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Latvija·Destination guide · Baltic

Latvia

56.9496° N · Baltic · Schengen

Latvia’s guest check-in gate is the signed ārzemnieka deklarācija — identity before accommodation.

Under the Tourism Law, merchants and economic operators who lodge tourists must ensure that foreign guests (ārzemnieki) personally fill and sign a declaration form and prove identity with a valid travel document. Cabinet Regulation No. 226 sets the fields, one-year retention, and handover to the State Police or State Border Guard on written request. Riga’s municipal overnight fee and VID fiscal registration sit on separate tracks.

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NextStay relevance · Latvia

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Essential

Tūrisma likums art. 11(7) requires foreign guests in tūristu mītnes to personally fill and sign the ārzemnieka deklarācija and prove identity with a travel document — hotels and apartment hosts alike — with MK 226 retention and police/border handover duties.

At a glance · Latvia

  • Foreign guests

    Signed deklarācija

  • Retain

    1 year (MK 226)

  • CSP stats

    Monthly survey

  • Riga fee

    €0.89 / night

Who this is for

What hosts and hotels actually need to know

Latvia does not run a single national short-term rental licence like Portugal’s RNAL or Lithuania’s VVTAT notice — but tourist lodging still has hard guest-identity duties. Tūrisma likums art. 11(7) obliges providers of tūristu mītnes (buildings or equipped sites where a merchant or economic operator provides overnight lodging and service to tourists) to ensure that accommodated foreigners personally complete and sign the ārzemnieka deklarācija and prove identity by presenting a valid travel document. “Ārzemnieks” under Imigrācijas likums is anyone who is not a Latvian citizen or Latvian non-citizen — so other EU nationals are in scope for the declaration. MK noteikumi Nr. 226 detail the form fields, allow electronic preparation for signature, require the provider to check the form against the travel document, keep the declaration for one year, and produce or hand it over immediately on written request from the State Police or State Border Guard. The Ministry of Economics expressly states that identity may also be proven electronically through recognised trusted online means with equivalent security to physical presentation — so remote registration is contemplated, not forbidden. Separately, every tourist accommodation must submit monthly activity data to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP). In Riga, Saistošie noteikumi RD-22-173-sn impose a municipal fee of €0.89 per tourist/vacationer night (cap €8.90 per uninterrupted stay) from 1 November 2023, with fee-payer registration on Latvija.gov.lv within 10 working days of starting, monthly reports by the 20th, and quarterly remittance. Riga municipality has announced agreement to raise the fee to €2 per person per night from 1 January 2027 — confirm the binding rate in force for your stay dates. Fiscal registration with VID for accommodation as economic activity is parallel, not a substitute for the guest declaration. A national STR registration system aligned with Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 is still being designed by the Ministry of Economics — do not invent a licence number that does not yet exist.

Front desk or digital — foreign guests must personally sign the deklarācija and prove identity; keep forms for one year and answer police / border requests without delay.

  • 01Issue the ārzemnieka deklarācija at registration; verify fields against the travel document (MK 226)
  • 02Keep declarations for one year under personal-data rules; hand over on written State Police / Border Guard request
  • 03Submit monthly CSP accommodation statistics for the establishment
  • 04In Riga: register as municipal fee payer, keep a tourist register, report nights monthly and remit quarterly

Chapter · Identity

The ārzemnieka deklarācija

Tourism Law art. 11(7) is the core local rule: foreign guests in tourist accommodations must personally fill and sign a declaration and prove identity with a valid travel document.

Statute

“Komersanti un saimnieciskās darbības veicēji nodrošina, ka tūristu mītnēs izmitinātie ārzemnieki personīgi aizpilda un paraksta deklarācijas veidlapu un pierāda savu identitāti, uzrādot derīgu, identitāti apliecinošu dokumentu.”
Tūrisma likums, 11. panta septītā daļa [01]
  1. 01

    Who must complete the form

    Foreigners accommodated in a tūristu mītne. Under Imigrācijas likums, an ārzemnieks is a person who is not a Latvian citizen or Latvian non-citizen — so guests from other EU/EEA states and third countries are covered. Spouses may complete one form for both; a parent, legal representative or accompanying person signs for a minor; a group leader signs for organised tourist groups. Those categories are the stated exceptions to personal completion.

