Programme overview

Latvia’s Residence Permit for Investment, established under the Immigration Law of 2010 and refined to current thresholds in 2017, grants a temporary residence permit valid for up to five years across four investment routes: real estate (€250,000), business investment (€50,000 with operational conditions), subordinated bank capital (€280,000), or government bonds (~€250,000). Latvia is an EU and Schengen member; the residence card carries 90-in-180 day Schengen mobility on issuance.

The marketing headline — “EU residency from €50,000” — is technically true but operationally narrower than the figure suggests. The €50K business-investment route requires that the principal invest in equity of a Latvian company that pays at least €40,000 in annual taxes (functionally an operating company of meaningful size), plus a €10,000 state-budget payment. It is a real route used by clients with operating businesses they can anchor in Latvia; it is not a passive €50K cheque. The most-used route by capital volume remains the €250,000 real-estate purchase, which carries an additional 5% state duty on the purchase price.

Latvia’s structural feature, well understood by sophisticated buyers but underplayed in headline marketing, is the asymmetry between the temporary and permanent permits. The five-year temporary permit has no minimum-stay requirement (only annual in-person re-registration with PMLP). Conversion to permanent residency after five years requires four of those five years of physical residence and 183 days per year — a substantive step-up that puts naturalisation on a real-residency path, not a paper-residency path. Latvia also generally does not permit dual citizenship for naturalised citizens (with exceptions for EU/EEA, NATO and a small named list of countries), which is a material constraint for any non-EU/non-NATO client targeting Latvian citizenship as the long-arc objective.

Investment routes

Real estate (€250,000 + 5% state duty)

Acquisition of one or two Latvian properties totalling at least €250,000. Single-property minimum cadastral value of €80,000 applies in Riga and other major centres. The 5% state duty on the purchase price is payable on permit issuance — adding approximately €12,500 minimum to the €250K headline. Property must be held for the residency period.

Business investment (€50,000)

€50,000 in equity capital of a Latvian company that employs at least 50 people or has annual turnover above €10M (the small-entity threshold path). The company must pay at least €40,000 annually in taxes. The principal also pays a €10,000 state-budget payment on permit approval. €100,000 minimum applies if investing in a larger company. Structurally suited to principals already running operating businesses with a Latvian footprint or willing to acquire one.

Bank subordinated capital (€280,000)

Subordinated capital placement in a Latvian credit institution, held for at least five years, plus a €25,000 state-budget payment. Mechanically simple; modest yield; sensitive to bank-counterparty selection.

Government bonds (~€250,000)

Acquisition of interest-free Latvian government bonds with a face value of approximately €250,000, plus a state fee around €38,000 on permit approval. Niche route — used by principals who specifically want a sovereign-debt exposure.

Tax architecture

The default position. Latvian tax residency triggers at 183 days of physical presence in a calendar year, registration of the principal’s permanent residence in Latvia, or where Latvia is the centre of vital interests. Most temporary-permit holders never become Latvian tax-resident.

Personal income tax. Where tax residency is established, Latvia applies a progressive personal income tax: 20% on income up to ~€20,000, 23% on income up to ~€78,000, and 31% above that (2026 brackets). Capital gains are taxed at 20% on most financial instruments and on real-estate gains above thresholds.

The corporate regime. Latvia operates the so-called “Estonian model” of corporate taxation: retained corporate earnings are not taxed; tax is levied only on distributions at a 20% rate, calculated on a gross-up basis (effective ~25% on distributions). This makes Latvia structurally attractive for holding-company and operating-company anchoring, entirely independent of the Golden Visa product itself.

Inheritance. Latvia abolished inheritance tax. No estate or inheritance duty applies.

What it gets you

  • Schengen mobility from card issuance. 90-in-180 day visa-free movement across the Schengen area.
  • Five-year temporary residence permit, no minimum stay — but annual in-person re-registration with PMLP required.
  • Family inclusion. Spouse, dependent children under 18, and dependent parents (case-by-case) on the principal’s file.
  • EU education access for dependent children at Latvian and most EU public universities at resident-fee rates.
  • Latvia’s corporate tax regime — no tax on retained earnings — for clients with operating-business anchoring objectives.
  • No inheritance tax.
  • Lowest entry threshold in the EU residency-by-investment market, on the operationally constrained €50K business route.
  • Permanent residency and citizenship require substantive presence. Conversion to PR after 5 years requires 4 of 5 years and 183 days/year. Citizenship requires 10 years total (with 5 on PR), language and constitutional tests, and renunciation of original citizenship for most non-EU/non-NATO nationals.

Our role on a Latvian file

A Latvian file is structurally simple but route-dependent. The €50K business route in particular requires careful pre-engagement assessment of the underlying operating-company economics.

  1. Pre-engagement diagnostic — route selection (real estate vs business vs bank vs bonds), explicit briefing on the temporary-vs-permanent permit asymmetry and the dual-citizenship constraint for any client targeting Latvian naturalisation.
  2. Latvian tax number and bank account opening, source-of-funds evidence pack assembly with our Riga counsel.
  3. Investment execution — property acquisition, business equity subscription, bank subordinated placement, or bond purchase — with documentation prepared for PMLP submission.
  4. Residence permit application to the PMLP (Office of Citizenship & Migration Affairs) including state-budget payments and (for real estate) the 5% state duty.
  5. ID card collection in person in Riga, biometrics, and registration of permanent address.
  6. Annual re-registration calendaring, PR-conversion eligibility tracking (where the long-arc objective is permanent residency or citizenship), and ongoing tax-residency planning where substantive relocation is contemplated.