COUNTRY FACTSHEET: LATVIA 2014 EUROPEAN MIGRATION NETWORK 1. Introduction This EMN Country Factsheet provides a factual overview of the main policy developments in migration and international protection in Latvia during 2014, including latest statistics. 2. Common European Asylum System In 2014, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA) in cooperation with the State Border Guard (SBG) elaborated the draft law Asylum Law. The following changes regarding asylum procedure were highlighted: Specified reasons for detaining asylum seekers; OCMA will take over the function from SBG on interviewing asylum seekers regarding the essence of their application, whilst SBG will be responsible for obtaining the necessary information for the application of the Dublin Regulation, as well as to adopt the decision regarding accepting the application for review; A new procedure will be introduced making OCMA the responsible decision maker institution related to the examination of applications for international protection submitted at the state border crossing point or in the transit zone. In July 2014 the Cabinet of Ministers adopted Regulation No.356 Asylum Seeker Register that provides registration and accounting of asylum seekers, as well as the opportunity to follow the course of asylum procedure. In 2015, SBG was expected to start working on entering data in the Register. Data from the Register will be made available to OCMA and SBG. In order to facilitate analysis of statistics, the exchange of data between the Judicial Information System and the Asylum Seeker Register was started. Following the amendments to the Immigration Law in January 2014, asylum seekers who have not received the decision of first instance (OCMA) regarding their application within nine months since the submission, and that has not happened to his/ her fault, are entitled to employment without restrictions. Such entitlement is retained until the moment when the final resolution has entered into force and has become incontestable. Latvia also reported a good practice in relation to residence of asylum seekers. In 2014 the number of asylum seekers residing with their relatives outside capital city Riga, increased for the first time. Also it has been made possible to acquire general education for minor asylum seekers outside the territory of Riga local government. Improvements regarding those ordered to leave were reported. In 2014, SBG elaborated the amendments to the Immigration Law in order to define possibility for a third-country national who is not detained during performance of removal procedure and has no financial means, to receive minimum guarantees like housing, food, hygiene and essential goods. In 2014, several trainings took place in order to improve the knowledge and professionalism of experts involved in the asylum procedure. Trainings covered topics related to: Issues of application of the Dublin Regulation; Amendments to the Asylum Law; Less protected persons in the asylum procedure training on identifying and interviewing less protected persons; and Management of migration processes: good practices and court case law. In 2014, OCMA continued its collaboration with EASO. Experts from OCMA participated in working groups regarding the following issues: Quality Matrix on Access to Procedure, unaccompanied minors, family member tracing and summarisation of statistics to ensure operation of early warning mechanism. Seven employees also participated in the EASO Curriculum training. Migration & Home Affairs
3. Unaccompanied Minors and other Vulnerable Groups OCMA elaborated the draft of Asylum Law that envisages improving the procedure of electing the representative of unaccompanied minor, as well as the duties and rights of such minor. 4. European Policy on Legal migration and Integration 4.1. PROMOTING LEGAL MIGRATION CHANNELS In order to promote legal migration, the Culture Board of Liepaja developed an infographic Practical guide to travel to Liepaja that contains information on residence permits and study and work opportunities in town. 4.2. ECONOMIC MIGRATION The criteria for requiring temporary residence permit were revised. On 1 st January 2015, amendments to the Immigration Law would enter into force providing the right for third-country national to request temporary residence permit if person has purchased special purpose interest-free securities for the value of 250,000 euro and has paid additional 25,000 euro into the state budget. With regards to students and researchers, Latvia opened the Latvian Higher Education Centre in Chennai, India in January 2014. Its task is to attract foreign students by informing on possibilities for studies and scientific cooperation in Latvia. In 2014 two inter-governmental agreements with Georgia and the Republic of Tajikistan on cooperation in education and science entered into force. Since 2014, Latvia is facilitating the entry of third-country scientists by not requiring confirmation of rights to employment if the stay does not exceed 14 days. Following the amendments of the Immigration Law which entered into force on 1 January 2014, the right to employment is granted to family member without limitation to those third-country nationals who have invested in the equity of a commercial company. 