Latvia does not have a clear and labour market-based approach to attracting foreign labour. It is not determined in which sectors and professions, in what volume and from which countries one needs to attract foreign labour nor there are mechanisms in place to implement such a policy. In addition, the process of obtaining work permits is long, difficult to predict and administratively disproportionate, and control mechanisms do not always ensure that the granted work permits are used for the intended purpose.
IN BRIEF
- At the beginning of 2026, 15,177 third-country nationals, or 16% of all third-country nationals with the right to work in Latvia, were residing in the country on the basis of employment.
- Only 14% of work permits were issued in highly qualified professions although policy documents emphasised attracting such specialists.
- The submission of repeated documents and insufficient data flow create unnecessary bureaucracy.
- There is a risk that work permits are used for the purpose of residence rights, not employment.
In this performance audit by the State Audit Office of Latvia, we assessed the compliance of the attraction of foreign labour with the needs of the Latvian labour market and the effectiveness of the work permit system. We will assess in more detail how effectively the institutions control compliance with the conditions of residence after entry into Latvia and prevent legal migration from turning into illegal migration in the next audit.
“Latvia lacks a clear foreign labour policy based on labour market needs, data and risks, and we are trying to compensate for this deficiency with complicated procedures, which make it difficult to attract the necessary labour force and create unwanted incentives at the same time. If the work permit system in Latvia becomes unattractive, employers may choose to second third-country nationals to Latvia from other EU Member States. The number of such assignments has increased by approximately 92% over the year. Foreign labour in Latvia is not disappearing. The model of its attraction is changing, and the budget of Latvia is not receiving labour tax revenues,” emphasised Mr Gatis Litvins, Council Member of the State Audit Office of Latvia.
It is not clear what kind of foreign labour Latvia wants to attract
The forecasts of the Ministry of Economics indicate that the number of working-age population in Latvia could decrease by approximately 9.4% by 2040. At the same time, the possibilities to increase the local labour supply will be limited significantly. At the beginning of the year, 15,177 third-country nationals, or 16% of all third-country nationals with the right to work in Latvia, were residing in Latvia on the basis of employment.
However, the government is not clear in which sectors, professions and in what volume Latvia will need foreign labour. There are also no mechanisms in place for targeted attraction of labour from specific countries, such as bilateral migration agreements, target country programs or simplified procedures for citizens of certain countries. As a result, the flow of foreign labour is mainly determined by individual demand from employers, rather than coordinated state policy. Although the policy planning documents emphasise the attraction of highly qualified specialists, only 14% of work permits were issued in highly qualified professions from the beginning of 2024 to mid-2025. 57% of work permits were granted in medium-skilled occupations and 29% in low-skilled occupations. In addition, approximately 40% of all work permits were issued to truck and tractor drivers. This suggests that the actual workforce needs are much broader than those stated in policy documents.
Obtaining work permits takes several months
The audit concluded that the process of obtaining work permits for employers and foreign employees was long and difficult to predict. Although the decision-making deadlines set in laws and regulations are not significantly longer than in other European Union countries, the overall process is significantly extended by various intermediate stages, the duration of which is not managed and monitored systematically. Obtaining a work visa takes approximately three months while obtaining a work residence permit, if an application is submitted outside Latvia, takes an average of six months. The capacity of Latvia’s representations abroad, the availability of a document submission record and the speed of document circulation have a significant impact on the deadlines.
A significant problem is also the repeated submission of the same documents and data to different institutions. Although several state institutions are involved in decision-making, they do not have access to the full set of previously submitted documents and checks performed, therefore, sometimes the same circumstances have to be assessed repeatedly. It creates an additional administrative burden for both employers and foreign employees, as well as for state institutions themselves.
More targeted solutions are needed rather than more complicated ones
An opinion of the State Employment Agency on attracting a foreigner, introduced from 1 January 2025, extends the process of obtaining a work permit by approximately two weeks, but only 2.8% of vacancies for which such an opinion was requested have been filled with local labour. Therefore, more targeted and less administratively burdensome solutions should be evaluated, for example, exempting certain professions or sectors in which there is a labour shortage from the labour market test.
The audit concluded that the conditions for attracting seasonal workers did not always meet the actual needs of the sectors. In Latvia, a seasonal work visa can be issued for a period of up to six months although European Union regulations allow seasonal workers to stay for up to nine months in any 12-month period. In agriculture and peat extraction, the demand for seasonal workers is often longer than the six months set in Latvia. There is also no simplified procedure for re-employing already tested seasonal workers or changing employers during the season; in such cases, the process must be started anew.
