Before you start

A qualifying basis — employment, EU Blue Card, start-up, investment, study or family
Health insurance and documented accommodation in Latvia
A tuberculosis health certificate and a criminal record certificate from your country of residence
For the declaration: the property owner's written consent, usually as a rental contract clause

Step-by-step

1
Confirm which salary coefficient applies to your role
The employment floor is a multiple of the national average gross wage, with lower sector coefficients in construction, transport, hospitality, manufacturing and agriculture. Get the figure your file will actually be assessed against rather than the headline one.
OnlineWho: You
2
Have the employer register the vacancy with the NVA
Unless an exemption applies, the post must be registered with the State Employment Agency before it can be offered to a third-country national. This is the employer's step and the usual source of delay.
Via employerWho: Your employer
3
Apply to the PMLP and choose your processing speed
State fees are tiered: the standard 30-day track is the cheapest, with 10-working-day and 5-working-day expedited tracks costing progressively more. Confirm the current schedule on the PMLP site.
In personWho: You5–30 working days depending on track
4
Collect the residence card and get your personal code
The personas kods is what unlocks banking, tax, the NVD register and every e-service. Everything downstream waits on it.
In personWho: You
5
Declare your place of residence within one month
Third-country nationals declare in person at the PMLP with a passport and the owner's consent. The state fee for registering the declaration is €4.27. Failure to declare can attract a penalty of up to €350.
In personWho: YouWithin 1 month of moving€4.27
6
Register with the National Health Service
State-funded health care runs through the NVD's register of beneficiaries. Registration is your step, not an automatic consequence of the permit.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Employment contract or the approved basis for your route
Rental contract including the owner's consent to declare residence
Health insurance
Tuberculosis health certificate
Criminal record certificate from your country of residence

Things most newcomers don’t know

The landlord's consent clause is the most consequential sentence in your rental contract.

You cannot declare your place of residence without the property owner's consent, and without a declaration you are outside municipal services, school catchments and a chunk of ordinary administration — while exposed to a penalty of up to €350. Landlords who do not declare rental income to the VID routinely refuse. Negotiate the clause before signing, not after moving in.

Source: PMLP — declaration of residence

Every salary threshold here is a coefficient, not a number.

Latvia expresses its employment floors and Blue Card thresholds as multiples of the average gross wage published by the Central Statistical Bureau — around €1,815 a month for the general employment floor and roughly €2,723 and €2,178 for the Blue Card's 1.5× and 1.2× coefficients on 2026 figures. They are revised annually. A recruiter quoting a 2024 figure is quoting a threshold your file will not be judged against.

Source: European Commission — highly qualified worker in Latvia

The 1.2× shortage coefficient is the Blue Card detail people miss.

Latvia applies a reduced Blue Card threshold where the occupation is on its shortage list. For a qualifying specialist that is several hundred euros a month lower than the general 1.5× figure — and it is checked against a published list, not negotiated. Check the list before accepting that you do not qualify.

Source: European Commission — EU Blue Card in Latvia

The start-up permit asks for a business plan, not capital.

Latvia's start-up route grants a temporary residence permit of up to three years to founders of an innovative, scalable company, with no minimum investment and extension granted on an annual progress report. Subsistence is €500 a month. It sits alongside a residence-by-investment route that starts in the hundreds of thousands — and many founders apply to the wrong one.

Source: PMLP — innovative product creation (start-up activities)

Common mistakes to avoid

Signing a lease without the owner's consent clause and then being unable to declare residence.
Missing the one-month declaration deadline — the penalty runs to €350.
Negotiating a salary against a superseded average-wage coefficient.
Overlooking the 1.2× Blue Card shortage coefficient and assuming you fall short.
Assuming the residence permit registers you for health care — the NVD registration is separate.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.