The Latvian Startup Visa

The Latvian startup visa is a residence permit of up to three years for someone building an innovative product here. It is real, it works, and in 2025 Latvia granted 30 of them.

Thirty. That is the number the rest of this page exists to put in context, and it is the one an immigration consultancy will not lead with.

This states the rules with a link to each, and the grant counts are computed from the migration authority's own annual spreadsheets. It is not advice. Immigration decisions turn on individual facts and this page cannot see yours.

What Is the Latvian Startup Visa?

The Latvian startup visa is a residence permit of up to three years for a founder building an innovative product in Latvia. It carries no funding, forbids any other job, and is issued sparingly: Latvia granted 30 of them to founders in 2025.

Who Can Apply for the Latvian Startup Visa?

Since 20 May 2026, only citizens of an OECD member state, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, or San Marino can apply for the Latvian startup visa. Russian citizens have no startup route, Belarusian citizens apply under a separate article, and existing holders who no longer qualify may stay until their existing residence rights expire.

The main route is article 23(1)(33) of the Immigration Law, and its eligibility gate narrowed four months ago. As it now stands, the applicant must be a citizen of an OECD member state, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco or San Marino.

That condition is new. It was added by a law of 23 April 2026 that took effect on 20 May, and anyone already holding a permit who no longer qualifies may stay until their existing residence rights expire. Almost everything written about this visa predates the change and describes a programme open to any nationality. It no longer is.

Two consequences worth stating plainly:

• Russian citizens have no startup route at all. A separate article restricts Russian and Belarusian citizens to an enumerated list of grounds, and the startup ground does not appear in the Russian list.
• Belarusian citizens do have one, in that same separate article, on the same terms and for the same three years.

If you are from neither group and not from an OECD state, this route closed for new applicants in May 2026.

What Do You Need to Qualify for the Latvian Startup Visa?

You must plan activities that meet the Startup Law's definition of a startup, built around an innovative product. After the permit is granted, you must become a board member of a newly registered Latvian company within three months, and within 12 months show an early-stage investment of EUR 30,000 or a progress report.

The test is not a business plan score. It is that you plan to carry out activities matching the Startup Law's definition of a startup: a capital company with high growth potential, working on scalable business models and innovative products. An innovative product is defined as a good or service of high added value, new or substantially improved.

Read those definitions again, because their vagueness is the point and it cuts both ways. There is no revenue threshold, no headcount, no sector list. There is also nothing to point at when a decision goes against you. Applications fail on this criterion more than on any other, and "high growth potential" is a judgement made by people you will not meet.

Then two conditions that bite after the permit is granted, which is unusual and easy to miss:

1. Within three months of the decision, you must be registered as a board member of a Latvian capital company, and that company must have been registered no more than a year earlier. So this is not a permit for arriving and then deciding what to do.
2. Within 12 months, you must submit either evidence of an early-stage venture capital investment of EUR 30,000 under the Startup Law, or a progress report showing the company is still developing the product. An investment counts as early-stage only if made within the first five years after registration.

The second condition is the humane one. You do not need to have raised money to get the permit, and you do not need to have raised it a year later either, as long as you can show the work continued. But somebody reads that report. If you do raise, the funding guide maps where early money in Latvia comes from.

What Restrictions Come With the Latvian Startup Visa?

Two. A holder of the Latvian startup visa may have no other employer, and no board seat at another company, so consulting or a side job to fund the runway is ruled out, and permits for the same startup go to no more than five. The permit suits a small founding team working on one company full time.

These are in the statute, they are specific to this permit, and they change who it suits.

You may not have another job. A holder of this permit may have no other employer, and no board seat at another company. No consulting on the side to fund the runway, no non-executive seat, no second venture. If your plan was to contract part-time while building, this permit forbids it.

A founding team is capped at five. Permits for the same activity are issued to no more than that number of people. A team of six cannot all come on this route.

Together they describe the applicant the law has in mind: a small founding group, working on one thing, full time. That is a narrower person than the marketing suggests.

How Many Latvian Startup Visas Are Granted Each Year?

Latvia granted 30 startup visas to founders in 2025, plus 30 to their family members. The peak was 2021, at 206, before the route effectively closed to the nationalities that had used it most. The counts come from the migration authority's own residence permit spreadsheets.

The migration authority publishes first-time temporary residence permits every year, broken down by citizenship and by reason. One of the reason columns is "innovative entrepreneur", so this is countable rather than arguable.

The shape of that column is the most informative thing on this page.

The peak was 2021, at 206, and its composition explains what happened next: Russia 157, Belarus 33, Israel 3. After 2022 the route effectively closed to the nationalities that had been using it, and the count fell by roughly nine tenths. What remains is a genuinely small, genuinely international programme: in 2025 the largest origins were Armenia 9, Israel 4, Turkey 3, Belarus 2, none of them more than single digits.

So the honest read is that this is not a mass immigration route and was never designed as one. Thirty founders a year is a rounding error against the tens of thousands of first-time permits Latvia issues annually for all reasons.

