Temporary residence permit for start-up activity
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Termiņuzturēšanās atļauja jaunuzņēmuma darbības īstenošanai (Imigrācijas likuma 23. panta pirmās daļas 33. punkts) as of 2026-05-20[2] Latvia does not brand these permits; the Immigration Law describes each ground in Section 23(1) and OCMA titles its pages after the ground. The string recorded is the descriptive designation, not a programme name. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Temporary residence permit for start-up activity as of 2026-05-20[2] OCMA's residence-permit hub links a page for start-up founders; the English string recorded here is a translation of the statutory description and is marked as such. |
| Legal basis | Immigration Law (Imigrācijas likums) Section 23(1)(33), read with the Law on Aid for the Activities of Start-up Companies (Jaunuzņēmumu darbības atbalsta likums) Sections 1(5) and 4(1) as of 2026-05-20[2] Consolidated text of the Immigration Law in the version in force from 20 May 2026, read at likumi.lv, the official publisher's consolidated-law service. Amendment check (research-rules section 3 step 2): the two 2026 amending laws were retrieved and read – the law of 26 March 2026 (in force 29 April 2026, one item, adding a refusal ground at Section 35(1)(36)) and the law of 23 April 2026 (in force 20 May 2026, which rewrote parts of Section 23(1)); neither is later than the version cited here. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-05-20[2] Section 23 issues a termiņuzturēšanās atļauja – a temporary residence permit; OCMA issues it as a foreigner's eID card. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2025-07-24[4] |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source No minimum age is stated for this ground in the sources read. |
| Criminal-record condition | Not established from a qualifying source |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 3 years as of 2026-05-20[2] Section 23(1)(33) grants the permit 'for a period not exceeding three years' – the only Section 23(1) ground in this record with a ceiling other than five years. |
|---|---|
| Renewable | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Work rights | self-employment only as of 2025-01-01[2][3] Cabinet Regulation No. 55 sub-paragraph 2.4 lists the capacities whose residence permit carries the annotation “Komercdarbība” / “BUSINESS”: an individual merchant, a board or council member, a procurator, an administrator, a liquidator, a partnership member entitled to represent the partnership, a person authorised to represent a merchant in branch activities, a natural person registered as a performer of economic activity, and the holder of a permit under Immigration Law Section 23(1)(33). Immigration Law Section 9(1)(2) is the statutory hook. That annotation permits the holder's own commercial activity and not employment by another. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source |
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Requirements
| Business plan required | Not established from a qualifying source |
|---|---|
| Endorsement required | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Innovation criterion | Yes as of 2026-05-20[2] The ground is open to a foreigner who plans to carry out in Latvia activities corresponding to Section 1(5) of the Law on Aid for the Activities of Start-up Companies, and the 12-month condition turns on continued development, production or advancement of an innovative product. |
| Own means requirement | 1 × minimum monthly wage within normal working time per month as of 2026-04-01[5] |
Process
| Where to apply from | Not established from a qualifying source |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | up to 30 days as of 2026-03-18[7] |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-05-20[2] Immigration Law Section 23(4): in the cases named in Section 23(1) the foreigner's spouse, the minor children (including children under guardianship) of the foreigner or of the spouse, and persons under trusteeship, are likewise entitled to request a temporary residence permit for the term of the permit issued to the foreigner. A child who was a minor when the permit was requested falls under Section 29 on reaching majority. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child, other dependent as of 2026-05-20[2] Recorded from Section 23(4). 'Other_dependent' carries aizgadniba – persons under trusteeship – which the vocabulary has no closer value for; children under guardianship are recorded inside minor_child, as the statute groups them there. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Additional means per family member |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
Profile benefits
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Verification
| Sources cited | 7 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 7 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-01-01 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-05-20 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Grozījumi Imigrācijas likumā (amending law of 23 April 2026)
Saeima / Latvijas Vēstnesis · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2026-05-06 · Accessed 2026-08-16 - [2] Imigrācijas likums (Immigration Law), consolidated text in force from 20 May 2026
Saeima / Latvijas Vēstnesis (likumi.lv consolidated-law service) · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-16 - [3] Ministru kabineta noteikumi Nr. 55 "Noteikumi par arzemnieku nodarbinasanu"
Ministru kabinets / Latvijas Vestnesis (likumi.lv) · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-01-01 · Accessed 2026-08-16 - [4] The long-term resident status of the European Community in Latvia
Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-07-24 · Accessed 2026-08-16 - [5] The necessary subsistence
Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2026-03-16 · Accessed 2026-08-16 - [6] Latvia temporarily suspends issuance of temporary residence permits to Russian and Belarusian citizens
Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2022-06-13 · Accessed 2026-08-16 - [7] State fee for issuing the residence permit
Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Published 2026-03-18 · Accessed 2026-08-16