Latvia start-up founder residence permit

The permit is for a foreigner who intends to carry out activities in Latvia to create or develop an innovative product. The application is built around a free-form statement describing the innovative product you plan to create or develop and your planned commercial activities for the next three years.

OCMA’s start-up checklist sets means of subsistence of EUR 780 per month, the 2026 minimum monthly wage. Each accompanying adult needs EUR 780 and each minor child EUR 234 per month. Health insurance valid in Latvia must cover at least EUR 42,600.

Review costs EUR 160 within 30 days, EUR 280 within 10 working days or EUR 560 within 5 working days under Regulation No. 731. Add EUR 45 for the card and EUR 90 for the entry D visa.

After OCMA approves the permit, you apply at the Latvian embassy or its visa application centre for a single-entry D visa valid for 30 days (fee EUR 90) and travel to Latvia. There you give biometrics at an OCMA office, pay the card fee and receive the residence permit card. As a permit holder you must declare your place of residence; the application form usually counts as the declaration, and later changes must be declared within one month, free of charge on Latvija.gov.lv or for EUR 4.27 at an office.

A refusal can be contested within 30 days in Latvian to the Head of OCMA and then appealed in court. If the board or investment conditions are not met, the grounds for the permit fall away.

The permit stays in force only if two conditions are met. Within three months of the decision to issue it, you must be registered as a board member of a capital company entered in the Commercial Register no more than a year earlier, through which you carry out the activity. The qualified venture capital investor’s total investment in that company’s equity must reach at least EUR 30,000 within six months of the first permit and at least EUR 60,000 within 18 months. On these terms the permit can be issued for up to three years.