On Tuesday, 1 June, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft law “Amendment to the Asylum Law”, which provides for facilitated employment and receiving of healthcare and education services for asylum seekers.
The draft law stipulates that the status of asylum seeker and the right to reside in Latvia during the asylum procedure is certified by an asylum seeker’s identity document or foreigner’s identity card.
Data of asylum seekers will be included in the Law on the Register of Natural Persons, and it will ensure that the included and updated data will be centrally available to all institutions, resulting in faster provision of services to asylum seekers in institutions.
If an asylum seeker will want to be employed and all the conditions mentioned in the Immigration Law for granting the rights to employment will be fulfilled, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs will issue a foreigner’s identity card. Unlike the identity document of asylum seeker, the foreigner’s identity card will include elements of increased security and an entry on the rights to employment. Thus, the asylum seeker will not have to address the State Border Guard repeatedly to receive an asylum seeker’s identity document, as it is at the moment.
These changes will facilitate conclusion of employment contract for asylum seekers, registration as a taxpayer and opening a bank account.
Over the period from 1998 to 31 December 2020, asylum applications have been submitted by 3,014 persons, and in the period from 2016 to 2020, the average number of asylum seekers per one year was 250 persons.
Considering the average number of asylum seekers in the state in the last five years, it is estimated that the Office of Citizenship of Migration Affairs will issue 100 foreigner’s identity cards each year.
Prepared by:
Ministry of the Interior Communication Department
E-mail: kn@iem.gov.lv