Cars registered abroad in Latvian traffic

What are the conditions for using my car in Latvia?

If you are staying in Latvia based on a visa, you can use a car registered abroad for up to three months after entering Latvia.

If you have a permanent residence or temporary residence permit in Latvia, you must not drive a car registered abroad, except:

If the car is rented from a foreign company.
If the car owner is a third-country national without a residence permit.
With a special permit. To get a permit, you must prove that you regularly use a car registered abroad, both in Latvia and abroad, for example, when studying, working, doing business or as an official of a company abroad.

If a car registered abroad is temporarily registered in Latvia, a Latvian-registered car licence and number plates are issued, but the Road Traffic Safety Directorate keeps the foreign-issued car licence and number plates, which are returned to the owner when the car leaves the country.

If you permanently re-register your car in Latvia and then plan to return to your home country with it, you will have to re-register your car. There are two types of car registration:

1. You can transfer your foreign number plate for up to three years and request the transferred number plate from the Road Traffic Safety Directorate before returning to your home country and driving away.

2. If you have changed your car’s number plate to a permanent plate and plan to return to your home country: when you leave Latvia for your home country with a Latvian plate, you will need to register your car as a foreign vehicle in your home country.

If you own a car registered in Latvia and plan to spend a long period of time driving it outside Latvia, you should make sure you do not miss the compulsory technical inspection and that you know the country’s rules on using foreign cars.

Road Traffic Safety Directorate

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: +371 67025777

More information: see here

Documents required for the re-registration of a vehicle in Latvia