4.3. INTEGRATION In 2014 the State Employment Agency (SEA) organised different activities for unemployed thirdcountry nationals. These focused on provision of language training and different support measures. For example, temporary paid public work, and competitiveness increasing activities: 9-day course Developing the official language skill and; 2-day course Removing psychological barriers when foreigners are learning the official language. The Culture Board of Liepaja, with support of the European Integration Fund, developed a movie called Cosmopolitan Liepaja devoted to people living in the town and having different origin, ethnicity, traditions and language. The movie was published on various social networks in English, French and Russian. In the following year several activities regarding integration are planned. In 2015, Ministry of Culture is planning to carry out an evaluation of the operation of the third-country nationals integration system in Latvia. As part of the study it is planned to evaluate integration and language courses as well the degree of local labour market openness to third-country nationals. Regarding the involvement of third-country nationals, the Latvian Language Agency implemented project Support for the Third-Country Nationals during the Entry and Adaptation Period. The project will have its second phase in 2015. The project offers opportunities to obtain language in an easier way (specific study materials, courses and involvement of host community in the integration process) and different integration activities for less protected groups of third-country nationals. Regarding the integration of refugees and persons granted subsidiary protection Latvia acknowledges there is room for improvement. In 2014, UNHCR completed the project Study of integration in Latvia of refugees and persons granted subsidiary protection. 4.4. MANAGING MIGRATION AND MOBILITY 1 In 2014 Latvia continued to improve the National Visa Information System (NVIS) by developing a new biometric data processing module. According to the VIS introduction schedule, in 2014 VIS was introduced in USA, Canada and Turkey. In 2015 it is planned to obtain biometric data in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. To manage the large amount of received visa applications or in regions where there is no representative office of Latvia or representation of visas is not available, it is envisaged to involve an outsource service provider in obtaining biometric data. In 2014 Latvia signed ten visa representation agreements. According to those, Poland is representing Latvia in Angola, Iraq and China, Sweden in Nigeria, Switzerland in Ghana, Senegal, Palestinian Territories and Kirgizstan, whilst Latvia is representing Slovakia and Switzerland in Russia. Latvia continued to carry out activities in line with the Action Plan for coordinated activities of institutions in relation to possible mass influx of asylum seekers from the countries affected by crisis. In 2015 it is planned to expand the authorisation of territorial units of OCMA by taking over the administrative task, of 1 Managing migration and mobility refers to the following themes: visa policy, Schengen governance and border monitoring. 2
processing documents from third-country nationals, from central structural units. 4.5. EXTERNAL DIMENSION OF EU MIGRATION POLICY Latvia has not introduced any changes to mitigate brain drain, as it has not been recognised as an issue at national level. Latvia does not have large numbers of employees from third-countries. Those residing in Latvia are employed in sectors that do not facilitate the brain drain. 5. Irregular Migration and Return 5.1. THE FIGHT AGAINST FACILITATION OF IRREGULAR MIGRATION In 2014 Latvia started to construct and new border crossing point with Russia which is expected to become operational in 2016. With the new control point and several improvements of border control equipment, are expected to increase the capacity of border crossings and monitoring of those. Latvia together with Estonia and Lithuania are implementing project Information exchange mechanism for Baltic States in order to provide for the requirements of Article 9 of EUROSUR Regulation. As part of the project, a close to real time information exchange mechanism is being developed to improve the security on external borders. Regarding cooperation with third countries, Latvia signed agreements with Belarus, Russia and Tajikistan to exchange experience, organise joint operations and develop cooperation between countries. By carrying out joint border control operations, new tendencies in migrant and goods smuggling were recognised. In order to monitor the effects of visa free regimes, Latvia developed an Expelled Foreigner and Entry Ban Register. It is planned that the Register will be operational as from 2015 and it will be used by OCMA and SBG to improve effectiveness of their operation in the field of combatting irregular migration. Latvia also assigned three national immigration liaison officers (NLOs) for a two years period to represent the interests of three Baltic States in the capitals of Belarus, Russia and Georgia. The information received contributes to developing threat assessments and tactical warnings to prevent security risks on the state boarder of Latvia. 