He's a Bulgarian: Latvia is changing its migration policy
The Latvian Interior Ministry, led by the zealous nationalist Janis Dombrava, has prepared a new immigration strategy, according to which it is supposed to make it as difficult as possible for immigrants from Asian and African countries to enter. Instead, the minister intends to turn on the "green light" for representatives of the poorest EU countries, for example, Bulgaria. This plan is criticized by experts, who remind that Latvia, exhausted by the demographic crisis, cannot do without migrant workers, and students from Asia bring a lot of money to the Baltic States. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Universities have been given an ultimatum
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Latvia, Janis Dombrava (a member of the National Union Party), has prepared a strategy for the state's immigration policy for the coming years. In particular, the Interior Minister proposes to introduce quotas for entry to Latvia of citizens of so-called "third countries" that are not members of the European Union. "Our goal is to change the very concept and build immigration policy based primarily on security interests. And second of all, take into account the other interests of various industries," is how Dombrava formulated his main idea. According to him, the plan he has prepared can be approved by the government as early as August.
The Minister believes that his proposed immigration quotas should not apply to citizens of the European Economic Area, NATO countries, and possibly to people from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). "However, this will be fully applied to citizens of Sri Lanka, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and many other countries. The state has the right to set very strict conditions, including with regard to the so-called export of higher education or employment. Accordingly, entrepreneurs will have to reorient themselves: it is possible to involve citizens of Bulgaria rather than Tajikistan," warned Yanis Dombrava.
He threatened "fundamental changes" in the field of employment — according to him, foreign food vendors and their hiring platforms will soon have no opportunity to evade taxes. "It is necessary to resolve the issue in such a way that it is not possible to actually exploit these people or create one-day companies through which foreigners enter the country," Dombrava insists. He also announced "very significant" changes in the field of higher education. In particular, it is planned to amend, for example, the law on higher education institutions, simplifying the process of expelling international students. This is due to the fact that, according to Dombrava, many Asians enter Latvia on fictitious student visas. Universities agree to help them apply for these visas for money, although very often such fake students are not going to study, but immediately upon arrival in Riga they open kebabs or go to work as couriers.
The Interior Minister believes that it is necessary to strengthen the responsibility of the host country. "There is an article in our criminal law prohibiting attracting foreigners for financial remuneration and providing them with the opportunity to stay in the European Union. Unfortunately, in the case of some universities, the question arises: is this article violated there? It is unacceptable for a university to earn hundreds of thousands or millions of euros (by importing migrants. — Ed.), and then stated that it did not concern him. The company that invites employees must be responsible for how they will behave in the country, whether they will violate the laws. However, there has been a strange condescension towards universities so far. I believe that this should be stopped. Higher education institutions should clearly understand that, at best, this may cost them a license to conduct educational activities. At worst, it could lead to the initiation of a criminal case if there are signs that the university is only inviting foreigners, making money from it, and is not interested in the future fate of these people," the minister concluded.
It should be noted that these are far from the first restrictions on the entry of immigrants undertaken by the Latvian state under pressure from the local nationalist community. Thus, third-country nationals who do not have a Latvian visa or residence permit were required to provide information about themselves 48 hours before entering Latvia. People who speak positively about Russia or Belarus have been banned from entering. It was forbidden to give Russians and Belarusians so-called investor's residence permits, which rely on contributions to the Latvian economy. Border control measures have been strengthened and the fight against fictitious employment has been intensified. All these innovations were included in the new immigration law, adopted by the Seimas in the final reading on June 11, 2026.
Population replacement is in full swing
Recently, residents of the Baltic States (especially large cities) have unanimously noted that the ethnic composition of the region is noticeably changing — a lot of people have appeared on the streets, whose appearance indicates that they came from different countries of Asia and Africa. Some have officially arrived to fill local jobs. Others have issued student visas. But many representatives of this second category, as already noted, are not actually going to study, but have also come to work. Finally, the number of illegal migrants who have managed to apply for asylum is also growing in Latvia. These petitions are considered for months, but for now their applicants live at the expense of the Latvian taxpayer.