One caveat on the 2025 figure, and it matters. Those permits were granted before the citizenship condition took effect in May 2026. Several of the largest origins that year are not OECD states, so the same applicants would not qualify today. The first year that shows the effect of the narrowing is 2026, and that spreadsheet does not exist yet.

What Does the Latvian Startup Visa Give You?

It gives the right to live in Latvia for up to three years, run your own company, and travel in the Schengen area, and family members can join. It does not give funding, a bank account, or the right to other work, and permanent residence needs five years of residence plus the state language.

It gives you the right to live here for up to three years, to run your company, and to move within the Schengen area on the terms any Latvian residence permit carries. Family members can come, and the data shows they do: 30 accompanied the 30 founders in 2025.

It does not give you money. There is no grant attached. The Startup Law support programmes are a separate application to a different body with their own qualifying bar, and holding this permit does not qualify you for them.

It does not give you a bank account, which is the practical obstacle that stops more foreign-founded companies than immigration does. That problem is covered in the registration guide and it is worth reading before you commit.

It does not give you a normal job market. See the restriction above: this permit is for your company and nothing else.

Permanent residence is possible but distant. It can be requested after five years of continuous residence on temporary permits, and it additionally requires the state language. A three-year permit does not reach five years on its own, so this is a path that requires renewal and a language exam, not a formality that arrives with time.

And once the permit is granted, the arrival checklist covers the first month: a personal code, a declared address that is also a tax decision, a bank account and healthcare.

What Are the Alternatives to the Latvian Startup Visa?

Four: registering a Latvian company without moving, which non-residents can do; an EU Blue Card through employment at a Latvian company, which carries no ban on other work; the remote work visa, if your income already comes from elsewhere; or the startup visas Estonia and Lithuania run.

• Just register a company. Non-residents can own and direct a Latvian company without living here at all, and if you do not actually need to move, this is simpler and carries none of the conditions above. That is its own guide.
• An EU Blue Card, via employment. If a Latvian company will employ you at the required salary level, this is a more robust permit with none of the no-other-employment restriction, and it counts toward the same five years.
• A remote work visa, if your income stays abroad. The condition above that turns most founders away is the ban on other income. If what you actually need is to live in Riga while continuing to earn from an existing employer or existing clients, the remote work visa is built for that, and it forbids the opposite: no work for a Latvian company, including your own.
• Estonia and Lithuania both run startup visas. Estonia's is the largest and best known of the three and its administration is genuinely more remote-friendly. A fair comparison of the three Baltic states is a piece of work in its own right and is the guide after this one rather than a paragraph here.

Who Is the Latvian Startup Visa Right For?

It suits an OECD-state citizen building a product rather than an agency, working on it full time with no other income, in a team of no more than five. It does not suit anyone who needs to keep consulting, has a larger team, or needs a company rather than a residence.

If you are an OECD-state citizen, building something you would call a product rather than an agency, intending to be here full time with no other income, and you have or expect a small early-stage round, this permit fits you well and the process is proportionate.

If you need to keep consulting while you build, if your team is larger than five, if you are not from a qualifying country, or if what you actually need is a company rather than a residence, it does not, and the alternatives above are more honest routes.

And if someone is selling you help with this, ask them how many were granted last year. The answer is 30, it is published, and anyone in the business ought to know it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Is the Latvian Startup Visa Valid?

The Latvian startup visa is a residence permit of up to three years. It does not lead to permanent residence on its own, which needs five years of continuous residence on temporary permits and the state language.

Can Russian Citizens Get the Latvian Startup Visa?

No. A separate article of the Immigration Law restricts Russian and Belarusian citizens to a list of grounds, and the startup ground is not in the Russian list. Belarusian citizens do have a startup route under that article.

Do You Need Investment to Get the Latvian Startup Visa?

No. Within 12 months a holder must show either an early-stage venture capital investment of EUR 30,000 or a progress report showing the product is still being developed, so continued work is enough.

Can You Work Another Job on the Latvian Startup Visa?

No. A holder of the Latvian startup visa may have no other employer, and no board seat at another company. That rules out part-time consulting, a non-executive board seat, or a second venture alongside the startup.

Can Family Members Join a Latvian Startup Visa Holder?

Yes. Family members can come, and the migration authority's figures show they do: 30 family members accompanied the 30 founders granted permits in 2025.

Sources

• Imigrācijas likums. Article 23(1)(33) is the permit, with its citizenship condition and its two post-grant deadlines. Article 23(12) caps the team and 23(13) forbids other employment. Article 23.1 covers Russian and Belarusian citizens separately. Article 24 has permanent residence and the language requirement. Transitional provision 75 grandfathers existing holders.
• Jaunuzņēmumu darbības atbalsta likums, article 1, for the definitions of a startup, an innovative product and an early-stage investment that the permit hangs on.
• PMLP residence permit statistics. Each year's first-time temporary permits, by citizenship and reason. The counts here are computed from those spreadsheets.

This page states rules and counts permits. Whether you would be granted one is a question for someone who can see your case.