latvia Association publishes quarterly; the list of states Latvia has a bilateral visa-waiver treaty or a driving-licence treaty with, which appears in no instrument read here; and the practice of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, which publishes at pmlp.gov.lv and is a different publisher.

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