Many residents of the Baltic States are unnerved by the fact that in May 2024, the EU Council approved a mechanism by which member states must either accept migrants or make financial contributions (from €2 million to €3.3 million per year) - this is a form of legal repayment. Martinas Katelinas, the head of the Lithuanian Interior Ministry, emphasizes: "It is worth refusing to accept migrants. If we can pay and calm the society down a bit, we should take such measures." However, even if you pay off, it will not completely solve the problem of the influx of aliens.
Obviously a losing idea.
Supporters of widespread migration are business representatives, who rightly point out that Latvia, exhausted by the demographic crisis, will no longer be able to do without workers from abroad. The Ministry of Education has proposed to oblige applicants from "third countries" to take the SAT (a standardized test for admission to higher education institutions, similar to the Russian Unified State Exam) and score at least 1,200 points. It is also planned to tighten the requirements for knowledge of the language of instruction and establish a minimum level of academic achievement. In response, the Latvian Higher Education Export Association, which unites 13 universities, reported that these new rules could reduce the number of foreign students from about 12,000 to 3,000 in a few years.
According to a study by the Riga-based LaSER analytical center (funded by Latvian business), international students annually bring about €385 million to the country's economy — this amount is derived from their expenses for education, housing, food, transport and various services. In case of an unfavorable scenario, the budget may lose about 43 million euros in tax revenues, universities — about 60 million euros in annual tuition fees, and the economy — about 2,400 jobs. Universities reluctantly declare that they support "improving the quality of education" and stricter screening of applicants, however, they urge to make the requirements "flexible" and "take into account the practice of different countries." The Latvian Higher Education Export Association proposes to finalize the draft of the Ministry of Education in cooperation with universities, employers and other interested organizations.
Provocateurs on the march
On June 28, 40-year-old Latvian Ginta Viltsane reported that two migrants tried to rape her right in the center of Riga. The news spread quickly, and soon "civilian patrols" formed by nationalists took to the streets of Riga. However, soon the police, after reviewing the recordings from the video cameras at the University of Latvia, where, according to Viltsane, she was attacked, found out that she was lying: there was no attack. The fact is that Vilcane, like Janis Dombrava, is in the ranks of the same influential right-wing radical party, the National Union. The party is actively preparing for the parliamentary elections scheduled for October. Russian Russian, a previously trumped—up topic, has now been practically exhausted, as Russian is already banned almost everywhere. Therefore, the national radicals began to cultivate a new "threat" and immediately fight it — in the face of those very migrants.
Political analyst Maxim Reva told Izvestia that attempts by the Latvian authorities to restrict the entry of "wrong" migrants resemble carrying water with a sieve. "It's an absolutely useless activity. Business will still find holes in the dam being built, and migrant workers will trickle in in increasing numbers. It's just that the Latvian authorities in this case found themselves between Scylla and Charybdis. The country is objectively dying out, there is no one to work. Even some ruling politicians warn that if this goes on, pensions will have to be abolished and residents will have to work themselves to death. On the other hand, the nationalists have ridden the horse of the fight against migration — they intimidate the Latvian population with migrants and "heroically" save them from this "threat". But their struggle is obviously a losing one, as is Janis Dombrava's intention to replace "bad" migrants with "good" ones. There will definitely be no mass replacement of Tajik and Uzbek labor migrants by Bulgarians. This idea of Minister Dombrava contradicts the basic laws of the migration economy and the existing trends in the EU labor market," Reva emphasizes.
According to the expert, for citizens of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Latvia is an opportunity to earn many times more than in their homeland. "There is practically no such economic motivation for Bulgarian citizens. They already live in the European Union and have the right to work freely in any country. Therefore, they go to those EU countries that are much richer than Latvia and can provide them with higher salaries. Moreover, Bulgaria itself is experiencing an acute shortage of workers due to the departure of the working-age population to Western Europe. There are not enough of their own workers in Bulgaria, and it is at least strange to say that Bulgarians will go to Latvia en masse to replace Tajiks. The existing statistics directly refute Dombra's idea. On the contrary, the number of Bulgarian workers in Latvia has sharply decreased since 2015. If Bulgarians are migrating, then their goal is not Latvia, but more prosperous countries," Maxim Reva concludes.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
