"Non-citizens" () in Latvian law are individuals who are not citizens of Latvia or any other country, but who, in accordance with the Latvian law "Regarding the status of citizens of the former USSR who possess neither Latvian nor another citizenship," have the right to a non-citizen passport issued by the Latvian government as well as other specific rights. Approximately two thirds of them are ethnic Russians, followed by Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles, and Lithuanians.Population of Latvia by ethnicity and nationality; Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs 2021 Latvian government has stated that “Latvian non-citizens are not stateless persons as they are regarded as Latvian nationals and are under full protection of the state in Latvia and abroad". This is further backed by the Latvian Constitutional Court and the Latvian Immigration Law that stress that Latvian "non-citizens" are not to be considered as aliens or foreigners, and that people who hold the status have a permanent legal and national bond.Constitutional Court of Latvia, Case No. 2004-15-0106 (2005) satv.tiesa.gov.lv/wp-content/uploads/2004/07/2004-15-0106_Spriedums_ENG.pdf
The non-citizens are "citizens of the former USSR (...) who reside in the Republic of Latvia as well as who are in temporary absence and their children who simultaneously comply with the following conditions: 1) on 1 July 1992 they were registered in the territory of Latvia regardless of the status of the living space indicated in the registration of residence, or up to 1 July 1992 their last registered place of residence was in the Republic of Latvia, or it has been determined by a court judgment that they have resided in the territory of Latvia for 10 consecutive years until the referred to date; 2) they are not citizens of Latvia; and 3) they are not and have not been citizens of another state."
Thousands of Latvian children have been born into the Latvian "non-citizen" status under the circumstance of "if both of their parents were non-citizens at the time of the birth of the children or one of the parents is a non-citizen, but the other is a stateless person or is unknown, or in accordance with the mutual agreement of the parents, if one of the parents is a non-citizen, but the other – a citizen of another country."
Children born after Latvia reestablished independence (August 21, 1991) to parents who are both non-citizens were entitled to citizenship upon request of either parent until 2020 (under specific conditions). Since January 1, 2020, Latvian citizenship is allowed to all children born in Latvia, even if their parents are non–citizens. Children born in Latvia receive either Latvian citizenship or the citizenship of another country if both parents agree on that other citizenship. If the child is born outside Latvia or one of the parents is a citizen of another country, the parents have to submit an application and documents certifying that the child is not and has not been a citizen of any other country in order to be recognized as a Latvian citizen.
Sources such as Amnesty International have described this non-citizen status as tantamount to statelessness.see para. 16 of the Resolution on national minorities OSCE PA, 2004Amnesty International 2009 Report Report on mission to Latvia (2008) , UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance — see Para. 30 and 88 The European Commission "regrets that the situation of non-citizens has not been resolved during the entry negotiations between Latvia and Estonia and the EU." While referring to non-citizens in Latvia and Estonia as stateless, the European Commission admits that the status of non-citizen in both countries may be unique and without previous precedent in international law.Ibid. Although the status of Baltic "non-citizens" is often described as unique, it is comparable to many other statuses of second-class citizenship or sub-citizenship. For example, American Samoans who are non-citizens of the United States.
Latvia contends that there are few differences in rights between Latvian non-citizens and Latvian citizens, but the country passed eighty domestic laws that severely curtail the rights of people with non-citizen status.Latvian Human Rights Committee. Citizens of a Non-Existent State: The Long-Term Phenomenon of Mass Statelessness in Latvia. 2nd ed., 2011. Non-citizen minorities are denied minority and political rights, barred from working in over thirty professions, restricted in their freedom of movement, excluded from EU citizenship rights, and subjected to numerous other restrictions. Latvian citizens can travel visa-free to 157 countries outside the EU, while Latvian non-citizens have access to only 19 and sometimes face arbitrary problems in travel.
The "non-citizens" of Latvia are permitted to travel to Russia without a visa, a right not afforded to Latvian citizens (see Visa requirements for Latvian non-citizens). However, the "non-citizens" are allowed to stay in other Schengen Area countries for no more than 90 days within any 180-day period (whereas Latvian citizens can stay indefinitely in any Schengen or EU country). Moreover, the "non-citizens" cannot legally work in other EU countries without a work permit.
Demography
According to the population census, in March 2011, there were 290,660 non-citizens living in Latvia or 14.1% of Latvian residents,Population citizenship - Central Statistics Board of Latvia down from approximately 715,000 in 1991.B. Bowring Report of a second mission to the Republic of Latvia on behalf of FIDH and Bar of England and Wales HRC, 1994 — see p. 16 According to the Population Register, in January 2011, 326,735 non-citizens resided in Latvia.
