Moving from Sweden to Latvia: a practical guide

As a Swedish citizen, you can move to Latvia without a visa or work permit. You do not need to buy property or open a company.¹²

The practical job is to arrange your income, home, healthcare and residence documents in the right order.

Our recommendation: try living here first, rent before buying, then get your residence registration and eID sorted.

Own a business? You may find Moving to Latvia as a Swedish Business Owner more useful. It explains keeping operations in Sweden, running part of the business from Latvia and how the tax arrangements compare.

1. Come for an ordinary working week

Stay somewhere you might actually live. Buy groceries, work, try the local services and see what the place feels like outside a weekend visit.

Start with central Riga for city living, Mežaparks for a greener residential setting, or Jūrmala for the coast. Visit during the colder months too if you can.³

Bringing children? Choose the school before committing to a home. Check available places, teaching language, fees and the school run. International schools offer English-language options.⁴

There are direct Stockholm–Riga flights. With a car, Nynäshamn–Ventspils takes you directly to Latvia. The drive from Ventspils to Riga is roughly 2.5 hours.⁵

You can normally visit for up to 3 months with a valid passport or national ID card before residence registration is required. Working during the visit can still affect tax and social insurance.¹⁶

2. Settle how you will support yourself

Your situation	What to arrange
Keeping a Swedish job	Agree working from Latvia with your employer, including payroll and social insurance.
Looking for a job in Latvia	Compare actual vacancies, salaries and language requirements before setting your budget.
Living from savings or investments	Establish your available funds and how income and withdrawals will be taxed.
Receiving a Swedish pension	Confirm which payments continue abroad and your healthcare arrangements.
Running a business	Use our business-owner guide before changing the structure.

Swedish income and premium pensions can be paid abroad. Guarantee pension cannot normally be paid when you live outside Sweden.⁷

A Latvian address or eID does not automatically end Swedish tax liability. Have your position checked where you retain a home, family or substantial business interests in Sweden.⁸

For a planned move of 1 year or more, notify Skatteverket at least 1 week before departure. Notify Försäkringskassan separately about the move and work abroad.⁹⁶

3. Rent a home and check the full cost

Compare listings on SS.com. Latvian listings count rooms: a 2-room apartment usually means a living room and 1 bedroom.

Before signing, check:

Rent, deposit, agency fees and notice period.
Actual summer and winter utility bills.
Your right to declare your residence at the address.
Parking, internet and the condition of the building.

A rental home can be your declared residence. You need a lawful basis for using the address, such as a tenancy agreement.¹⁰

A monthly budget to adjust

For 1 adult renting in Riga, here is a planning example. These are illustrative allowances, not market averages or quotations.

Expense	Monthly
Rent	€700
Utilities and heating	€200
Groceries and household shopping	€350
Phone and internet	€40
Transport	€110
Eating out, gym and other spending	€200
Total	€1,600

Replace the housing figures with a property you would actually take. Add healthcare, travel to Sweden, car costs, children and anything you continue paying for in Sweden.

For the initial move, allow for the deposit, travel and temporary accommodation. At €700 rent, a deposit equal to 1 month’s rent means €1,400 for rent and deposit at signing.

4. Arrange healthcare for living here

Your situation	What to do
Taking Latvian employment	Confirm state-healthcare entitlement and registration through your employment arrangements.
Sweden remains responsible for your healthcare	Ask Försäkringskassan whether you qualify for an S1 certificate, then register it with Latvia’s National Health Service, NVD.
Supporting yourself without state entitlement	Arrange suitable private insurance, including the cover required for your residence route.

Your Swedish EHIC covers eligible temporary stays. It does not replace healthcare arrangements for living in Latvia.¹¹¹²

Check existing conditions, outpatient treatment and hospital cover before buying a policy. Bring enough regular medication for the transition and arrange a local prescriber.

5. Register your residence and get your eID

For a normal stay beyond 3 months, register with PMLP, Latvia’s citizenship and migration authority.

You can qualify through employment, self-employment, studies or sufficient resources. For someone living from savings, investments or other independent income, the own-resources route is a useful starting point.¹³

Prepare:

Your valid passport or national ID card and required copies.
The EU-citizen application form.
A declaration of sufficient resources and their source.
Evidence of qualifying healthcare cover or entitlement.
Your Latvian address details and lawful basis for using the address.²¹⁰

Prepare the documents before travelling. Your first EU residence-registration application must be submitted while you are in Latvia.¹⁴

Arrange your address declaration and request the Union citizen’s identity card with electronic-signature capability. Activate the signing certificates when collecting it. You can then sign documents and handle more administration remotely.¹⁵

Ordinary EU residence registration is sufficient to start your life here. Formal permanent-residence status normally follows 5 years of qualifying residence.¹³

Agree submission and card-collection dates with PMLP before booking a short trip. Arrange language support for appointments where needed.

Already living here? Start with the outstanding documents. You can organise the process from Latvia.

6. Set up banking and everyday services

Keep your Swedish banking and BankID working during the move. Tell the bank your new address and tax residence, and check how you will renew BankID from abroad.

For a Latvian account, prepare your identification, residence and address details, and evidence of your income and source of funds. Ask the bank for its document list before attending.

Our recommended order is residence registration and eID, then banking. Eligible EU residents also have rights to a basic payment account, subject to the required checks.¹⁶

Set up your phone and internet, update insurers and pension providers, and arrange reliable access to Swedish correspondence.

7. Bring the car and belongings

Car: our guide to bringing a car from Sweden to Latvia covers ferries, documents, Latvian registration and Swedish deregistration. You can complete the change without taking the car back to Sweden.

Driving licence: your valid Swedish EU licence is generally accepted in Latvia. You do not need to exchange it simply because you are registering a car here.¹⁷

Belongings: compare a removal quote with the van, ferry, fuel and days needed to transport everything yourself.

Practical support, before and after your move

Practical Support means having someone in Latvia who can get things done for you. It can be useful before you arrive, while you settle in and long after the move.

For example:

Education: we bring real experience of Latvia’s education system. We can recommend kindergartens, elementary schools, high schools and universities to suit your family’s needs, then help with the arrangements: contacting institutions, organising visits and coordinating applications and enrolment.
Finding a home: we understand the local property market and can explain the actual advantages and disadvantages of different districts, compare properties and help negotiate the price and terms. We can also inspect a property in person before you have ever visited Latvia. Once you approve a rental, we can coordinate the paperwork, key handover and move-in preparations, so your home can be ready when your plane lands.
While you are away: we can check on your home, water the plants and handle agreed tasks during a month-long holiday.
Specialist work: for something like tiling a bathroom, we can find suitable tradespeople and coordinate the job.

There is no short, fixed list of tasks. Tell us what you need. We take on work we can carry out legally, ethically and competently, and agree the scope and cost with you.

See Practical Support.

For the residence paperwork itself, our Residency + eID service costs €299 plus government fees. We prepare the documents and coordinate the process; you provide the information and attend the required personal appointments.¹⁸

You can also book a 15-minute consultation to discuss what would be useful in your situation.

Checked: 15 October 2026. General information, not individual legal, tax or insurance advice. Budget figures are illustrative. Confirm current requirements before acting. Evakuera excludes liability for errors, omissions or reliance to the fullest extent permitted by law.

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