Russian citizens living in Daugavpils do not want to leave Latvia due to failure to pass the national language test
The chairwoman of the commission for social issues of the Daugavpils city council, deputy, head of the structural unit “Russian cultural center” of the municipal institution “Vienības nams”, Nataļja Kožanova (“Saskaņa”), on the days of welcoming residents, always meets Daugavpils whose documents have lost their validity in Latvia. These are residents who once chose to become Russian citizens and are now paying heavily for it. Each of them has their own life story, which in most cases is not related to Russia, and each also has their own solution when receiving the news of deportation from Latvia.
“You know, some don’t want to do anything, they are depressed; there are people who packed their bags, made a decision and went somewhere. Not necessarily to Russia, because those Russian citizens who live here, they have no ties to ” Russia, there are no relatives there, there is nowhere to go. There are situations related to Belarus and there are people who go there. There are those who go to their children somewhere in Europe, those who live in England. There are very different people situations. And unfortunately there are situations where many people have died. Because the tension had its effect on the state of health and people could not bear it. Many people died,” Kožanova said.
Rimma, a Russian citizen, was among the citizens of Daugavpils who received a letter from the Committee for Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) regarding her expulsion from Latvia because she failed the Latvian language proficiency test.
“I didn’t know what to do, what to do when I received the news that I had to leave Latvia on December 1. I didn’t pass the language exam, I will be deported soon, and I have no relatives in Russia. Will I have to go to the outskirts of Pskov? I can’t not even to say the emotions I felt then. But I decided to attend Latvian language courses, although when I was working I had the second category of knowledge of the Latvian language. Unfortunately, over the years, the language has been forgotten, there is no was nothing to communicate with. And even when I took the test for the second time, I got the required marks which I don’t collect. Now it’s hard, my Russian pension is about 90 euros, very little and it’s impossible to pay for everything, the test language, all the letters. The money runs out very quickly,” Rimma said.
Now Rimma, born in Estonia with roots from the Karelian family from Tver, after failing the Latvian language test for the second time, has obtained a permit that gives her the opportunity to stay in Latvia for another two years to strengthen her knowledge of Latvian language. Latvian language.
Rimma is over 70 years old, she is a professional artist who got married in Latvia. Russian citizenship gave her the opportunity to travel without a visa and participate in international exhibitions and collect laurels there. Now, having lost her source of livelihood, she has come under the auspices of the “Rūpes” company from Daugavpils, which, like others of hers, delivers parcels of food and medicine to her every week.
“It’s not the only thing we transport and help. There’s firewood, animal food and medicine. We organize fundraisers and help people who are in difficulty and have no money. We decided we couldn’t let it go. Here because journalists have come to understand what is happening,” the association said.
Foreign journalists are frequent guests in Daugavpils precisely on the issue of the expulsion of Russian citizens, this time they are colleagues from the BBC interested in how the people left without documents survive and make a living.
Among them is Ludmila, 80 years old, Uzbek, she did not have to take the Latvian language test due to her age, but not knowing that she had to renew her residence permit in Latvia cost her the loss of her pension, as she is diabetic , also the availability of drugs for several months. Now the documents have been submitted and this woman also hopes to stay in Latvia. Her children were born here and she has no other land to go to.
There are currently around 1,000 Russian citizens living in Latvia who, unlike these two women from Daugavpils, have not yet submitted the documents to request a residence permit in Latvia. And the deportation process of these Russian citizens will be very complicated and burdensome, as PMLP head Maira Roze admitted to the Saeima Citizenship, Migration and Community Cohesion Commission in early December.
So far, no Russian citizens have been expelled from Latvia. But this month the Constitutional Court began examining the case relating to the rule that Russian citizens must demonstrate knowledge of the Latvian language to obtain a new residence permit. The decision in this case will be announced in February.
CONTEXT:
Before changes to the immigration law, people who were previously Latvian citizens or non-citizens, but accepted Russian citizenship, received permanent residence permits in Latvia in a simplified way, without the need to pass a language test. In September 2022, the immigration law was changed and it was mandatory for them to pass the national language proficiency exam at conversational level by 2 September 2023.
However, Saeima has decided to allow those who have not passed the test the first time to take it again until the end of November, maintaining their residence permit and extending the presentation of documents until the end of the year.
Those who took the exam twice but failed, as well as those who failed for a valid reason, were given the opportunity to request a residence permit for two years while maintaining benefits and healthcare paid by the State.
As of September 1 last year, 3,541 people had not submitted documents to apply for permanent resident status in the EU or had not applied to retake the national language test. Accordingly, these people had to leave the territory of Latvia by November 30, 2023.
If these people wanted to continue staying in Latvia and had the right to apply for a permanent residence permit, they could submit an appropriate application to the PMLP.
At the end of last year, the PMLP informed that 1,213 people had not submitted documents to apply for residence permit in Latvia by the deadline set in the amendments to the law – November 30, and there is no information available that these people had already left the country. Village. The PMLP admitted that these people theoretically still have the possibility to reside legally in Latvia, if there are valid reasons.
Meanwhile, four cases have already been opened in the Constitutional Court regarding the new requirements of the immigration law.
2024-01-16 04:55:37
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