The tax regime for seasonal agricultural workers also no longer corresponds to the situation in the sector. Since its introduction in 2014, wages have increased significantly but the maximum income threshold of 3,000 euros has not been revised. As a result, employers are more often motivated to attract new employees during the season rather than continue to employ existing ones while it increases the administrative burden for both businesses and state administration.
The regulation of work residence permits also creates an additional administrative burden. During the audited period, employers, foreigners and state institutions had to carry out several procedures repeatedly every year to register a work residence permit issued for up to five years. It meant re-issuing a summons, paying state fees, submitting a copy of an insurance policy, checking tax payments, providing biometric data and receiving a new residence permit card.
The new draft of Immigration Law proposes to replace this annual registration with a reduction in the duration of the work residence permit from five years to one. The changes are justified by the need to check tax payments regularly; however, such an approach maintains an administrative burden and there is no certainty that it will reduce migration risks more effectively. Such an annual procedure could be replaced with a simpler solution. For example, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs of Latvia could obtain information on tax payments directly from the databases of State Revenue Service of Latvia, without involving employers and foreigners in a repeated administrative process.
Complicated terms and conditions may encourage choosing other labour recruitment models
The State Audit Office of Latvia has also concluded that a complicated work permit process, including some disproportionate and unjustified conditions, might encourage employers to choose other models of attracting labour. The number of third-country nationals posted to Latvia from other European Union Member States has increased from 972 to 1,863 persons in one year. The more foreign labour is transferred to other models regulated by the European Union, the less practical significance the Latvia’s work permit system has and the less opportunities the state has to influence the attraction of foreign labour. In addition, auditors’ estimates show that due to such short-term postings, the state budget of Latvia has potentially lost approximately five million euros in labour tax revenue in 2025.
Incomplete control creates a risk of work permits being used for purposes other than their intended purpose
The audit found cases in which a work residence permit was possibly used as an easier way to obtain residence rights. When examining 60 work residence permit cases, it was found in 12 cases that a foreigner had invited himself or his family members to work in Latvia through a company owned by him or by related persons. 160 companies were identified in which a third-country national was both a beneficial owner and an employee of the company. Of these, 101 companies paid only labour taxes, while the beneficial owner was also the only employee in 50 companies.
Although the European Union regulations allow EU Member States to set a waiting period of up to two years before family reunification, family members can join a foreigner immediately after the work residence permit is granted in Latvia. It means that the right of residence is granted to family members even before there is certainty about the stability of the person’s employment and residence in Latvia.
Interviews at the embassies of Latvia have played a significant role in identifying risks so far. In the audit sample, 48% of work visas and 44% of work residence permit refusals were based on information obtained directly from interviews. They revealed discrepancies between what was indicated in the documents and the person’s actual knowledge of the planned work or residence in Latvia. The less frequent use of interviews after the introduction of the Migration Portal may weaken the assessment of the true purpose of applications.
At the same time, the government does not use the data already at its disposal sufficiently to verify that a foreigner has actually started working for the inviting party after receiving a work permit. In the audit sample, the employment relationship was not registered after the work permit was issued in 18% of cases whereas when the employment relationship had already ended, the work permit was not cancelled within a month in 61% of cases.
Recommendations of the State Audit Office of Latvia #PēcRevīzijas
The State Audit Office of Latvia has provided six recommendations to the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Economics, the implementation of which will attract foreign labour according to the needs of the labour market by 2030 while the process of obtaining work permits will become more timely and administratively proportionate, and the supervision of granted permits will be more effective.
Additional reading: audit summary report, infographics.
About the State Audit Office of Latvia
The State Audit Office of the Republic of Latvia is an independent, collegial supreme audit institution. The purpose of its activity is to find out whether the actions with the financial means and property of a public entity are legal, correct, useful and in line with public interests, as well as to provide recommendations for the elimination of discovered irregularities. The State Audit Office conducts audits in accordance with International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions INTOSAI (ISSAI), whose recognition in Latvia is determined by the Auditor General. Upon discovering deficiencies, the State Audit Office of Latvia provides recommendations for their elimination, but it informs law enforcement authorities about potential infringements of the law.