I. General Provisions

1. These regulations determine the procedures for the issuance and use of Latvian non-citizens' passports.

2. The Latvian non-citizen's passport (hereinafter - passport) is an identity and travel document issued to those former USSR citizens living in Latvia who have been registered in the Population Register as provided for by law and who are not citizens of Latvia or any other country (hereinafter - persons).

3. Persons who have left the Republic of Latvia using a passport are under the protection of the state of Latvia.

4. Persons who have left the Republic of Latvia using a passport may freely return to the Republic of Latvia even after the expiration of the passport, and they shall receive a new travel document in conformity with Paragraph 24 of these regulations.

[- Including the amendments made by the Cabinet Regulation No. 365 of 4 November 1997 which entered into force as of 8 November 1997]

9. Passports shall be made according to a single pattern in Latvian and English. Entries in a passport shall be made in conformity with international treaties and standards. The data listed in Sub-paragraphs 10.1 and 10.5 of these regulations shall be in Latvian, but the data listed in Sub-paragraph 10.3 and Paragraph 12 shall be in Latvian and English.

[- Including the amendments made by the Cabinet Regulation No. 328 of 21 September 1999 which entered into force as of 25 September 1999.]

10. The following data about the person shall be on the passport's main data sheet:

10.1 Given name(s), surname,
10.2 Date of birth,
10.3 Sex,
10.4 Identity number,
10.5 Place of birth.

11. The person's given name and name shall be recorded in the passport as stipulated by normative acts concerning the spelling of the given name and surname in Latvian.

If the spelling of the given name or surname (given name and surname) in the passport differs from their spelling in the person's previous documents, the person's given name or surname (given name and surname) in the previous spelling shall be recorded in Latin or Slavic characters in the passport's section for special notes. In the passport's machine-readable part, the person's given name and surname shall be recorded in conformity with their spelling in Latvian, but without diacritical marks.

[- wording of the Cabinet Regulation No. 328 of 21 September 1999 which entered into force as of 25 September 1999]

12. The person's ethnicity and the following identification features shall be recorded in the passport:

12.1. Eye colour,
12.2. Height (cm),
12.3. Distinguishing features.

13. The following data shall be recorded in the passport about the person's children under 16 years of age:

13.1. Given name(s), surname,
13.2. Date of birth,
13.3. Sex,
13.4. Identification number if the child has been registered in the Population Register.

18. The passport shall be issued for ten years.

[- wording of the Cabinet Regulation No. 365 of 4 November 1997 which entered into force as of 8 November 1997]

19. Persons over 60 years of age shall be issued the passport for 50 years.

28. On issuance of a passport to those who have reached the age of 16, the ethnicity is recorded in the passport in conformity with the ethnicity of the father or mother. The ethnicity is chosen by the passport holder himself/herself.

29. The passport shall be exchanged in the following cases:

29.4. If permission has been granted to change the ethnicity entry.

33. If upon issuing a passport a change must be made in the entry of a given name, surname or ethnicity or mistakes in the entries of the previous identity document must be corrected, persons must also submit supporting documents provided for by relevant laws and regulatory acts.