Latvia Closes Its 250,000 Euro Property Route to Residence Permits

Latvia's residence permit route based on buying property closes to new applicants after 14 September 2026, ending a scheme that has run for 16 years with a minimum purchase price of 250,000 euros. A new Immigration Law promulgated by President Edgars Rinkevics at the start of September enters into force on 15 September, and it does not carry the real estate option forward.

What changed

Two investment routes disappear. The first is the property route, which required a minimum purchase of 250,000 euros. The second is the subordinated bank deposit route, set at a minimum of 280,000 euros. Both have been available to third country nationals for 16 years and both stop accepting new applicants once the law takes effect.

The cut-off is procedural rather than a grace period on completion. Applications filed with the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs through 14 September are assessed under the rules in force today. Anything filed from 15 September falls under the new law, which has no property category to file under.

Two routes survive in some form. Investment in company share capital continues at 50,000 euros for a small company, or 100,000 euros for a company with more than 50 employees and turnover above 10 million euros, in each case with an additional 10,000 euro payment to the state budget. The duration is cut: permits on this basis are now issued for up to two years rather than up to five.

The replacement for the closing routes is a fund product. A third country national can invest a minimum of 150,000 euros for at least five years through an alternative investment fund manager created by the state, again with a 10,000 euro payment to the state budget, and receive a temporary residence permit of up to five years.

The mechanism

The law took an unusually long path to the statute book. The Saeima, Latvia's parliament, adopted it on 11 June 2026 by 65 votes to 17. Rinkevics did not sign it, instead returning the text to parliament for a second reading under his constitutional power to send legislation back for review. The Saeima re-adopted the law on 20 August 2026, keeping an investment based residence route in place but in the fund form rather than the property form. The President then promulgated the re-adopted text, with entry into force set for 15 September.

The reform is broader than the investment categories. The new law also removes the annual registration requirement that temporary residence permit holders have had to satisfy each year. Instead, a permit will be requested for a period matching the validity of the identity card issued with it. Holders of permits granted under the outgoing property and deposit routes keep them until their current ID card expires, at which point they reapply under the new framework.

What it means for a foreign buyer

Anyone who was planning to buy Latvian property in order to obtain a residence permit has until 14 September to get an application accepted by the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs. That is a matter of days, and it requires the purchase and the supporting documentation to already be in hand. For most prospective applicants who have not already started, the practical answer is that the route is gone.

Buying property in Latvia remains entirely possible for foreign nationals. What disappears is the immigration benefit attached to it. From 15 September a 250,000 euro apartment in Riga is a property investment and nothing more, so the calculation changes for anyone who was accepting a lower rental yield in exchange for a residence permit.

The fund route is the nominal successor, but it is a different product with different risk. It moves 150,000 euros into a state-created alternative investment fund manager for a minimum of five years, with no asset the investor selects, occupies or can sell independently. It is also worth noting that legal availability from 15 September does not guarantee operational readiness: a fund vehicle that exists in statute still needs a manager, a mandate and a subscription process before anyone can actually place money in it.

Existing permit holders who bought property under the old rules are not being expelled, but they are on a clock. Their permits run to the expiry of the current ID card, and the renewal at that point is under the new law, not the one they applied under.

Context

The property and deposit routes had been open for 16 years, dating to the aftermath of the banking crisis that left the Baltic property market badly damaged, and for much of that period Latvia offered one of the cheapest routes to residence inside the Schengen area. The closure places it alongside a broader European retreat from property linked residence. Portugal dropped real estate from its golden visa and now offers residence by investment only through other asset classes, and Spain has ended its programme. Greece has gone the other way, keeping property at the centre of its scheme while raising the price of entry into tiers that reach 800,000 euros.

Sources

- Latvia Promulgates New Immigration Law; Golden Visa Property and Deposit Routes End September 14, IMI Daily, 3 September 2026

- The new Immigration Law in Latvia: what it means for employers, investors and temporary residence holders, COBALT, 15 June 2026

- The President Made a Decision on Golden Visas: Who Will Be Able to Obtain a Residence Permit in Latvia, 1 September 2026