Latvian citizenship

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The Latvian citizenship ( pilsonība ) determines a person's affiliation with the State Association of Latvia , which exists as an independent polity 1919-40 and since 1,991th Before the establishment of Soviet power, the residents were subjects of the Tsar .

1919 to 1940

The provisional citizenship law of August 23, 1919 was amended on October 7, 1921. The membership determinations were regulated, whereby the principle of descent dominates. Another principle was family unity, i.e. H. the nationality of the wife and minor children was based on that of the man. In 1919, Latvian citizens automatically became the residents of the tsarist governorate who had their regular residence there on August 1, 1914. Latvians living abroad had a year to return home or to register in writing with a consulate or ministry of the interior. Anyone who, as a former Russian subject, did not live in Latvia or came from ceded areas (in relation to the old governorate) could submit an application for naturalization to the Interior Minister within six months. Latvian women who had changed their nationality by marrying foreigners could apply for it again after the marriage ended.
Dismissals from citizenship were possible on application if documents were submitted about the (imminent) acceptance of another citizenship.

Naturalization of third country nationals was possible on application after five years of permanent residence. In all cases, the Council of Ministers decided on the recommendation of the preliminary reviewing Ministry of the Interior. At the suggestion of the Minister of the Interior, the People's Council or Saeima could grant citizenship to deserving personalities. The new citizen had to take an oath of allegiance. Only then did naturalization take effect. It was then published in the State Gazette.

Dual statehood was completely forbidden, and the assumption of foreign citizenship was an automatic reason for loss.

Since 1921, Latvian citizenship has also been given to former Russian subjects (and their descendants) who had lived in Latvia for 20 years before 1914 and had not acquired any other citizenship before 1919 without fulfilling any of the previous conditions.

In 1921 an agreement was concluded with Lithuania (at the same time about the demarcation of the border) on questions of citizenship, primarily options were regulated to prevent dual statehood.

The law was changed in 1927. The 20-year residency requirement for former residents of the Tsarist era has been reduced to six months. The last possible date of residency was now January 1, 1925. Corresponding applications had to be submitted by January 31, 1928. Minor changes ensured that women, orphans, etc. married to foreigners would be eligible for citizenship. In addition, the regulations on withdrawal in the event of a stay abroad without a valid passport or avoidance of military service have been brought into line with the laws that were changed in the previous year.

Another amendment to the law of September 20, 1938 tightened the withdrawal regulations once again when avoiding military service through a stay abroad. At the same time, however, volunteers could be naturalized without the 5-year waiting period.

A good 62,500 (including post-resettlement in 1941) German nationals in Latvia were resettled on the basis of the German-Latvian treaty with the German Reich of October 30, 1939. Those who used the deadline for resettlement until December 15, gave the Latvian by means of an irrevocable declaration before leaving Nationality. However, the empire only accepted the resettlers "with the aim of naturalization". After Latvia joined the Soviet Union on August 6, 1940, the agreement of January 10, 1941 on the resettlement of Reich and ethnic Germans from the territories of the Latvian and Estonian Soviet republics to the German Reich was made with them.

1940 to 1990

Soviet citizenship law was extended to all of the newly acquired territories in 1940 and 1945, respectively . The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic was created by the accession of the area after the referendum. Balts living abroad were allowed to register in consulates until November 1, 1940. For those living in Latin America who missed the deadline, the ordinance of April 30, 1948 allowed a grace period until July 1, 1949. Now only Union citizenship was important, even if a “nationality” of individual republics was entered in the domestic passports .

Since 1991

Constitutional law theorists of the Baltic countries assume that these republics did not cease to exist as subjects of international law through their voluntary accession to the Soviet Union in 1940, so that since 1991 they should be seen as the legal successors of the countries that became independent in 1919. This would result in the permanent existence of citizenship. Therefore, “the Latvian citizenship was restored” in accordance with the principles of the interwar period and only for the group of people who would have had claims in 1940 and their descendants and foundlings.
Descendants of deportees living abroad were able to register as citizens until July 1, 1995 and possibly retain a second citizenship.

