Visas
The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Riga provides visa services to Latvian and foreign nationals residing in Latvia. If you are a resident in another country, it is often recommended to apply for a visa there regardless of your citizenship.
What is a visa?
A visa is issued by a U.S. embassy or consulate. A visa gives you permission to apply for admission to the United States, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Comprehensive information on different types of visas and related information you can find on this website or the U.S. Department of State website for travelers at http://travel.state.gov/.
What types of visas are available?
- Immigrant visas - such visa entitles you to take up permanent residence in the United States.
- Nonimmigrant visas - for short term tourism and business travel, as well as for temporary work assignments, studying, or other activities of temporary nature even if such stay is for several years.
The type of visa you require is determined based on your purpose of travel to the United States.
What about travel without a visa?
Please consult section Travel without a Visa on the left for information on who and when can benefit from the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.
What if I have a valid nonimmigrant visa in an expired passport?
If your passport containing a still valid visa has expired, you may travel with two passports - your expired passport containing the valid U.S. visa and your renewed passport. Please ensure that your U.S. visa is not cancelled (perforated by a passport authority) and the spelling of your name, your date of birth, and nationality is exactly the same in the old and new passports. If there is even a slight difference, you may need to apply for a new visa. Latvian citizens may apply for traveling visa free.
Changed citizenship: You cannot travel with two passports if your citizenship is changed, i.e., you where a Latvian non-citizen and you have a U.S. visa in your Latvian passport, but you naturalized and became a Latvian citizen or acquired citizenship of some other country. You are required to apply for a new visa in such case. Latvian citizens may apply for traveling visa free.
What to do if my passport with a U.S. visa inside is stolen or lost?
Please report to the Consular Section of any U.S. embassy or consulate at your earliest convenience if your passport with a U.S. visa inside is lost or stolen. You will be asked to provide information on your date of birth, the date your passport was stolen or lost, description of the circumstances of how it happened and type of visa you had.
Should you wish to travel to the United States again, please apply for a new U.S. visa. Latvian citizens may apply for traveling visa free.