Latvian remote work visa needs an OECD-registered employer or business

Latvia’s long-stay visa for remote workers bars citizens of the Russian Federation by name; for other applicants the core test is where the employer or own business is registered. Under the Immigration Law in force since 15 September 2026, the applicant must work for an employer registered in another member state of the OECD, or be self-employed and registered in one. Vietnam is not among the OECD’s 38 members.

The employer test

Article 17(6) of the new Immigration Law ties the visa to remote work for an employer registered in another OECD member state, or as a self-employed person registered in an OECD member state. Article 18(3) bars citizens of the Russian Federation from requesting it, and the visa articles name no other nationality.

This means a Vietnamese national employed by a company registered only in Vietnam does not meet the condition, whatever the salary. An employee of a company registered in, for example, Japan, South Korea or Australia could meet it.

What an applicant proves

An employee submits a document on current employment from the tax or social-insurance authority of the OECD state, and a certificate from an employer registered there of at least six months’ prior employment with it. The certificate also gives the salary and confirms that the duties can be done remotely. This means an employee with less than six months of service with that employer cannot meet the prior-employment requirement.

A self-employed applicant submits a document from the OECD state’s tax authority confirming registration as self-employed and the income of the last six months. The applicant also attaches a free-form statement on the field of work and how it can be done remotely.

An employee’s salary must be not less than 2.5 times the previous year’s average monthly gross wage, as the Central Statistical Bureau last published it. For a self-employed applicant the same figure is set against income over the last six months.

The immigration office gave EUR 4,538 on 15 June 2026, which matches 2.5 times the 2025 average of EUR 1,815. Two older pages of the same office still show EUR 4,213 and EUR 3,192.50.

Applicants also need health insurance with a liability limit of at least EUR 42,600. The state fee is EUR 90, or EUR 180 for an application filed less than three working days before a lawful stay in Latvia ends. A decision is due within 15 days of filing, or within 60 days if further checks are needed.

As opened on 15 October 2026, the document list and income formula sit in the Cabinet’s visa regulations, and the fee and insurance minimum in two other Cabinet regulations. The new law keeps all of them in force until they are replaced, and no later than 1 December 2027.

Up to two years, then a pause

A remote work visa may be issued for up to one year, and the holder may request one more visa of up to one year. After the second visa expires, the holder may not receive a new long-stay visa in Latvia on the same ground for six months.

The immigration office states that remote work visa holders are not entitled to employment in Latvia. The 2002 law let a remote work visa holder request a temporary residence permit without leaving Latvia during the visa’s validity; the new law does not repeat that sentence.

The visa articles of the new law and the remote work document list in the visa regulations contain no provision for family members.

Applying from Vietnam

Under the Cabinet’s rules on territorial competence, long-stay visa applications from people resident in Vietnam go to Latvia’s Embassy in China. The embassy’s page, dated 2021, says applicants from Vietnam may file at a visa application centre.

The Foreign Ministry says missions of other Schengen states represent Latvia only for short-stay visas and do not issue long-stay visas for Latvia. Hungary’s embassy in Hanoi is on the ministry’s list of such missions.

The visa regulations’ document list names no Vietnamese public document. The Document Legalisation Law requires an apostille on a public document issued in a state party to the Hague Convention.

Vietnam’s accession to the Convention took effect on 11 September 2026, and the Hague Conference’s notification page lists objections from Germany, Austria and Czechia, none from Latvia. This means a Vietnamese public document needs an apostille under Latvian law, not consular legalisation.

The 15% tax option

Latvia’s personal income tax law lets a holder of the remote work visa choose a flat 15% rate on income from remote work for an employer registered in another OECD member state, or from business activity registered in an OECD member state. The rate applies for 365 days from the day the holder becomes a Latvian tax resident, in place of the progressive rates of 25.5% and 33%.

Choosing it gives up the non-taxable minimum, dependants’ relief and deductions for education, medical and similar expenses on that income. The tax service’s 2025 guidance states that the option does not apply to someone treated as a resident of the other state under a tax treaty in force. Latvia and Vietnam have had such a treaty since August 2018.

The tax law, as opened on 15 October 2026, grants the rate to holders of a visa issued under Section 11(5) of the Immigration Law. In the 2002 law that paragraph was the remote work visa rule, and the 2002 law lost force on 15 September 2026.

What this article has not established

The texts do not show whether visas issued under the new Immigration Law give access to the 15% rate.

The visa regulations and the immigration office’s page leave open whether the self-employed benchmark applies per month or to the six-month total.

The current status of the visa application centre route for Vietnam, and any requirement to appear in person, were not confirmed.

No source settles whether the employment certificates and employer letters from other OECD states need an apostille.

What the replacement Cabinet regulations will say was not established.

Vietnam’s tax treatment of a resident who moves to Latvia was not examined.