As many as 61% of Russian citizens residing in Latvia have failed on their first attempt to pass the Latvian language exam required to renew their permanent residence permits, Latvian news outlet reported on Tuesday, citing the State Education Content Center.
Only 39% of Russian citizens have succeeded on their first attempt to pass the Latvian language test from April 11 to August 29, 2023, the outlet reported. A total of over 13,000 people have registered for the test, but only 11,301 managed to pass it, the report said.
Over 6,500 people have already applied for the re-examination, which will be held from September 4 to November 30, the news outlet added.
In September 2022, the Latvian parliament also passed a bill on the transition of the entire education system to the Latvian language within three years. The Russian language will be allowed to be studied only as a "minority language." About 1.8 million people live in Latvia, of which nearly 40% are Russian-speaking. Despite this fact, the country's only state language is Latvian, while Russian has the status of a foreign language.