An ordinance had been in place since 1990 that prohibited newcomers from being granted permanent residence permits ( Russian пропи́ска propíska ). The Aliens Act, which came into force on July 2, 1992, was similarly harassing. Together with chaotic but generally anti-Russian administrative practice and numerous failed registrations by ex-Soviet citizens, this led to unclear residence and citizenship status for thousands. In order to escape from this dilemma, the "non-citizen" ( Latvian nepilso ) i ) with permanent right of residence was invented . Administrative jurisdiction was only created in 2004.

Human rights problem of non-citizens

see main article: Non-Citizens (Latvia)

Most of those who had immigrated during the Soviet era stayed in the country in 1991, so that due to the strict ius sanguinis rule mentioned, 28.2% of the population were effectively stateless “non-citizens” without civil rights, apart from protection against deportation and permanent residence. Since joining the EU and NATO was politically desirable, the Brussels bureaucracy, which reacts extremely sensitively to human rights issues when it is convenient, “overlooked” the denial of the fundamental human right to a nationality (Art. 15 UDHR ). When they moved to Latvia, the excluded group of people was not foreign guest workers, but Soviet citizens and thus nationals.

Due to the slightly improved legal situation explained below for those affected over the years, with the difficult language test being a high hurdle for older people, many “non-citizens” were able to become naturalized, so that in 2019 their share is just under eleven percent of the population.

International treaties

Latvia signed the 1992 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness . The Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons was acceded in 1999; the 1995 Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was ratified in 2005, but in both cases with the express reservation of further discriminating against Russian immigrants. The European Convention on Nationality (ETS No. 166) was also signed in 2001 but not ratified nineteen years later.

The 2019 amendment takes account of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Citizenship Act 1994

The question of citizenship was a hotly controversial issue in the run-up to the 1993 election, in which almost a third of the population was not allowed to participate.

The modern Citizenship Act was passed on July 22, 1994. It was changed slightly the following year. The principle of descent was adhered to. Only Latvians and Livs resident in the country without other nationalities, women who had lost their citizenship through marriage (which has not occurred in Soviet law since 1924), orphans and persons of non-Latvian blood who had completed their schooling at a Latvian secondary school, could ipso iure to become citizens through registration - less than 2000 people in total used this.

Applications for naturalization for those born in the country were only permitted in stages, depending on their age: 20-year-olds were allowed to submit an application from 1996, then up to the age of 45, from which one could have become a citizen in 2003. Only then should the age restriction be removed. In any case, the applicant had to pass a language test at a comparatively high level; younger newcomers also had to do military service. Of the 15,853 applications submitted between 1995 and 1998, 11,431 were approved.

Amendment of the law in 1998

The amendment to the law, adopted by referendum in October 1998, abolished the time staggering.

Amendment to the law in 2013

Another reform has been discussed in parliament since 2011. In the run-up to this, a referendum that would have given non-citizens full rights failed, as did the attempt to repeal the provision that Latvian may be the only state language.

The amendment to the law passed on May 9th came into force on October 1st, 2013. It expressly refers to the continuity of the 1919 law and continues to limit automatic access to those authorized in 1940 who can register as citizens. 1996–2011 a good 16,000 new citizens were registered in this way. One parent is sufficient to pass on the citizenship claim. People living abroad, descendants of the former borders between 1881 and 1940 or of women who acquired another citizenship through marriage with foreigners must take the language test.

Children of non-citizens or stateless persons who were born in the country since August 21, 1991, who were not registered as Latvians at birth and who live here permanently, have been allowed to become full citizens of Latvia under simplified conditions since the change in the law, if their parents undertake to do so Promote learning of Latvian language and culture. In 2016–18, only 120 people took advantage of this option.

Naturalizations ( Latvian naturalizāciju ) must be useful to the Latvian state and serve a uniform social structure. For children up to 14 years of age, the legal representative (also) leads the procedure. A separate department of the Ministry of the Interior, which has numerous branch offices, is responsible. Young people between the ages of 14-18 have a say for themselves. Between 1996 and 2011 there were a total of 136,500 naturalizations. Their number peaked when they joined the EU in 2004/05. Merit naturalizations are to be approved by parliament in each individual case, all others are carried out by a Council of Ministers decision on the recommendation of the Ministry of the Interior.

