Latvia
Registration procedures and residence permits
- Citizens of European Union (EU) Member States or of European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland and members of their families who have been issued a valid EU/EEA citizen or family member residence permit in an EU/EEA state have the right to enter Latvia if they have a valid travel document. The above-mentioned persons have the right to remain in Latvia without registering residence within a three-month period, starting from the first day of entry.
- In order to work in Latvia, a citizen of an EU/EEA country and Switzerland or members of his or her family do not require a work permit and have free access to the labour market in Latvia.
- When an individual starts work in Latvia, the employer must register the employee with the State Revenue Service as a tax-payer and procure a tax-payer number.
- If you find a permanent place of residence in Latvia, you must declare your place of residence to the local council or the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs.
- If a citizen of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland or members of his or her family wishes to stay in Latvia for longer than a three-month period starting from the first day of entry, they must register with the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs to receive a residence registration certificate.
- If a citizen of the Community stays in Latvia for the purpose of employment, they may stay in Latvia for a period of up to six months without registering residence.
- If a citizen of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland has been continuously residing in Latvia for 5 years, he or she is entitled to request a permanent residence certificate.
- If a person does not have the citizenship of an EU/EEA state or Switzerland, they are entitled to apply for the status of a permanent resident of the European Community in Latvia after staying in Latvia for a period of five years.
Kinds of employment
In Latvia you may work from the age of 15.
Before a person can start work, the employer and employee must conclude a written employment contract. An employment contract is considered to be concluded from the moment the employer and employee have agreed on the work to be done and the payment for the work and on the employee’s acceptance from that moment forward of the terms of employment set by the employer and the employer’s instructions.
An employee has the right to conclude employment contracts with multiple employers, unless the employment agreement or the collective employment agreement states otherwise.
Employment contracts in Latvia are normally concluded for an indefinite term. In specific cases it is possible to conclude an employment contract for a definite term by duly justifying such a necessity, for example, seasonal or casual work, paid public work, etc.
An employment contract concluded for a finite term will state the date on which the employment relationship terminates or the circumstances giving rise to the end of the respective job. The term of such an employment contract may not exceed 3 years.
If the term for which an employment contract is concluded ends at a time when neither of the parties has requested that the employment contract be terminated and the employment relationship is in fact continuing, the employment contract is considered to have been concluded for an indefinite term.
Upon the conclusion of an employment contract, a trial period may be set to determine whether the employee is suitable to perform the work assigned to him/her. If a trial period is not indicated in the employment contract, it is considered to be concluded without a trial period. A trial period may not exceed 3 months. Trial periods may not be set for persons under 18 years of age.
Latvian employers mostly adhere to traditional employment, although there is also a tendency of growing flexible forms of employment such as half-time work, contract work, and fixed-term contracts. A form of employment becoming increasingly popular in Latvia during recent years is distance working, for example, work at home that gives employer and employee the opportunity to make working relations more flexible and also allows employees to combine their work with family life and social life and to perform their duties of employment more independently.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/eures/main.jsp?catId=8111&acro=living&lang=en&parentId=7751&countryId=LV&living=
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/eures/main.jsp?catId=8243&acro=living&lang=en&parentId=7784&countryId=LV&living=