Latvia's golden visa programme faces renewed scrutiny after the country's Financial Intelligence Unit flagged more than 20 companies suspected of running fake investment schemes under the temporary residence permit (TRP) system.

Around 200 foreign nationals allegedly invested over €10 million in share capital that did not support any real business activity, according to an investigation by Latvian public broadcaster LSM's programme De Facto, first reported on 27 April 2026. More than 50 of these investors have already received temporary residence permits. Counting family members, the number of permit holders or applicants linked to these schemes rises above 100.

Circular payments replaced real investment

FIU chief Toms Platacis told De Facto that in several cases investors did not make the required €50,000 contribution as a single, genuine investment. Instead, they paid it in repeated, circular amounts. He described one pattern plainly: "ten thousand, paid five times in a circle."

The FIU found that the money often flowed back to scheme organisers through loans, fake transactions, or purchases of vehicles or real estate. Some funds moved through transfers with no clear business purpose. Some investors were told from the start that they would not earn dividends and could not recover their money.

The companies under investigation

De Facto reviewed several companies, but authorities have not formally found any of them guilty of wrongdoing.

One company, registered in Portugal and founded roughly 18 months ago, drew nine TRP applicants. Its shareholder list includes 30 individuals from India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Chile, Malawi, Syria, Vanuatu, and other countries, each holding shares without voting rights. Data from the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA) showed this company had one of the highest investor rejection rates in the programme. A representative said the firm had operated in Portugal for nine years and managed a €200 million portfolio, but did not answer follow-up questions.

Another case involves Roberts Stafeckis, who controlled several companies in the "Latvindia" group, each attracting the maximum number of permitted investors. Two reported no revenue and posted losses in 2024. A third group linked to one businesswoman included three companies with unpaid taxes. A lawyer for that group told De Facto that if all legal requirements are met, "nothing more can be demanded of the company."

A wider pattern

Lursoft data shows that of 78 companies that attracted foreign investors over the past five years, seven have stopped operating and around 20 have unpaid taxes. About half reported fewer than five employees, and only about half met the legal requirement to pay at least €40,000 in annual taxes.

The programme, running since 2010, attracted over €1 billion in investment in its first four years, mostly from Russian nationals. Volumes fell after Latvia reformed its non-resident banking sector and dropped again after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russian and Belarusian citizens can no longer apply. The share capital route now accounts for just 0.3% of total non-resident investment in Latvia's economy.

Applications have nonetheless surged. Authorities received 109 applications in 2025, more than five times the 20 filed in 2021, and approved 201, up 34.9% from 2024. The top applicant nationalities were Turkey (20%), Vietnam (11%), the UK (9%), and India (9%).

Security concerns and screening gaps

State Security Service deputy head Eriks Tsinkus told a parliamentary investigative commission that gathering reliable information on applicants from China, Central Asia, and Africa is difficult. He also noted that some individuals who first received TRPs as Russian citizens now try to renew them using Israeli passports, making dual citizenship harder to track.

Ilze Briede, head of OCMA's Migration Department, said the law limits what authorities can do. "In our view, this criterion is currently insufficient," she told the commission, referring to the difficulty of cancelling a TRP from a company that pays taxes on paper but runs no real business.

Europe's Entry/Exit System, fully operational since 10 April 2026, and ETIAS, set to launch in the last quarter of 2026, do not cover TRP holders, who are exempt from EES registration. This means holders of fraudulent golden visas can move across Europe without the biometric record EES creates for short-stay travellers.

Political standstill

Jānis Dombrava, head of the parliamentary investigative committee, called the programme "a crude way to circumvent the system" and pushed for closure. Ainars Latkovskis, chairman of the Saeima National Security Committee, said disagreement between the Ministries of Economy and Interior is hard to resolve under the current parliament. The Ministry of Economics defended the programme, saying investors are screened carefully and the scheme brings revenue into the state budget.

Māris Vainovskis, deputy chairman of the Foreign Investors' Council of Latvia, framed the core question at the commission: "Is our goal to issue a residence permit? Or is our goal to create an investment?"

The Saeima has already removed the government securities route, which attracted only 88 investors in ten years. Whether the share capital route will also close depends on a political agreement that has not yet been reached, and a decision before Latvia's October elections appears unlikely.