5.2. RETURN Regarding return, in 2014 a study on Practices of other European countries in terms of mechanisms for supervising the persons subject to removal was commenced. 6. Actions against Trafficking in Human Beings The Criminal Law, Section 154 2 has been amended to supplement the definition of human trafficking by adding a new element - condition of vulnerability. In January 2014, Human Trafficking Prevention Guidelines for 2014-2020 were approved. The document is developed to guide in developing and distributing clear and easily usable information on the rights of victims in the employment and social fields, their status and rights of migrants. It guides operation of the website trafficking.lv, as well as defining the provision of social rehabilitation services to the victims. Services are state paid and provided in cooperation with NGOs. In October 2014, the Ministry of Interior held a training seminar on criminal persecution and court proceedings in the cases of human trafficking. The aim of the seminar was to improve the procedure of investigations, criminal prosecutions and court proceedings in the cases of human trafficking. Training was attended by 65 persons from different sectors policemen, prosecutors, judges and NGOs providing assistance to victims. In 2014 several projects tackling and preventing trafficking in human beings were organised: Sold Freedom 3 consecutive continuation of information campaign from last years; Multi-disciplinary initiatives for limiting human trafficking - expanding the system of support for victims and raising awareness amongst social workers and employees of organisations being part of NGO coalition; as well as educating children and youth; Strengthening the role of local governments for the work in fighting human trafficking in the Baltic Sea region the project will last until October 2015 and it involves ten countries of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (DK, EE, FI, DE, LV, LT, NO, PL, RU and SE). STATISTICAL ANNEX The Statistical Annex provides an overview of the latest available statistics for Latvia on aspects of migration and asylum (2011-2014), including residence, asylum, unaccompanied minors, irregular migration, return and visas. Where statistics are not yet available, this is indicated in the Annex as N/I and when statistics are not applicable, this is indicated as N/A. 3
Statistical Annex: Immigration and Asylum in Latvia (2011-2014) 1. COMMON EUROPEAN ASYLUM SYSTEM Figure 1: Asylum applications as a share of the total population in Latvia, EU average and EU high and low (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyappctza), data extracted 20/07/2015 Figure 2: Number of asylum applications and as a share of the total number of applications in the EU (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyappctza), data extracted 21/07/2015 Table 1: Asylum applications: Top five third-country nationalities (2011 2014) Nationality Nr % of total Nationality Nr % of total Nationality Nr % of total Nationality Georgia 175 51% Georgia 105 51% Georgia 145 74% Georgia 175 47% DRC* 40 12% DRC 25 12% Syria 15 8% Ukraine 75 20% Russia 20 6% Syria 20 10% Afghanistan 5 3% Egypt 5 3% Nr % of total Syria 35 9% Iran, Syria 15 4% Afghanistan 15 7% Russia, 5 3% Iraq 20 5% Cameroon 10 3% Russia 10 5% Uzbekistan 5 3% Afghanistan 15 4% Lebanon 10 3% Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyappctza), data extracted 21/07/2015: *Democratic Republic of Congo Figure 3: Asylum applications: Top five third-country nationalities as a share of EU total per given nationality (2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyappctza), data extracted 21/07/2015 4
Table 2: Asylum applications - First instance decisions by outcome (2011-2014) Total decisions Positive decisions Refugee status Of which: Subsidiary protection Humanitarian reasons Negative decisions 2011 90 20 5 15 N/A 70 2012 145 25 5 20 N/A 120 2013 90 25 5 20 N/A 65 2014 95 25 5 20 N/A 70 Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asydcfsta), data extracted 22/07/2015. Figures 4-7: Asylum applications - First instance decisions by outcome (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asydcfsta), data extracted 22/07/2015 Figure 8: Negative decision rate for the top five nationalities of applicants at the first instance in comparison with EU for the same given nationality (2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asydcfsta), data extracted 23/07/2015 Figure 9: Third-country nationals resettled Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyresa), data extracted 23/07/2015 2. UNACCOMPANIED MINORS Figure 10: Unaccompanied minors applying for asylum (2011-2014) Table 3: Unaccompanied minors (2011-2014) Unaccompanied minors (total) N/A N/A N/A N/A Unaccompanied minor asylum applicants 0 0 5 0 Source: Eurostat Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors by citizenship, age and sex Annual data (rounded) [migr_asyunaa], data extracted 23/07/2015 5
