Latvia’s Interior Minister, Rihards Kozlovskis, has expressed uncertainty regarding the number of Russians with expired residence permits who will be expelled from the country. As of January 3, 1,213 Russian citizens had expired permanent residence permits, but the exact number facing expulsion remains unknown.
According to Minister Kozlovskis, the authorities need to determine how many Russians have already left the country before disclosing the total number to be expelled. The challenge lies in tracking those who may have entered other Schengen Area countries undetected, as Latvia does not have internal border checks with its neighbouring Schengen countries.
Minister Kozlovskis has suggested the possibility of introducing internal border controls to monitor the movement of Russian citizens within the Schengen Area. He emphasized the importance of Russians informing the authorities about leaving their declared place of residence.
In December of last year, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs announced plans to expel Russians who did not submit the required documents for a residence permit. Additionally, foreigners, including citizens of Russia, applying for a residence permit in Latvia are required to have knowledge of the Latvian language at the A2 level or provide a valid reason for not taking the language test.
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