LiveRiga — Work in Riga & Workcation: city-led talent and company attraction for Latvia's capital

The Riga Investment and Tourism Agency — LiveRiga — was founded by the City of Riga in April 2021 and has grown to a team of 30 staff covering investment promotion, tourism, and the city's international positioning. It runs two complementary programmes to address Latvia's labour shortage:

**Work in Riga (launched 2023):** Latvia's first dedicated English-language digital platform for international job seekers — EU citizens, non-EU nationals, and Latvian diaspora. Developed in partnership with HR agency ERDA and tech firm Printify, it aggregates in one place everything a foreign professional needs to know about moving to Riga: job listings from partner employers, visa and work-permit procedures, relocation logistics, and city-life information. LIAA (Latvia's national Investment and Development Agency) promoted the platform's launch as a national priority response to labour market shortages.

**Workcation Riga (launched 2022):** a hosted one-week programme targeting foreign technology companies. Eligible firms (minimum €5 million annual turnover, ≥25 employees, no existing Latvian subsidiary) receive a fully covered week in Riga — flights, accommodation, co-working space — with a bespoke agenda of meetings with Riga City Council leadership, business consultants, investors, and key opinion leaders, converting exploratory visits into relocation decisions.

**Investment context:** In the first half of 2024, 28 LIAA-co-supported investment projects committed €263 million to Riga and created 1,245 new jobs. Cumulative foreign direct investment in Riga reached €10.2 billion by January 2026; €320 million was invested during 2025. Start-ups in Riga attracted €21.8 million in 2024 and €60 million in 2025 (source: riga.lv). Latvia ranks 3rd in Europe for ICT students per million inhabitants.

**Limitation:** No specific usage figures (platform registrations, Workcation company outcomes) have been published as of June 2026. The FDI and job-creation figures are city-wide, not programme-specific.

Sources: https://www.liveriga.com/en/work-in-riga | https://investinlatvia.org/en/news/work-in-riga-new-platform-for-international-job-seekers | https://www.riga.lv/en/article/foreign-direct-investment-riga-reaches-eu102-billion

Read the full analysis: https://investinlatvia.org/en/news/work-in-riga-new-platform-for-international-job-seekers