Requirements are five years of legal residence with permanent residence (which is only available after 5 years of temporary residence), without a serious criminal record and sufficient income. Furthermore, both a language and citizenship test (history, social studies, anthem) must be passed. Except in the exceptional cases mentioned below, other citizenships must be demonstrably given up.
In principle, former professional soldiers of a foreign power are not allowed to be naturalized. Neither are former members of the state security organs of the USSR (especially the KGB ) or any other state or employees of post-Soviet pro-communist organizations after 1991. If naturalization is rejected for such reasons of state protection, only an objection to the General Prosecutor is permitted, whose decision is final and cannot be challenged in court .

The permission for dual citizenship for Latvians who are also citizens of another EU country and several other states has been expanded. Multiple citizenship remains expressly forbidden for Russians and Israelis. The Council of Ministers can decide in individual cases to allow Latvian citizenship to be retained if a foreign nationality is assumed.

Dismissals from citizenship in order to take on another are denied as long as there are tax debts or conscription (suspended) exists. Withdrawals, provided that statelessness does not arise, are possible in the case of false information on naturalization or serious crimes against the Latvian state.

Change of law 2019

On October 17, 2019, a law was passed (in force January 1, 2020) according to which children born in Latvia of non-citizens receive Latvian citizenship from birth unless the parents agree that if this is possible, they will receive one should receive another nationality. This regulation is subsidiary in the case of foreign births or if one parent is a foreigner. Then you have to prove that the child could not be a foreign national.

