Latvian citizenship by descent · The exile route
If an ancestor was a Latvian citizen in 1940 and left during the occupations, Latvia treats their citizenship as never lost, and it passes down your direct line with no generation limit. A Latvian passport is an EU passport across all 27 EU countries. No language test. No oath. No move to Latvia. You keep your US citizenship. We run the whole case, from your first email to your passport.
Find out if your line qualifies
Tell us about your Latvian roots. We read every submission and reply with a straight answer.
If your family fled Latvia under the Soviet or Nazi occupations, the citizenship they lost was never gone. It was interrupted, and what was only interrupted can be restored, opening the entire European Union to you and your children.
A Latvian passport is an EU passport, the right to live, work, study, and retire across all 27 EU countries. It passes to your children.
On the exile route, Latvia lets descendants of 1940 citizens who fled the occupations hold both passports, with any country, when you were born before October 1, 2014.
This is registration of a citizenship that legally survived the occupation. No language exam, no history test, no oath, no residency in Latvia.
Filed by post to Latvia's migration office or through a Latvian consulate. You do not need to travel to Latvia. We run it.
The exile route is the cleanest path for most US families. Where the flight element isn't there, a second route built on Latvia's continuity of citizenship may still fit.
You keep your US citizenship (a birth cutoff applies).
A different provision with its own rules, built on Latvia's continuity of citizenship.
The first contact is free and the eligibility read is candid. If a path exists for you, we name it clearly, then we run it.
Most cases run from about 6 to 14 months end to end, driven by how fast the records come in, not by the migration office. Government filing costs are modest; the real cost is the document work, which we handle.
Under Latvia's Citizenship Law, the citizenship of families who fled the occupations was never lost, only interrupted. We register your descent, so none of the naturalization requirements apply: no language exam, no history test, no oath, no residency.
The exile route has no generation limit. It follows your direct bloodline as far down as it runs, child, grandchild, great-grandchild, or further, as long as each link can be documented. This is more open than Lithuania, which stops at the great-grandchild.
Your ancestor must have been a citizen of Latvia on 17 June 1940 and fled or been deported during the occupations. You keep your US passport, the one condition that matters is that you were born before 1 October 2014.
Read the full statutory explainer →
Information current as of June 2026. Updated when the rules change.
What decides an exile-route case
An administrative process, no court, no oath, no trip to Latvia. We run it end to end.
Most people aren't sure whether a grandparent or great-grandparent line restores citizenship. That's fine. Tell us a few family facts and we'll tell you which route is yours, or that none is.
The 1935 census, the Latvian State Historical Archive, refugee-era Displaced Persons and IRO files, apostilles, certified Latvian translations. An empty drawer is the normal starting point.
If you qualify, we'll say so. If the line is too distant or the records can't be built, we'll tell you that plainly and explain what, if anything, is still possible. No false hope.
There is no generation limit. Because Latvia treats the citizenship as never lost, only interrupted by occupation, it follows your direct bloodline as far down as it runs. A great-grandchild, or even a great-great-grandchild, can qualify when each link is documented.
No. The exile route is built for people to keep the citizenship they already have. As an exile's descendant born before October 1, 2014, you have the right to register as Latvian and retain your US citizenship.
No. This is recognition of a citizenship that legally survived, not naturalization. There is no language exam, no history test, and no oath.
No. The case is filed by post or through a Latvian consulate in the US, and we handle the filing. The only in-person step is the final passport appointment for biometrics.