Number of Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians with residence permits in Lithuania drops

VILNIUS – The number of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians holding residence permits in Lithuania has declined by over 20,000 since the start of this year, figures from the Interior Ministry showed on Tuesday.

The largest decrease was registered among Ukrainians, whose numbers fell from 86,353 to 68,166. The number of Belarusians fell from 62,167 to 59,399, and that of Russians went down by a few hundred to 15,105.

Some 577 Belarusian citizens and 278 Russian citizens have been banned from entering Lithuania so far this year, the ministry said in a press release.  

Based on data as of December 1, more than 213,000 foreign nationals are legally residing in Lithuania. Over 111,000 of them hold temporary residence permits granted for employment.

This year, the Migration Department has checked more than 47,000 foreign nationals, including highly skilled workers, ride-hailing drivers, self-employed individuals, students, and Belarusian citizens, as well as 2,200 companies.

According to the Interior Ministry, more than 24,000 residence permits have been revoked, and 6,100 administrative violation reports have been filed. The most common violations involved staying in Lithuania illegally and failing to follow the rules for declaring one's place of residence. 

Last year, 10,700 residence permits were revoked or refused.

The ministry attributes the decrease in the number of foreign nationals holding these permits to stricter immigration control measures applied by the Migration Department since 2023.

"The stricter control measures are already yielding tangible results: today we are managing migration flows more efficiently and preventing abuse of migration procedures, which enables us to better ensure national security," outgoing Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said in the press release.

Amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners, effective since July 1, have tightened the requirements for employers inviting foreign nationals to work in Lithuania and the conditions for employing them. Only foreigners with temporary residence permits in Lithuania are now allowed to work.

Non-compliant employers are banned from providing mediation letters for six months. According to the Interior Ministry, 59 companies are currently subject to this restriction.