The United States should enact a visa-free policy for citizens of Latvia, or at least decrease the application fee, Latvian Interior Minister Ēriks Jēkabsons told American officials in an April 4 meeting in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. State Department will review its policy, according to a press release posted on the Interior Ministry’s Web site.

Latvian citizens seeking nonimmigrant visas, such as tourists or students, currently pay a nonrefundable processing fee of USD 100, according to the U.S. Embassy in Rīga. In addition, they undergo a visa interview. Meanwhile, U.S. citizens visiting Latvia only have to present their passport and have proof of traveler’s medical insurance.

Latvian citizens seeking to permanently immigrate to the United States pay a USD 335 processing fee and have to travel to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, to apply.

According to 2002 statistics, the latest available, a total of 10,773 nonimmigrants from Latvia were admitted to the United States. Of those, 4,096 were visiting the United States for pleasure.

Latvian citizens abroad who want to vote in the nation’s first European Parliament election on June 12 have until May to request absentee ballots, the Central Election Commission in Rīga has announced.

Latvians will elect nine members to the parliament, which enacts European Union legislation in concert with the Council of Ministers. Latvia, along with nine other countries from Eastern and Central Europe, officially join the EU on May 1. At present, the European Parliament has 626 members from 15 countries, with the largest political blocs belonging to Christian Democrats and Socialists. Germany has the greatest amount of MPs with 99, followed by France, Italy and the United Kingdom, each with 87.

The Latvian candidates for the European Parliament won’t be known until April 8, the deadline for candidate filings.

Requests for absentee ballots must be received by May 1 at one of 40 embassies or consular offices abroad, or by May 13 at a special absentee ballot office in Rīga.

The requests must include the person’s name and surname, their personal code, their home address and the address to where ballots should be mailed.

In the United States, requests for absentee ballots may be sent to the Latvian Embassy in Washington, D.C., or to Latvia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

In Canada, requests may be mailed to the embassy in Ottawa or to the honorary consulate in Toronto.

Latvian citizens in the United Kingdom should contact the embassy in London, while those in Ireland should contact the embassy in Dublin. In Germany, requests should be sent to the Latvian embassy in Berlin. Latvians living in Sweden may contact the embassy in Stockholm.

In Australia, requests may be mailed to the honorary consulates in Adelaide, Melbourne or Sydney.

If the May 1 deadline is missed, requests will be taken until May 13 at the absentee ballot office in Latvia: Vēlēšanu iecirknis balsošanai pa pastu, Elizabetes ielā 57, Rīga LV 1050, Latvia.

More information about voting in the European Parliament election is available from the Central Election Commission and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The latter’s Web site includes a downloadable absentee ballot request form.

Latvia’s new ambassador to the Sovereign Order of Malta will be Alberts Sarkanis, the president’s press office has announced. President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga presented Sarkanis with his letter of accreditation on April 5.

Not to be confused with the government of the Mediterranean island nation of Malta, the order is, according to its Web site, “a sovereign subject of international law, with its own constitution, passports, stamps, and public institutions.” It is a lay religious order that traces its history back to the 11th century and today has about 11,000 members.

Its work includes helping the poor and the sick.

Sarkanis also is ambassador to Vatican City. He previously was Latvia’s ambassador to Finland and Lithuania.