Foreigners arriving in Lithuania stay in the country longer
In the first half of this year, the number of extended temporary residence permits in Lithuania increased significantly, according to the latest statistical data available to the Migration Department.
During the first six months of 2024, a total of 78 121 temporary residence permits were issued to foreigners in Lithuania: more than 33 000 permits were issued when applying for this document for the first time, and 44 000 of these permits were changed (extended).
In 2023, these statistics showed a different trend: the number of temporary residence permits issued to first-time applicants was significantly higher, while the number of residence permits extended was much more modest.
Last year, in the first half of the previous year, the employees of the Migration Department issued almost 72 000 temporary residence permits to foreigners for the first time, while only 14 500 were changed (extended). In the second half of 2023, 51 000 temporary residence permits were issued to foreigners and more than 15 000 were extended.
“The increase in the number of extended temporary residence permits shows that foreigners who have arrived in Lithuania on legal grounds are staying in our country for longer periods of time,” - notes Evelina Gudzinskaitė, a Director of the Migration Department.
Moreover, in the first half of this year, 2455 foreigners became permanent residents of Lithuania. This is more than in the whole of 2023, when 1 770 foreigners obtained permanent residence permits.
The total number of foreigners residing in Lithuania has remained almost unchanged in the last six months.
According to the data of 1 July, there were 221 285 foreigners living in Lithuania. Six months ago, on 1 January, there were 221 848 such persons in our country.
The Ukrainian diaspora continues to be the largest in Lithuania reaching 76 145 people. More than a half of these foreigners - almost 44 000 people - are war refugees who have escaped from Russian aggression and are covered by the Temporary Protection Mechanism (TPM) introduced by the European Union and recently extended for at least one more year. The number of Ukrainians living in Lithuania has fallen by 10 000 in the last six months.
The second largest diaspora in Lithuania is the Belarusian diaspora, which has slightly expanded over the past six months. According to the data as of 1 July, there were 62 535 Belarusian citizens living in Lithuania, compared to 62 167 as of 1 January.
The number of Russian citizens living in Lithuania has decreased slightly. At the beginning of this year there were 15 888 Russians living in our country, while on 1 July - 15 536.
The fourth largest foreign diaspora in Lithuania is Uzbek. Over the last six months, the number of citizens of this Central Asian country in our country has increased from 8.2 thousand on 1 January to 10.2 thousand on 1 July.
The fifth are Tajiks, almost 7 000 of whom currently live in Lithuania. Half a year ago, the number of Tajik citizens living in our country was less, 5.7 thousand.
The absolute majority of all foreign citizens living in our country continue to arrive for work. The next largest groups are family members, highly skilled workers and students.
As predicted last year, the number of foreign passports issued is gradually increasing. During the whole of 2023, 84 foreigners received such documents, and 85 passports have already been issued in the first half of this year.
In Lithuania, such documents are issued to foreigners who have the right to reside in our country and who, for objective reasons, are unable to obtain an identity document from their country of origin.
The increase in the number of foreign passports issued can be associated with the decision of Lukashenko regime not to allow Belarusians to change their identity documents at diplomatic offices in foreign countries.