Unemployment Benefit in Latvia (bezdarbnieka pabalsts)
If you lose your job, two agencies are involved. The State Employment Agency (Nodarbinātības valsts aģentūra, NVA) grants unemployed status (bezdarbnieka statuss) and offers job search help and training. The State Social Insurance Agency (VSAA) pays the unemployment benefit, which is funded by social insurance contributions. When the benefit ends, your municipality can help with means-tested social assistance.
Who can get it
- Unemployed status (NVA): you do not work or earn income subject to contributions, you are looking for work and can start at once, you are at least 15 and below pension age, you are not a full-time school pupil and you run no business. Apply no earlier than the day after your job ends, online in the NVA CV and vacancy portal or at a branch. NVA decides within two weeks, and the status counts from the day it received your application.
- Benefit (VSAA): you need unemployed status, a total insurance record of at least 1 year, and unemployment insurance contributions for at least 12 of the last 16 months before you became unemployed.
- In the NVA portal you can apply for the status and the benefit at the same time. Otherwise submit both applications on the same day.
Amount and duration
- Basis: your average insured earnings over 12 months, ending two months before the month you became unemployed, leaving out the highest and lowest months.
- Rate by insurance record: 50% (1–9 years), 55% (10–19 years), 60% (20–29 years), 65% (30 years or more).
- Duration: up to 8 months, paid monthly for the previous month: the full amount in months 1–2, then 75% in months 3–4, 50% in months 5–6 and 45% in months 7–8.
- If you resigned or were dismissed for a breach: the benefit starts two months after you get unemployed status, so the first payment arrives in the third month.
- After caring for a child up to age 1½ or a child with a disability, the benefit is 60% of €374 (2026).
After the benefit: social assistance
- The guaranteed minimum income (GMI) benefit (garantētā minimālā ienākuma pabalsts) is paid by your municipality's social service. The thresholds are €187 for the first person in the household and €131 for each other person (2026). The benefit tops up your household income to this level and is granted for 3 or 6 months at a time.
- A household with income up to €425 for the first person and €298 for each other person (2026) can be recognised as needy (trūcīga), which also exempts you from health care patient fees. Your municipality can also pay a housing benefit (see Housing).
- Registered unemployed people are covered by state health insurance.
Common pitfalls for newcomers
- Do not wait: both the status and the benefit start only from your application, not from the day you lost your job.
- Any income while you receive the benefit, including royalties, stops the payment.
- Quitting your job yourself delays the benefit by two months. A mutual agreement or a dismissal by the employer does not.
- Moving to another EU country? Ask VSAA for the U1 form (your insurance periods) or the U2 form (to take your Latvian benefit with you while you look for work there).
Official guidance: VSAA: unemployment benefit, NVA: getting unemployed status, Ministry of Welfare: GMI benefit, Ministry of Welfare: changes in 2026