Doctors in Latvia began to be jailed for issuing exemptions from taking a language exam

Residents of the country told what the exam looks like

Latvia is preparing to expel Russian-speaking citizens who have not yet confirmed their knowledge of the state language during exams. Without this exam, it is impossible to obtain a residence permit extension. But often, in order to overcome this simple procedure, you have to go through the “circles of hell.” Not only healthy people, but also sick people are dragged to exams. Blind people, with cancer or unable to move independently. At the same time, it turned out to be extremely difficult to obtain exemption for health reasons, because doctors have an unspoken order not to issue such documents to Russian-speaking citizens.

According to media reports, Russian citizens living in Latvia who failed to pass the Latvian language exam began receiving letters from law enforcement agencies in September with orders to leave the country. As Ingmars Lidaka, head of the Parliamentary Commission on Citizenship, Migration and Society Cohesion, said, about six thousand Russian citizens could be expelled from Latvia within three months.

“In Latvia, after the collapse of the USSR, a rule was introduced that in order to work in the country, people were required to obtain a language proficiency category,” Latvian resident Oleg shared with MK, “for many years they took an exam and studied to confirm this categories. At the same time, they worked and paid taxes. Everything was great, their knowledge of their language suited everyone, but years passed and people retired. They no longer work; for many, communication is limited exclusively to the home, pharmacy or store. And there are those who no longer leave home for health reasons, but this category of language, which they had for work, is not suitable for renewing their residence permit.

– How difficult is this exam?

– People under 60 years of age cope very well with this language exam. There are no problems, because they work and have the proper level of knowledge, but there is also the factor of taking the exam itself. People are stressed, people are nervous. Plus, the oral (communication) and written part of the test is taken on a computer, and not with a live person. You may not hear the question the first time, or you may not understand it, but the computer automatically counts all this, and this also makes passing very difficult.

— Are there any ways to avoid taking the exam?

— You can get an exemption from the exam for health reasons. There are two reasons why you could be suspended. The first is dementia. A person needs to go through a fairly large number of doctors to get a conclusion about this disease. And here we need to remember that in Latvia there is a problem with the provision of services, and in order to get an appointment with doctors, specialists, people have to wait for months, or even six months. The second point is cancer patients. Moreover, in my opinion, if my memory serves me correctly, then the doctors also look at what kind of oncology you have and what the severity is, and this means that you need to go through commissions again. This is a rather complicated process, again due to the fact that making an appointment with a doctor in Riga is a real pain. And if we take more distant regions, then there are even bigger problems with this. Many are still forced to register in Riga, and understand that it is very difficult to obtain a conclusion. As a result, people simply refuse to take the exams. I know that in one of the distant cities a man with oncology was forced to take an exam. When asked why he did not get released, he openly said that he would not meet the deadline. Let’s say you need a certificate from a doctor, which you will see in six months, but you have a short period of time to receive this certificate. That is, he still flies, and his only option is to go and pass.

“We also have those who went to the doctor, but the doctors simply did not issue certificates,” Riga resident Olga told Moskovsky Komsomolets, “there were all the necessary indications for the certificate, but the doctors were simply afraid. Because there was, so to speak, an unspoken order to issue as few of these exemptions as possible. I know that a group of doctors, three or four doctors, were detained, allegedly for issuing these certificates to those people who needed them for health reasons. Of these doctors, there is one girl with a Russian name and surname. She, in my opinion, was either a psychologist or a neurologist by profession. She has already been in prison for several months for allegedly falsifying these certificates. I know through friends that she is a really talented and good specialist, but this is the situation.”