    [01][03][04]
  2. 02

    What the form must capture

    MK 226 requires surname, given name, date of birth, nationality (type and country of residence), travel-document type/series/number/issuing country/issue date/expiry, arrival date and planned departure date — plus provider and property identification fields. The guest (or group leader / representative) confirms truthfulness by signature; the provider checks the form against the travel document and signs acceptance.

    [02][04]
  3. 03

    Provider verification duty

    Receiving the form is not enough. The merchant, economic operator or accommodation staff must check that declared data matches the travel document and have the guest correct mismatches. Tourism Law art. 19 sets administrative fines for breaches of verification, storage or handover rules (warning or fine up to 86 penalty units for natural persons / 156 for legal persons — State Police leads the case).

    [02][01][04]

Chapter · Retention

Keep one year — hand over on request

Latvia does not push every guest card into a live national police portal on a 24-hour clock. It does require you to hold signed declarations and produce them immediately when asked.

  1. 01

    One-year retention

    MK 226 §11: keep each declaration for one year from the completion date, applying personal-data protection rules. EM guidance stresses confidentiality, access limitation, and deletion when the purpose ends (i.e. after that year).

    [02][04][13]
  2. 02

    State Police / Border Guard access

    On written request from the State Police or State Border Guard, the provider must immediately issue or hand over the declaration (MK 226 §§13–13.¹). Build retrieval into operations — a signed PDF archive beats a paper drawer when the request arrives after a late arrival.

    [02][04]
  3. 03

    Electronic preparation is allowed

    MK 226 §5 lets the provider prepare the declaration electronically and issue it for the guest’s (or group leader’s) signature. Electronic-document rules can cover the signature field when the electronic document is formed under applicable e-document legislation. EM guidance further recognises remote identity proof via trusted online means with assurance comparable to physical document presentation.

    [02][04]

Chapter · Operations

Statistics, quality marks & fiscal footing

Guest identity is one track. CSP statistics, optional national-standard certification, and VID tax registration are separate — do not confuse them with a missing national STR licence number.

  1. 01

    Monthly CSP data

    The Ministry of Economics states that all tourist accommodations must submit data to the Central Statistical Bureau each month. The Official Statistics Programme (MK 816 for 2025–2027) covers NACE accommodation classes and other short-stay providers in tourist lodging — hotels, guest apartments, hostels, campsites and related types. Failure to supply required official statistics can trigger administrative fines under the Statistics Law.

    [06][05]
  2. 02

    Certification is quality, not a listing gate

    Tourism Law provides that conformity assessment and certification of tourist accommodations against Latvian national standards is performed by an accredited certification body. That is a quality/standards path — not a nationwide mandatory short-term rental registration number for every apartment. Do not invent an RNAL-style code; Riga’s municipal tūristu mītnes kods is fee-administration only.

    [01][05]
  3. 03

    VID — treat paid tourist lodging as economic activity

    Paid accommodation services are economic activity for tax purposes. Natural persons should notify VID of the correct activity footing (declared economic activity / rental or accommodation path as applicable), apply the relevant PIT treatment, and watch the VAT registration threshold (VID guidance cites €50,000 taxable turnover in any continuous 12-month period as a registration trigger, with other criteria also possible). Reduced VAT rates can apply to accommodation when VAT-registered — confirm current rates with VID rather than assuming platform defaults.

    [10][11]
  4. 04

    STR register still being designed

    The Ministry of Economics has publicly stated that Latvia should establish a short-term rental register in line with the EU short-term rental data framework, while clarifying which hotel-style rules do and do not apply to residential STRs. As of this review, that national register is policy work — Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 applies from 20 May 2026 where Member States operate registration systems, but hosts must not invent a registration number that Latvian law has not yet issued.

