Dear Members of Parliament, dear guests, and dear fellow stateless people,
My name is Albert Ioffe, and I am an alien. Not an alien from Mars — but an alien from Latvia. I hold this “alien” status, also known as Latvian non-citizen, already in the third generation.
I was born in independent Latvia to parents without citizenship. I grew up, graduated Latvian school, I speak Latvian, I know Latvian culture, and I have been fully integrated into Latvian society for more than 33 years — and yet I was denied citizenship by birth, by naturalisation and unable to get it by descent. Latvia has prevented me from obtaining citizenship throughout my entire life by creating impossible barriers.
According to Latvia, my fault is that my grandmother came to Latvia just after World War II, not after World War I. That is why I was not granted Latvian citizenship by birth and why I cannot obtain it by descent.
In addition, I would like to mention that I am ethnically Estonian, my roots go back to the 16th century, and I also have Lithuanian roots, yet I cannot obtain citizenship in either of those countries due to restrictive legislation.
Naturalisation is also closed to me. My application has been recently rejected because I had been studying for 2 years — out of 33 — at a non-Latvian university. This was deemed “insufficient integration.” Yet I passed all the language, history, and law exams at my first attempt.
What makes this even more strange is that even Latvian judges cannot agree on how the law should apply to my case. When I appealed, the Administrative Court recognised that the refusal was unlawful and even declared me a Latvian citizen. But later, the Supreme Court overturned this decision — without any legitimate purpose or consistent legal reasoning.
As a result, I have faced lifelong discrimination: treated as stateless everywhere in the world; excluded from EU benefits and rights in education, employment, and healthcare; stopped at borders for additional checks and even officially denied entry to certain countries.
It is true that Latvia has already taken one important step forward. In 2019, the Parliament adopted, and the President signed, a law which ensures that children born to non-citizens after January 1st, 2020, will receive Latvian citizenship. This is a significant achievement and a step in the right direction. But why was this principle not extended to those of us who were already born in independent Latvia after 1991? Why are we still excluded?
I propose simplifying the naturalisation process for Latvian non-citizens, ensuring that there is a clear and substantial difference between them and foreigners — which currently does not exist. I also propose extending the right to citizenship by birth to those Latvian non-citizens who were born in independent Latvia and who have not acquired the citizenship of another country.
I urge you not to ignore this issue. It is not only a Latvian matter but a European one, striking at the very principles of equality and democracy on which the European Union has been built.
