Temporary Residence Permit for Innovative Product Creation (Startup Visa)

Reformed Last verified November 2026

Open, with no capital threshold and permits of up to three years. Since 15 September 2026 the route is open to every nationality except Russian citizens and nationals of the countries on the Cabinet's additional-checks list; before that, only nationals of OECD states, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino could apply.

For a founder who will actually move, this is the cheapest door into Latvia, and its permits run a year longer than those on the EUR 50,000 company route.

Qualifying routes

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Innovative product creation or development

No minimum capital. The company's core business must be a scalable model built on an innovative product.

The facts

Total landed cost: No capital threshold. The costs are the state fees for the permit and the cost of running the company.
Route type: Business & founder
Timeline: 1–4 months (PMLP decides within 30 days, or within four months when it extends the term.)
Physical presence: None set by law for the permit.
Family: SpouseMinor childrenAdult children who were minors at the first application
Permanent residency: Five years of continuous residence, with absences of no more than six months in a row and ten months in total, plus Latvian at A2 and a course in Latvian culture and history.
Citizenship: Five years of permanent residence before naturalisation, so ten years from the first permit at the earliest.
Language test: Exams in Latvian, Latvian history, the Constitution and the text of the national anthem.
Dual citizenship: Not permitted. You would have to renounce.
Requirements: Board membership, within three months of the decision, in a Latvian company registered no more than a year earlierA clean criminal record

What can go wrong

Within 12 months of the permit the founder must show early-stage venture capital at the amount set by the Start-up Business Activity Support Law, or a progress report proving the product is still being developed.
No more than five foreigners can hold permits for one startup, and all of them get the same term as the first.
Latvia's dual citizenship whitelist still applies at the citizenship stage.

Path to permanent residence and citizenship

Permanent residency. Five years of continuous residence, with absences of no more than six months in a row and ten months in total, plus Latvian at A2 and a course in Latvian culture and history.

Citizenship. Five years of permanent residence before naturalisation, so ten years from the first permit at the earliest.

Language test. Exams in Latvian, Latvian history, the Constitution and the text of the national anthem.

Dual citizenship. Not permitted. You would have to renounce.