About the migration department

The Migration Department was established on 21 May 1992 by an order of the Minister of the Interior Petras Valiukas, merging two units of the Ministry of the Interior of that time, namely the Emigration and Immigration Service and the Passport Office. It was a statutory body, staffed by internal service officers. The Migration Department deals with matters related to identity documents, emigration, visas, immigration, asylum, citizenship and illegal migration.

The Migration Department has been headed by Edvardas Gružas (1992-1993), Česlovas Kazimieras Blažys (1993-1995), Vladas Minkevičius (1995-1999), Almantas Gavėnas (1999-2014), Janas Vidickas (temporarily, July 2014-March 2015) and Vygantas Ivanauskas (April-June 2015). As of November 2016, the Migration Department is headed by Evelina Gudzinskaitė (temporarily, July 2015-November 2016). The administrative structure of the Migration Department has been approved by the Minister of the Interior.

Following the reorganisation, as of 30 September 2000, the Migration Department became a civil public administration body under the Ministry of the Interior, and the former internal service officers became civil servants. Since 24 October 2001, the Migration Department acquired legal personality.

The birth of the predecessor of the current migration institution should be considered as 5 March 1919, when the then Minister of the Interior Jonas Vileišis established the Citizens’ Protection Department in the Ministry of the Interior. By 1940, the structure of the department had changed, but its main functions were related to the supervision of the issuance of documents to foreigners and Lithuanian citizens. In 1940-1941 and from 1944 until the restoration of independence, the issuance of documents in Lithuania was carried out by units of the Ministry of the Interior.

On 2 May 2011, the functions of the Migration Department in the organisation of the issuance of identity and citizenship documents to citizens of the Republic of Lithuania were transferred to the Police Department under the Ministry of the Interior.

On 1 July 2019, as part of the reorganisation of the migration process management functions, the Migration Department merged with the territorial migration units of the police into a single legal entity, the Migration Department.

Currently, the Migration Department is the central authority implementing the state policy on migration and providing services for the formulation and implementation of this policy. The main objective of the Migration Department’s activities is to ensure, within its competence, the execution of visa, immigration, asylum, return, resettlement, citizenship procedures, issuance of identity and citizenship documents for citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, travel documents, residence permits and other documents for foreigners, and the implementation of the principle of the free movement of persons within the EU. Within its competence, the Migration Department monitors the presence and residence of foreigners in the Republic of Lithuania and analyses changes in migration flows.  

The Migration Department consists of the central office in Vilnius (L. Sapiegos g. 1) - the Administration, Law, Control, Immigration, Citizenship, Asylum, Corruption Prevention and Internal Investigation Divisions, the Assistance Division, the Foreign Services Division, the Decision Projects Division and 5 territorial divisions, as well as their remote workplaces in Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys, Šiauliai, and Vilnius districts. 543 career civil servant and contract agent posts have been created in the Migration Department.