Latvia’s property-based golden visa ended when its new Immigration Law took effect on September 15, ETIAS.com reported. Foreign investors can no longer qualify for residence through a real-estate purchase (formerly €250,000 plus a 5% government fee) or a subordinated bank deposit (€280,000 held for five years plus a €25,000 state fee). Applications filed before September 15 are still assessed under the old rules, and existing temporary permits remain valid until they expire.
The law replaced property and deposits with a €150,000 state-investment-fund route, but that fund does not yet exist — Latvia’s Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs has confirmed the required state fund manager has not been created and implementing rules are still pending. A government-bonds route (€250,000 plus a €38,000 fee) also remains on paper. Company investment is now the only route that actually works: at least €50,000 in share capital for small companies (or €100,000 for larger ones), a one-off €10,000 state payment, and minimum annual tax payments of €40,000 or €100,000 respectively to keep the two-year permit valid.
Before the fund route can even open, five lawmakers from the Progressives — led by faction chair Andris Šuvajevs — filed a bill on September 3 to abolish it outright, citing security, money-laundering and sanctions-evasion risks and arguing investment-based residence prioritises wealth over labour-market needs. The bill, which contains no transition provisions, was referred to a parliamentary committee on September 10; a lawyer at EU Law Firm, Viktorija Tomaševiča, called it “one of the first steps” in a multi-reading process, with further comment expected only after Latvia’s October 3 election. The underlying law itself had a contested path: the Saeima passed it June 11, President Edgars Rinkēvičs sent it back June 19 over concerns about verifying fund money’s source, and parliament re-passed it August 20 without restoring the property route.
Demand for Latvian investor residence had been rising before the change: approvals grew 34.9% in 2025 to 201, with property accounting for 48% of permits (up from 29% in 2024) and company equity 49%; Turkish nationals made up 20% of approvals, followed by Vietnamese (11%) and UK and Indian applicants (9% each). Latvia joins Portugal (which dropped real estate from its Golden Visa in 2023) and Spain (which ended its program in 2025) in retreating from property-linked investor residence, while Panama moved the other way on September 16, keeping a $300,000 threshold for new-build property and raising the resale-property threshold to $500,000.
For anyone who had been eyeing Latvian residence through property, the only route open today is company investment tied to ongoing tax payments rather than a one-time asset purchase — and even that could shrink further depending on Latvia’s October 3 election and the pending bill to abolish the fund route.
References
ETIAS.com – Latvia ends property golden visa as lawmakers target fund route