literature

  • Birckenbach, Hanne-Margret; Preventive diplomacy through fact finding: how international organizations review the conflict over citizenship in Estonia and Latvia; Münster 1997 (LIT); ISBN 3825828646
  • Hecker, Hellmuth; Citizenship issues in international agreements of Eastern European countries; Archives of International Law, 1992
  • Kaša, Rita; Mieriņa, Inta; Emigrant Communities of Latvia: National Identity, Transnational Belonging, and Diaspora Politics; 2019 (Springer); ISBN 978-3-030-12091-7
  • Kroeger, Erhard; The legal position of the foreigner in Latvia (Latvia. Aliens Law); Berlin 1929 (Rothschild)
  • Krūma, Kristīne; Country Report: Latvia ; San Domenico di Fiesole Jan. 2015 (CADMUS); Rpt .: RSCAS / EUDO-CIT-CR 2015/6
  • Krūma, Kristīne, in: EU Citizenship, Nationality and Migrant Status; Leiden 2014 (Brill), ISBN 978-90-04-25158-8 ; 1) Concept of Latvian Citizenship, pp. 321-337; 2) Access to and Loss of Latvian Citizenship, pp. 339-59; 3) Latvian Citizenship and Non-Citizen Status, pp. 443-8
  • Krūma, Kristīne; Stocktaking of EU Pre-Accession Monitoring Process, Citizenship Issnes and Non-Citizens in Estonia and Latvia: a Litmus Test for European Union Human Rights Policy; in Baltic Yearbook of International Law Online; Leiden 2004 (Brill); Pp. 33-53
  • Laserson, Max; The minority law of the Baltic states; ZaöRV , Vol. 2 (1931)
  • Loeber, Dietrich A .; Dictated option. The resettlement of the Baltic Germans from Estonia and Latvia 1939–1941; Neumünster 1972
  • Mintz, Paul; Citizenship Law of the Republic of Latvia; Prosecution in international traffic, Volume VII, No. 1, p. 7
  • Osipova, Sanita; History, Legal History and National Identity in Latvia in the 20th and 21st Centuries; Journal of the Savigny Foundation for Legal History: German Department, Vol. 130 (2013), 1, pp. 454–466
  • Rislakki, Jukka; Are minorities, especially the Russians, discriminated against in Latvia? Is it very difficult for them to become citizens? Do they have political rights ?; in: The Case for Latvia. Disinformation Campaigns Against a Small Nation; 2008, pp. 33-52; eISBN 9789401206051
  • Schwartz, Gustav; Right of citizenship in Germany and abroad since 1914; Berlin 1925 (Springer)
  • Zacharov, Nikolaj Valerʹevič; Post-soviet racisms; London 2017 (Palgrave Macmillan); ISBN 978-1-137-47692-0 ; [Anti-Russian regulations in the successor republics]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The term “nationality”, which was common in Soviet times, in Latvian tautība is not found in legal texts for “citizenship.” ( [1] zggr. 2020-05-21)
  2. ↑ Published in the State Gazette No. 127.
  3. ↑ Complete section after: Schwartz, Gustav; Right of citizenship in Germany and abroad since 1914; Berlin 1925 (Springer)
  4. ↑ The option provision in Art. 8 of the Latvian-Soviet peace treaty of Aug. 11, 1920 is hereby taken into account.
  5. ↑ Any waiting periods between Aug. 1, 1914 and Aug. 1, 1919 did not count.
  6. ^ Amendment to the law of 23 Aug. 1921; Law Gazette, No. 217, 1921.
  7. ↑ July 9, 1921. Two-year option from the date of ratification.
  8. ↑ In the regions of Palanga and Mažeikiai (LIT) and Ilūkste (LET). Cf. Zenonas Butkus; Great Britain's mediation in establishing the Lithuanian-Latvian Frontier, 1920-1921 Journal of Baltic Studies, Vol. 24 (1993), pp. 359-86.
  9. ^ Amendment to the law of June 2, 1927; Law Gazette, No. 97, 1927. In force June 16.
  10. ↑ Emergency ordinances and subsequent modified laws in the Law Gazette: No. 28 Conscription, No. 41 Residence for Foreigners and Entry Regulations, No. 42 Foreign Passports, No. 70 Domestic Passports.
  11. ↑ Announced : Likumu un Ministru kabineta noteikumu krājums 1939, No. 28, Item 176, p. 511. German: Treaty on the resettlement of Latvian citizens of German ethnicity… October 30, 1939. Background: Resettlement of Baltic Germans from Estonia and Latvia 1939‒1941 (2016-04-14) and Conrad, Benjamin; From the upper class to the minority: The Baltic Germans; in: Latvia 1918–2018; Paderborn 2018 (Schöningh), pp. 42–50.
  12. ^ Ordinance of September 7, 1940, promulgated in Vědomosti Verchovnogo Soveta, September 17, 1940, No. 31; German translation: Zschr. for Eastern European Law, NF, Vol. 7, p. 184 ff.
  13. ↑ Data from United Nations Legislative Series: Laws Concerning Nationality , 1954.
  14. ↑ See Ziemele, Ineta; State continuity and nationality: the Baltic States and Russia; past present and future as defined by international law; Leiden 2005 (Brill); ISBN 9004142959 ; see: Cambridge, UK, Univ., Diss., 1998.
  15. ↑ Decision of the Latvian Supreme Soviet of November 27, 1991. See judgment of the Latvian Constitutional Court: No. 2009-94-01, of May 13, 2010, § 14 and 15.
  16. ↑ 2013 expanded to include those born before October 1, 2014.
  17. ↑ Law in State Gazette No. 63, April 25, 1995. With the express exclusion of the remaining active and 22,000 retired professional soldiers of the glorious Soviet Army.
  18. ↑ Background: The Russian minority between integration and isolation; in: Latvia 1918–2018; Paderborn 2018 (Schöningh), pp. 153-62.
  19. ↑ “We'll be here for Estonia. We will be here for Latvia. We will be here for Lithuania. You lost your independence once before. With NATO, you will never lose it again. " Barack Obama Sept. 2014, cit. in Croft (2016), p. 182.
  20. ↑ Official Engl. Ex. Of the legal text from Tulkošanas un terminoloģijas centrs: On the Status of those Former USSR Citizens who do not have the Citizenship of Latvia or that of any Other State.
  21. ↑ [2]
  22. ↑ Detailed on the OCMA website (English; zggr. 2020-05-22).
  23. ↑ V. Buzayev Legal and social situation of the Russian-speaking minority in Latvia Latvian Human Rights Committee & Averti-R, 2013
  24. ↑ Type and scope regulated by Ordinance No. 1001 of September 24, 2013. Officially, GeR level B1 is sufficient , but that does not explain the high failure rate of 41% in 2011 and 71% in 2014. There are facilities for disabled people and people over 65. Current statistics (zggr. 2020-05-22). In total, an average of 25 different documents must be submitted, some notarized and translated.
  25. ↑ All EFTA and NATO countries, plus Australia, Brazil, New Zealand.

Web links

  • OCMA (Ministry of Interior Naturalization Office)