Latvia's employment agency opens free Latvian courses for workers on 16 November

Latvia's State Employment Agency (NVA) will start taking applications for free Latvian language courses for workers on Monday, 16 November. The courses are part of the European Social Fund Plus project Support for Adult Education, and up to 200 employees are expected to take part, LSM, the Latvian public broadcaster, reported.

Who can apply

The courses are open to employed and self-employed people who meet at least one criterion: they are aged 50 or over, have a disability or an expected disability, or their education or skills are insufficient for the labour market. They must still meet the criteria on the day the course starts. People who completed basic, secondary or higher education in Latvian are not eligible.

Courses are available at every level, from A1 and A2 to C1 and C2. People with basic English will be offered a specially adapted beginners' course.

How the courses work

Training is organised through vouchers. Classes run for at least six lessons a week but no more than eight a day, between 07:00 and 22:00, including weekends, in person or online. Applications are made online on the NVA website, and each person may have only one active application at a time.

The test and the fee

After the course, participants must sit the state language proficiency test at the State Education Development Agency (VIAA). For foreign nationals it costs €52, paid from their own account. NVA can refund the fee if the claim is filed within a month of the test and within 90 days of the end of the course. A failed test must be retaken at the participant's own expense.

People who drop out without a valid reason, or do not sit the exam within 90 days of finishing, will not be offered other NVA training for the next 24 months.

State-funded Latvian courses are filling up fast this autumn: registration for the Latvian Language Agency's courses for Ukrainian civilians closed on 9 November, the day it opened, because all places were taken.