    [07][14]

Chapter · EU layer

EU law that sits underneath

Latvian tourism rules sit inside Schengen lodging expectations, GDPR, and the Union’s short-term rental data framework.

  1. 01

    Schengen Convention — Article 45(1)(b)

    The Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement expects lodging providers to be able to account for who stayed where. Latvia’s signed guest declaration and one-year retention for law-enforcement access is the national expression of that lodging-record layer — even without a live national push portal.

    [12]
  2. 02

    GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679)

    Identity and travel-document data are personal data. Collect only what MK 226 / Tourism Law require, inform guests, secure storage for the retention year, and delete when the purpose ends. Pre-arrival tools you operate remain under GDPR even when the legal basis for the deklarācija fields is statutory.

    [13][04]
  3. 03

    Short-term rental data — Regulation (EU) 2024/1028

    Applicable from 20 May 2026, the Regulation harmonises how Member States collect and share short-term rental activity data via platforms when they operate registration / data-request systems. It does not ban STRs or set EU-wide night caps. Latvia’s national implementing register is still being developed — watch EM updates rather than assuming an existing national STR number.

    [14][15][07]
  4. 04

    DAC7 platform tax reporting

    Separate from guest deklarācijas: EU platform reporting already pushes host identity and income data toward tax authorities. Clean property identity and consistent VID records matter for both tax and tourism compliance tracks.

    [14][10]

Remote arrival · Still the law

Self check-in under Latvian rules

Remote arrival is compatible with the law when identity proof and the signed deklarācija are complete before access. Keys without foreign-guest verification sit poorly against Tourism Law art. 11(7).

01

Document

02

E.turistas

03

Keys

  • Verification is the check-in

    Treat travel-document proof and deklarācija completion as the legal registration moment. Door codes, lockboxes and smart locks should wait until foreign guests in scope have finished that step.

    [01][02]

  • Electronic + remote paths exist

    MK 226 allows electronic form preparation for signature. EM guidance accepts identity proof via recognised trusted online means (qualified eID / high-assurance solutions and comparable document checks) when security matches physical presentation — design flows around that bar, not a selfie-only shortcut.

    [02][04]

  • Hotels and apartments share the duty

    A Riga hotel lobby and a Vecrīga keybox both need signed foreign-guest declarations on file for one year. Process design differs; the statutory outcome does not.

    [01][04]

  • Latvian guests are a different track

    The Tourism Law declaration targets ārzemnieki. For Latvian citizens / non-citizens, do not blindly reuse the foreigner form fields without a separate lawful basis — operational house rules and municipal fee registers may still need adult guest counts and stay dates.

    [01][04][08]

Municipal & tax layers

The deklarācija is national. Cities and VID still have their own asks. Do not confuse Riga’s overnight fee with guest identity.

  • Riga Old Town — municipal overnight fee territory

    Riga municipal fee

    01

    From 1 November 2023, Riga charges €0.89 per tourist or vacationer night in a tourist accommodation (max €8.90 per uninterrupted stay). Fee payers — including persons letting dwellings to tourists outside Residential Tenancy Law long-term rental — must register on Latvija.gov.lv (EP233) within 10 working days of starting, obtain a tūristu mītnes kods, keep a tourist register matching monthly reports, submit reports by the 20th of each month (including zero months), and pay quarterly (by 30 Apr / 30 Jul / 30 Oct / 30 Jan). Exemptions include under-18s, free stays, persons performing paid work at the place visited, nights beyond the tenth, and Residential Tenancy Law / service-dwelling tenants. Riga municipality announced agreement to move to €2 per person per night from 1 January 2027 — confirm the saistošie noteikumi rate in force for your dates.

    [08][09]
  • Jūrmala beach — coastal stays beyond the capital

    Other municipalities

    02

    Other Latvian municipalities may introduce their own overnight fees (Riga’s official materials note Kuldīga among examples). Confirm the property’s local rules before you automate pricing or checkout messaging — do not assume the Riga rate applies outside the capital.

