Foreign nationals submit their visa applications to the following authorities:
- A Latvian Embassy or Consulate, if there is one in the country where the foreign national legally resides.
The territorial competence of the Latvian diplomatic and consular missions is set out in the Cabinet Regulation of 3 August 2010, No. 725 „Regulations regarding the assignment of territorial competence for Diplomatic and Consular missions of the Republic of Latvia with respect to requesting visas”:- for short-stay visas (the permitted duration of stay does not exceed 90 days in any 180-day period), see Annex 1 to the Regulation,
- for long-stay visas (the permitted duration of stay exceeds 90 days in any 180-day period), see Annex 2 to the Regulation.
Visa applications to Latvia’s diplomatic and consular missions shall be lodged through external service provider VFS Global: further information is available on the website of the respective diplomatic/consular mission of Latvia.
- Diplomatic or Consular Mission of another Schengen Member State, if the foreign national legally resides in a state where there is no Latvian diplomatic/consular mission, but another Schengen Member State is representing Latvia for visa purposes.
Diplomatic/consular missions of other Schengen Member States represent Latvia only in the issuance of short-stay visas with the permitted duration of stay in the Schengen Member States not exceeding 90 days in any 180-day period.
Diplomatic/consular missions of other Schengen Member States do not issue long-stay visas for Latvia. - If there is neither a Latvian diplomatic/consular mission, nor a mission of a state that represents Latvia for visa purposes in the country where the foreign national legally resides, the applicant shall apply to the Latvian diplomatic/consular mission with a territorial competence covering the applicant’s country of residence.