Hi,
A government work group had until Dec. 10 to come up with proposals for granting dual citizenship to children born to citizens living abroad. Here’re the bits and pieces I collected on its work:
Heading the work group was Anda Ozola, an adviser to Oskars Kastēns, the integration minister.
On Oct. 15, 2007 Oskars Kastēns, special assignments minister for social integration affairs said that “A work group studying how dual citizenship could be used to foster closer ties with the Latvian homeland should broaden its discussions to include World War II refugees and Soviet-era deportees”.
Kastēns announced on Oct. 15 that he has sent a letter to Prime Minister Aigars Kalvītis asking that the work group’s duties be expanded.
The World Federation of Free Latvians completely supports Kastēns’ recommendation, as per Jānis Andersons, head of the federation’s office in Rīga, e-mail to Latvians Online. Many political refugees and their descendants were unable to register for Latvian citizenship before July 1995, when the window closed on a Latvian government offer of dual citizenship for exiles.
In a Sept. 27 letter to the work group, the World Federation of Free Latvians urged consideration for political refugees and deportees—and their descendants—who left Latvia during the Nazi and Soviet occupations between June 17, 1940, and May 4, 1990.
The federation also argued for allowing dual citizenship for Latvian descendants in Brazil who never had Latvian citizenship because their forebears emigrated before Latvia declared independence in 1918.
So, Dec. 10, 2007 is long gone - anyone knows the outcome of that work group’s work?
D
PS I wrote an email to Anda Ozola inquiring about the status, but alas - got no response. In case anyone is interested, her email is
