Citizens of [Belarus](https://rus.lsm.lv/statja/novosti/politika/grazdanam-belarusi-ne-nuzno-sdavat-yazykovoi-ekzamen-udgm.a494813/)do not need to pass the language exam, said the Office of Citizenship and Migration of Latvia. The amendments to the law on immigration concern only Russian citizens who used to be Latvian citizens or non-citizens. Nothing changes for the citizens of Belarus, said the deputy director of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Madara Puke

[View Poll](https://www.reddit.com/poll/10vuryk)

7 comments

  1. Really depends on the situation if they are residents and are 1st generation imigrants then no but if you are born in latvia you should definitely be obligated to take the test.

  2. Ko tu ar to gribēji pateikt? Tie ir Baltkrievijas pilsoņi, kāpēc viņiem būtu jāprot latviski? Gribēji lai tagad visiem tūristiem būtu pienākums runāt latviski? 😀

  3. This law is just a waste of already strained gov recourses, permenant residents and citizens should know the language, but normally civilized countries intice to learn it through well payed job oppertunities etc, like the Netherlands or Norway.

  4. As far as I know, there is currently no requirement at all for residents to take any language tests, only for becoming a citizen. (It is probably against EU law to require language tests for citizens of other EU member states to become residents.)

    I personally agree with the requirement to speak and understand Latvian before being able to become a citizen.

    Source: I am a permanent resident (not citizen) and I did not have to do any language tests.

  5. Question for Latvians: Why did you allow Russians born in Latvia after the fall of USSR to gain full citizenship with voting rights? Is this a controversial decision? Seems like a huge mistake in my eyes, but maybe I am not seeing something.

  6. I believe that the larger issue is that the state does not want Russian citizens living here for very obvious reasons. Lack of residence permit would be grounds to require them to leave. On other hand it would be rough on people, who have lived here for very long time, so this language test provides a way out, A2 level is very basic and not really a hard goal to reach, especially as they given almost a year they can use to study the language.

    Belarus, meanwhile, has not attempted to “protect” its citizens, rather it is dictatorial, abusive shithole, whose citizens we ourselves might want to protect by giving them asylum.

    And poll choices are pretty confusing, not really lingned up with having strong/moderate negative/positive opinions.

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