Economic migrants from third countries continue to abuse Latvia's hospitality to enter the European Union. This would not be possible without the involvement of local fraudsters and also education salesmen.
In the first half of March, the State Border Guard, in cooperation with the Kurzeme Regional Police, detained the head of a travel agency. Under the guise of the tourism business, he offered his clients a fictitious visa processing service. By submitting false information to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA), the citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan were provided with the opportunity to seemingly legally reside in Latvia and other European Union member states, European Economic Area countries and Switzerland.
In the eyes of migrants, Latvian visas and temporary residence permits are golden, as these documents open the door to the land of happiness. You can stay in Latvia and work as a food courier or illegally in construction. But you can go further in Europe to even richer pastures than Latvia. This is exactly what the clients of the particular tour company have done - they were all Uzbeks. Illegal services have been performed by the company since 2017. The Border Guard reports that fictitious invitations were issued to at least 1,375 Uzbek citizens. No less than 1,055 Uzbeks received Latvian visas on the basis of this invitation. And at least 301 Uzbek citizens entered Sweden on the basis of these visas, where they applied for asylum. During the pre-trial investigation, searches took place in both Riga and Liepāja; computers, documents and large amounts of cash were seized. Obviously, illegal visas and temporary residence permits are an expensive service. However, there are other, less risky ways to enter the European Union. These are Latvian higher education institutions that are able to provide documents and entry to a much larger number of third-country nationals.
Neatkarīgā has already reported that at least in part “Migrants use studies and kebabs as a cover story.” And this is also acknowledged by the State Security Service: “The SSS has repeatedly stated in its public reports that some Latvian higher education institutions do not critically evaluate foreign student applications. Last year too, most of the cases when the SSS urged to refuse a residence permit or requested additional documents for an in-depth examination were related to foreigners who have expressed a wish to study in Latvia.” The risk lies in the fact that by pretending to be students, extremist people can also try to enter Latvia. In turn, in the case of economic migration, it is illegal employment, distorted labor market, disturbed public order. Almost all higher education institutions are engaged in the import of third-country nationals in Latvia - the larger the higher education institution, the more foreigners there are, but there are also higher education institutions that specialize in servicing certain third-country foreigners.
For example, in 2020, the ISMA University of Applied Sciences was the second home for 597 Uzbeks and 274 Indians. SIA Baltijas Starptautiskā akadēmija specializes in servicing 58 Pakistanis. SIA Rīgas menedžmenta koledža was popular among Cameroonians. Statistics from the Ministry of Education show that in 2020, 6,601 people from third countries (outside the European Economic Area) were studying in Latvia. In 2019, 7355 people. In 2018 - 6361. The statistics of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs differ. It shows at least 10-20% lower figures. For some countries, the differences are even greater. Maira Roze, Deputy Head of the Office, explains that this is related to the methodology and purpose of collecting statistics. For example, a student might have been admitted to a university but been denied a residence permit, or, for example, due to a pandemic, the student did not arrive and did not receive a residence permit. Maybe the student has taken an academic leave for a year and his residence permit has been revoked, but he remains in the statistics of the Ministry of Education. The cases are different. However, looking at the years, the overall fluctuations are proportionally similar.
Most likely, the jump in the number of foreign students in 2019 and the subsequent slight decline in 2020 are linked to the kebab scandal, which, at least for a while, prompted supervisors and universities themselves to start filtering the migrants they invited to Europe. Already in 2018, it was revealed that a large part of students only pretend to be ones to receive temporary residence permits. Don't participate in lectures. Don't worry about failing. Some immediately disappear in the direction of Berlin or Stockholm. Later, the in-depth selection procedures revealed that in telephone interviews the level of English proficiency was demonstrated by one expert for whole villages, but the real “students” did not even know what they were going to study in Latvia. In the first half of 2019, more than half of the issued study visas were canceled.
However, last year the number of third-country students rose again and even exceeded the 2018 figures. Even with the pandemic and the fight against fake students.
According to the explanation of the State Security Service, higher education institutions are still too lax in filtering their students.
What will be the situation this year? Studies take place remotely, but there is no reason to believe that false "students" will go home as a result. Food delivery couriers who do not know the Latvian language and traffic regulations drive around Riga, endangering public order and, possibly, national security.
In the liberal wing of the society, with the support of the public media, ideas on softening Latvia's migration policy are currently being promoted. However, this would not be acceptable. If only because it seems impossible to send the fake students home, and European visas are traded illegally under the guise of a tourism business.
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