Then the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) can also be used. In Latvia, the delegated institution for this fund is the Ministry of Culture. The fund’s managing authority is the Ministry of the Interior, while the audit authority is the Ministry of Finance. This fund is mainly financed from European Union resources, however it also requires co‑financing from the state itself, which makes up 25%.
“The overall aim of the project is, through knowledge, to promote the active involvement of third‑country nationals in Latvian society, thereby contributing to the development of the Latvian state. The direct aim is to provide third‑country nationals with a full training course about life in Latvia, thereby increasing their knowledge about Latvia and the opportunities to build a full life in their new country of residence.” For this purpose, at the end of 2023 the association “Patvērums “Drošā māja”” received a total of 302.7 thousand euros for three years. Of this, 75.69 thousand euros were Latvian state budget funds.
The association’s executive bodies consist of three people – Gita Miruškina, Gunta Vīksne and Alvis Šķenders. All three association leaders take part in the LAMPA festival, discussing the problem of human trafficking. This is not Šķenders’ only workplace; he also owns the company Immigration Solutions Agency, which is registered in a house at Ģimnastikas iela 18, Riga. The house has four co‑owners, and Alvis Šķenders himself owns 32% of the property. A company owned by Uzbek citizen Abdikokhor Khojiev, SIA Bachin Ina, which has a tax debt to the state of just under six thousand euros, is also registered there. Previously, a financially unsuccessful company INDVIA, owned by a person named Raval Niravkumar Bhagavatprasad, was registered in the same apartment. From 2018 to 2022, the company Super Kebab & Grills, owned by four people – three Muhammads and one Shah: Tariq Muhammad Moeed, Rasool Mohammd Asgiq, Mushtaq Mugammad Musawar and Faisal Shah – was also registered there. It was liquidated in 2022, but services for the integration of third‑country nationals have remained on Ģimnastikas iela.
The company Immigration Solutions Agency does not have a website that can be found, and therefore it is not possible to determine precisely what immigration‑related services the company provides. So far Šķenders has not replied to Inc. about what the companies registered in his house do, yet the situation suggests that he first helps third‑country nationals to register at his home, personally facilitating their arrival, and then, through the association, receives tens of thousands of euros from the state budget to help them adapt to their new country of residence. The association “Patvērums “Drošā māja””, represented by Šķenders, has also historically, since 2014, been one of the largest recipients of funding from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, according to information on the Ministry of Culture’s website.
Below (highlighted in orange‑yellow) are those associations that in the last three years have received funding not only from AMIF, but also from SIF under various NGO programmes. For example, the Daugavpils University Lifelong Learning, Culture and Science Communication Association “Intelekta parks” received 100 thousand euros from SIF in 2024, the Education Development Centre – 120 thousand euros (in 2023 and 2024), “Patvērums “Drošā māja”” – 18.3 thousand euros, “Sadarbības platforma” – 120 thousand euros over two years, and the Latvian Women’s Non‑Governmental Organizations Cooperation Network, in addition to AMIF funding, received 99.35 thousand euros from SIF in 2024.
Notably, many association executive representatives are also members of other associations that likewise receive funding from SIF. For instance, the association “Sadarbības platforma” is headed by Lauma Celma and Ilāna Lisagora, who also heads the association GORAĻ, and it too has received funding from SIF.
The Society Integration Fund (SIF) itself also implements projects under this AMIF programme and receives additional money both from the budget and from the EU. During the project period from 1 January 2023 to December 2025, SIF received 638 thousand from the state and nearly two million euros more from the EU fund.
This is only a part of the ecosystem in which a portion of the non‑governmental sector is maintained from the state budget. Read all the material and connections in the next issue of Inc. magazine, which will be published on 17 December.
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Originally published at https://inc-baltics.com/kad-ar-sif-ir-par-maz/
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