What are the rules for staying in Latvia during the court proceedings?
When appealing a negative asylum decision, you have the right to stay in the territory of Latvia until the final decision is made. A decision of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs is considered to be final if it has not been appealed or when the Administrative District Court has dismissed the appeal against it. If your asylum application has been rejected the authorities will issue the precept to leave. Depending on the circumstances of your case it can either be a decision with a deadline for your voluntary departure or a removal order that will be enforced by the State Border guards. Also if you do not comply with the deadline for voluntary departure, the also the removal order will be issued. The removal order won’t be enforced while you appeal it to the head of the institution that issued it, but according to Immigration Law after that it can be enforced even if you have appealed it to the administrative court. This means that even though you have the right to appeal the decision and later on the judgement of the Administrative District Court to the Supreme Court, you do not have the automatic right to stay in the country for these proceedings. However, you have the option to ask for the court’s permission to stay in Latvia until the end of the court proceedings in all court instances, by applying for interim relief in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law.