Citizenship to Children

Children born to non-citizens' families after the restoration of Latvia's independence in 1991 were able to obtain citizenship through the procedure of recognition, if their parents wished so. However, since July 2011 the government approved a simplified procedure of obtaining citizenship for children. Before that parents had to submit an application for their children to be recognized as the citizens of Latvia to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, but now they can submit the application to the Registry Office when registering the birth of their child; thereby, the procedure is made easier and administrative obstacles for non-citizen or stateless persons’ children to acquire the citizenship of Latvia are reduced.

Before 1 March 2011, a total of 19,170 children born in Latvia to non-citizens or stateless persons after 21 August 1991, have been recognised as the citizens of Latvia.

Recently there has been an increasing interest, among young people in particular, in the possibilities for registering a citizen's status. Under the Law on Citizenship, persons who have taken a full course of the Latvian language as part of basic education or general secondary education can be registered as the citizens of Latvia.