  • Liepāja beach — regional hosting outside Riga fee rules

    VID & property tax side effects

    03

    Paid tourist lodging in a dwelling can change how real-estate tax relief and rates are applied at municipal level (Riga Finance Department materials distinguish tourist lodging from Residential Tenancy Law letting). Notify the property-tax administrator when economic activity starts or stops in a residential object. This is parallel to guest deklarācijas and the Riga fee — not a substitute.

    [08][10]

This is the law · Here is the reference

Sources & references

Primary statutes, EU instruments and competent authorities. Open the link when your property is at stake.

  1. [01]Local law
    Tūrisma likums (Tourism Law)

    Primary statute: tūristu mītne definition; art. 11(7) foreign-guest deklarācija and identity; art. 19 sanctions; certification by accredited body.

  2. [02]Local law
    MK noteikumi Nr. 226 — ārzemnieka deklarācija

    Form fields, electronic preparation, provider verification, one-year retention, State Police / Border Guard handover.

  3. [03]Local law
    Imigrācijas likums (Immigration Law)

    Defines ārzemnieks as a person who is not a Latvian citizen or Latvian non-citizen — scopes who is a foreign guest for the deklarācija.

  4. [04]Authority
    Ekonomikas ministrija — deklarācijas veidlapas

    Official ministry summary of Tourism Law / MK 226 duties, fields, remote identity options, retention and fines.

  5. [05]Authority
    Ekonomikas ministrija — tūristu mītnes

    Official definition of tourist accommodation and links to statistics / deklarācija duties.

  6. [06]Authority
    Ekonomikas ministrija — datu sniegšanas pienākums (CSP)

    Monthly Central Statistical Bureau survey duty for tourist accommodations; Statistics Law sanctions.

  7. [07]Agency
    Ministry of Economics — STR register plans

    Policy statement that Latvia should establish a short-term rental register aligned with EU data rules (not yet a live national licence).

  8. [08]Authority
    Rīga — nodeva par atpūtnieku un tūristu uzņemšanu

    Official Finance Department page: €0.89/night from 01.11.2023 (cap €8.90), registration, monthly reports, quarterly payment, tourist register.

  9. [09]Agency
    Riga.lv — tourism tax increase to €2 from 2027

    Municipal announcement of industry agreement to raise the overnight fee to €2 per person per night from 1 January 2027.

  10. [10]Authority
    VID — self-employed / individual entrepreneurs

    State Revenue Service overview of notifying economic activity, rental/PIT treatment and VAT registration triggers.

  11. [11]Guidance
    Latvia tax considerations on short-term lettings

    Informational host-facing tax guide (PIT options, VAT threshold) — cross-check with VID for your case.

  12. [12]EU law
    Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement — Art. 45

    EU-layer lodging / guest-record purpose.

  13. [13]EU law
    GDPR — Regulation (EU) 2016/679

    Personal-data rules for identity and document processing.

  14. [14]EU law
    Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 — short-term rental data

    EU framework for STR registration data and platform sharing (from 20 May 2026).

  15. [15]Agency
    European Commission — STR transparency rules

    Plain-language explanation of the May 2026 framework.

After the law · The product

Where NextStay fits

After the law is clear: we turn identity capture into the gate before access — so Latvian hosts can run remote arrivals without skipping the ārzemnieka deklarācija.

  • 01

    Verification before the key

    Online check-in collects the guest fields MK 226 needs before door instructions unlock — matching Tourism Law’s duty to prove identity when registering in the property.

  • 02

    Every foreign guest in scope

    Structured flows push beyond a single booking name so each foreign adult who must sign (or whose category is covered by spouse / group rules) is accounted for.

  • 03

    Host visibility without desk chaos

    Hotels and individual hosts see progress per reservation: who completed, who is blocked, and when access can release — including late Riga and coastal arrivals.

  • 04

    Destination guidance in the workspace

    This dossier stays attached to the market — deklarācija, MK 226 retention, Riga fee and VID — not a generic EU footnote buried in a help centre.

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