Company incorporation in Latvia
What setting up a Latvian SIA actually takes.
Latvia's limited liability company, the SIA (sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību), is the default vehicle for a firm entering the EU. Full foreign ownership is allowed with no local partner, and most of the process can be completed remotely.
Two capital models
A standard SIA requires minimum share capital of €2,800, payable in full before the application is filed. A reduced-equity SIA can be founded with as little as €0.01, but is limited to one to five natural-person owners and to smaller turnover: a fit for testing an idea, not for a regulated business.
What the Register checks
The name must be unique and in Latvian. The registered office must be a real address with a cadastral number. The board must consist of one or more natural persons with full legal capacity. Documents that do not meet the Enterprise Register's formatting requirements are the most common cause of delay, and review runs from a few working days to two months depending on what is being registered.
Commercial Law changed on 1 January 2026
Amendments to Commercial Law took effect at the start of the year, affecting how companies are formed and how they operate. Anyone incorporating now should be working from the current text, not a template written for the old rules.
Where incorporation hands over to licensing
For a regulated business the entry in the Register is only the beginning. Latvijas Banka will look at where the company is actually managed, who its directors and beneficial owners are, and whether the constitutional and governance documents support the licence you intend to apply for. Building the company and the licence application as one exercise is cheaper than doing them twice.
Figures reflect the position at publication. We confirm the current rules for your case in the scoping call.