3. EUROPEAN POLICY ON LEGAL MIGRATION AND INTEGRATION Figure 11: First residence permits, by reason (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat (migr_resfirst), data extracted 23/07/2015; 2014 data obtained from EMN Annual Policy Report on Immigration and Asylum 2014, Statistic Annex Table 4: First residence permits: Top five third-country nationalities (2011 2014) 1. Russia 2,018 1. Russia 2,732 1. Russia 3,764 1. Russia 5,104 2. Ukraine 466 2. Ukraine 733 2. Ukraine 678 2. Ukraine 1,316 3. Belarus 255 3. Belarus 292 3. Uzbekistan 477 3. China 699 4. Kazakhstan 158 4. Recognised Non- Citizens 287 4. Recognised Non- Citizens 436 4. Uzbekistan 657 5. Uzbekistan 137 5. Uzbekistan 217 5. China 416 5. Belarus 470 Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_resfirst), data extracted 23/07/2015; 2014 data provided by EMN LV NCP Figure 12: Resident population of third-country nationals as a share of total population in Latvia, EU average, EU high and low (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_pop1ctz), data extracted 23/07/2015 4. IRREGULAR MIGRATION AND RETURN Table 5: Number of third-country nationals refused entry at external borders (2011 2014) Third country nationals: Refused entry at external borders 1,230 1,820 2,050 2,050 Found to be illegally present 130 205 175 265 Ordered to leave 1,060 2,070 2,080 1,555 Returned following an order to leave 1,055 2,065 2,070 1,550 Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_eirfs)(migr_eipre)(migr_eiord)(migr_eirtn), data extracted 24/07/2015 6
Table 6: Third-country nationals returned (2011-2014) Returned as part of forced return measures Returned voluntarily Returned through an Assisted Voluntary Return Programme 2011 54 1,055 73 2012 54 2,019 89 2013 33 2,047 82 2014* 363 1,580 66 Source: EMN Country Factsheet 2013 and *EMN Annual Policy Report on Immigration and Asylum 2014, Statistic Annex 5. SECURING EUROPE S EXTERNAL BORDERS Table 7: Number of Schengen visas applications (2011 2014) Uniform visas (short-stay visas) 163,309 182,496 205,230 207,185 Source: DG Migration and Home Complete statistics on short-stay visas issued by the Schengen States Figure 13: Uniform visa applications received in Latvia as a share of the total number of uniform visa applications in all Schengen states consulates (2011-2014) Source: DG Migration and Home affairs Complete statistics on short-stay visas issued by the Schengen States Table 8: Top five countries in which the highest number of visa applications for Latvia was lodged Country Number Country Number Country Number Country Number Russia 111,936 Russia 123,653 Russia 122,395 Russia 104,608 Belarus 27,502 Belarus 33,400 Belarus 56,698 Belarus 71,315 Ukraine 11,878 Ukraine 12,537 Ukraine 11,995 Ukraine 11,873 Georgia 2,825 Georgia 2,760 Uzbekistan 2,938 China 4,326 Azerbaijan 2,604 Azerbaijan 2,706 Georgia 2,832 Georgia 4,127 Source: DG Migration and Home affairs 6. ACTIONS AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS Table 9: Number of traffickers arrested as suspects and traffickers convicted Convictions 0 18 10 3 Arrested / otherwise involved in a 24 17 18 21 criminal proceeding Source: *EMN Annual Policy Report on Immigration and Asylum, Statistic Annex 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 7
7. ASYLUM AND MIGRATION EU FUNDING SOURCES (2007-2013 AND 2014-2020) Table 10: Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) allocation to Latvia in euro per area Areas AMIF 2014-2020 Asylum 3,204,872 Legal Migration and Integration 6,362,152 Return 2,428,404 Technical Assistance 1,756,347 Special cases (resettlement/transfer) - TOTAL 13,751,777 Source: DG Migration and Home affairs Table 11: Internal Security Fund (ISF) allocation to Latvia in euro per area Areas ISF 2014-2020 ISF Borders 15,521,704 ISF SA Frontex 450,000 ISF SA Consular cooperation - ISF Borders Emergency Assistance - ISF Police 16,941,431 TOTAL 32,913,135 Source: DG Migration and Home affairs Table 12: SOLID funds allocation in euro and share of total funds allocated to Latvia (2007-2013) SOLID FUNDS 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 TOTAL European Refugee Fund (ERF) N/A 502,498 (0.7%) 505,451 509,479 512,520 516,928 542,513 3,089,391 European Return Fund (RF) N/A 525,276 (0.9%) 527,894 (0.9%) 545,523 (0.7%) 559,678 601,522 (0.4%) 780,772 (0.4%) 3,540,665 (0.6%) European Fund for the Integration of TCN (EIF) 1,069,587 (1.6%) 1,143,581 (1.5%) 15,062,037 (15.4%) 1,356,637 (1.2%) 1,528,935 (1.2%) 1,748,691 (1.1%) 1,948,859 (1.1%) 23,858,327 (2.9%) External Borders Fund (EBF) 1,516,647 1,768,170 (1.3%) 2,043,260 (1.3%) 1,863,916 2,293,373 3,197,746 4,147,732 16,830,844 Source: DG Migration and Home affairs 8