The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Health has developed the facilitated procedure for receipt of visas for foreigners, who wish to enter Latvia with a purpose to receive medical treatment services (medical tourism) in any medical treatment institution of Latvia.
This procedure shall refer to both, organized as well as individual medical tourism.
Currently this procedure is applied only to the citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
How the Latvian medical treatment institution, that wishes to invite a foreigner with a purpose to provide to him or her medical treatment services in Latvia, should act?
- the medical treatment institution should be included in the List of Health Care Institutions established by the Health Inspectorate
- the relevant medical treatment institution shall be the inviter of the foreigner for the purpose of the Immigration Law and it shall undertake responsibility for the invited foreigner (including regarding the fact that the foreigner will exit the Schengen area until expiry of visa)
- the medical treatment institution shall invite the relevant foreigner by preparing the invitation at the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs. If the medical treatment institution considers that the person, to whom the medical treatment services will be provided (medical tourism), requires a presence of the accompanying person, then the medical treatment institution shall prepare an invitation also for the accompanying person. In turn, if the person wishes to travel together with a medical tourist, but the medical treatment institution considers that the presence of the accompanying person is not necessary, the person may enter Latvia as being on the leisure or tourism trip (requesting a visa in accordance with the general procedure).
Preparation of the invitation
In order to prepare an invitation, the medical treatment institution shall submit to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs a submission (request for preparation of the invitation), including the following information:
- registration number of the medical treatment institution as a legal person;
- information about the foreigner to be invited:
- name (names) and surname in the Latin alphabet, like it is specified in the travel document of the foreigner;
- citizenship and its type;
- gender;
- date of birth;
- place of birth;
- place of residence abroad;
- occupation;
- expected place of stay in the Republic of Latvia;
- purpose and time of stay in the Republic of Latvia;
- expected place of submission of the request for visa (visa may be requested at the diplomatic and consular institutions of Latvia in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus).
- information about the prospective expenses of the planned medical treatment service;
- certification that the medical treatment institution shall undertake responsibility for compliance of the purpose of entry and stay of the invited foreigner with the purpose specified in the documents submitted for requesting a visa and his or her exit from the state at the set time;
- certification that the legal person has been registered as a taxpayer and it does not have any tax payment debts determined by regulatory enactments of the Republic of Latvia.