The data of the Population Register, as of January 2022, showed 195,159 non-citizens living in Latvia (9.56% of residents). By far the largest ethnic group of all non-citizens are Russians, who make up 65.5% of all non-citizens, 13.7% are Belarusians, 9.9% are Ukrainians, 3,5% are Poles and 2,4% are Lithuanians. Among the largest ethnic groups in Latvia 0,04% of all ethnic Latvians are non-citizens, as are 26% of Russians, 45% of Belarusians, 41% of Ukrainians, 17% of Poles, 20% of Lithuanians, 22% of Jews, 4% of Roma and 17% of Germans. Additionally, 4,397 non-citizens were registered as living outside of Latvia.
In the age group below 18, non-citizens form 2.1% of residents; among adults - 14.2%; in the age group above 90, 25.0%, as of 2015.Population of Latvia by year of birth and nationality; Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs 2015 As of 2020, the majority of non-citizens, 62.3%, live in the three biggest cities of the country: Riga, Daugavpils and Liepāja, which comprise 41.3% of the Latvian population.Population of Latvia by nationality and municipality; Data of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs January 1, 2020 As of January 2016, 42.92% of the non-citizens were born in Latvia.Third Report on the Implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by the Republic of Latvia. ACFC/SR/III(2016)001 р. 63
The referendum held in October 1998 eliminated the "windows" system, which limited the age groups allowed to naturalize each year. It also gave the right to children of non-citizens born in Latvia after August 21, 1991, to be registered as citizens without naturalisation barring imprisonment or other citizenship.Citizenship of children, OCMA website Parents can request citizenship for their children until the age of 15, after which a child can make the request on their own behalf from the age of 15 to 17.
Since January 1, 2020, Latvian citizenship is granted automatically to all children born in Latvia no matter what status their parents have (citizens or non–citizens). Children born in Latvia will receive either Latvian citizenship or the citizenship of another country if both parents agree on that other citizenship. The default will be Latvian citizenship for all children born to Latvia-resident parents. If the child is born outside Latvia or one of the parents is a citizen of another country, the parents have to submit an application and documents certifying that the child is not and has not been a citizen of any other country in order to be recognized as a Latvian citizen.
Status According to the Constitutional Court of Latvia, 15. After the passing of the Non-Citizen Law a new, up to that time unknown category of persons appeared – Latvian non-citizens. Latvian non-citizens cannot be compared with any other status of a physical entity, which has been determined in international legal acts, as the rate of rights, established for non-citizens, which does not comply with any other status. Latvian non-citizens can be regarded neither as citizens, nor aliens or stateless persons but as persons with "a specific legal status" (..) 17. (..) the rights and international liabilities, determined for the non-citizens testify that the legal ties of non-citizens with Latvia are to a certain extent recognized and mutual obligations and rights have been created on the basis of the above
The Latvian parliament created the category of non-citizen in 1991Resolution of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia "On the renewal of Republic of Latvia citizens' rights and fundamental principles of naturalization", October 15, 1991.// B. Bowring Report of a second mission to the Republic of Latvia on behalf of FIDH and Bar of England and Wales HRC, 1994 — see Appendix 3, p. 76-78 (p. 37-39 of the .pdf file) (Another link ) when it affirmed legal continuity with Latvia's original citizenship laws. Individuals who were citizens of Latvia as of June 17, 1940, prior to Soviet occupation, were once again recognized as citizens, along with their descendants. The law also grants citizenship to all permanent residents of Latvia, who do not hold another citizenship and are either Latvians or Livonians, or individuals (along with their children up to age 15), who have completed universal primary or secondary education with Latvian as the language of instruction.Citizenship law - see Section 2, Part 1.3) That effectively limited non-citizen status to largely Russophones arriving during the Soviet era. Notably this included some of those that had elected the parliament in question.
To deal with the issue of former Soviet citizens without Latvian citizenship, the law On the Status of those Former USSR Citizens who do not have the Citizenship of Latvia or that of any Other StateLaw On the Status of those Former USSR Citizens who do not have the Citizenship of Latvia or that of any Other State , as of 2007 (no amendments made later, as at 2016 - cf. likumi.lv ) was adopted in 1995 as a temporary measure pending the resolution of changing citizenship regimes in the now independent former Soviet republics.
The issue of non-citizens has been equated to the problem of statelessness. Non-citizens have been described as stateless by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and by Amnesty International. Non-citizens are named as an example of problems of statelessness by Commissioner for Human Rights, although conceding that non-citizens may not prefer citizenship for their children, and the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance recommends Latvia "revisit the existing requirements for naturalization with the objective of facilitating the granting of citizenship to non-citizens, implementing the commitments established by the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness." Latvian Ombudsman Romāns Apsītis has considered the "specific legal status" of non-citizens to be questionable from the viewpoint of international law.