Non-citizens (Latvia)

Non-citizens ( nepilsoņi Latvian, Russian неграждане ) is about 290,000 ( March 2011 - 14.1% of all residents ) " People with a permanent right of residence in Latvia, who have neither Latvian nor any other citizenship. This applies almost exclusively Russian-speaking former Soviet citizens. " Latvian law, non-citizens are not considered stateless ( Latvian bezvalstnieki ).

History

The category of non-citizens was introduced with Resolution " to restore the civil rights of Latvian citizens and the basic principles of naturalization " of the Supreme Soviet of Latvia on 15 October 1991. The citizenship of Latvia was granted by this resolution only the citizens of the Republic of Latvia, as at June 1940 and their descendants. More than 700,000 residents of Latvia were at this time no citizenship.

The citizenship law of 1994 laid the foundations for a naturalization process which was started in 1995. At this time, the process was, however, only a minority of non-citizens accessible. In a referendum in 1998, the Citizenship Act, however, was amended to require that a majority of non-citizens naturalization is possible.

The situation of non-citizens was based on a law in 1995.

Rights

The Latvian non-citizens are subject to numerous restrictions on their civil rights and partly personal rights. So they have no active or passive suffrage neither national nor at municipal elections. They are excluded from the choice of certain professions, for example, it is not possible for them to work as civil servants, police officers and notaries. For work periods abroad, the non-citizen will not get any pension in Latvia, if that is not governed by specific contracts differently. In contrast to the non-citizens are Latvian citizens visa-free travel is not possible in a number of countries. Overall, the Latvian Human Rights Committee counted in 2008 to 75 differences between the rights of non-citizens and citizens.

However, non-citizens were at no time obliged to serve in the Latvian army while it was compulsory for male citizens until 2005. Favorable visa for entry to Russia they were issued as citizens of Latvia, since June 2008, are available for most non-citizens short visa-free travel to Russia possible.

Demography

International position

There are a number of recommendations of international organizations that deal with the non-citizen question. These recommendations include:

• Granting the right to vote for non-citizens in local elections
• Facilitation of naturalization as regards the requirements, treatment of newborns, as well as reducing the fees payable
• Reduce the differences between Latvian citizens and non-citizens