Only foreigners who have residence permits in Lithuania would be able to work, whereas those who only have a visa or arrived from a Schengen Area country would not be allowed to work. Quotas would also be recalculated for foreign workers.
Based on the draft law, employers would have to ensure that a foreigner works full-time, employers would be required to provide information about foreign worker’s qualifications and experience. A foreigner would not be allowed to work for more than 3 employers at once.
Minister of the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė said at a press conference Wednesday that certain cases of abuse of procedures were identified in 2023. Amendments are being harmonised by the Government and would be considered in parliament’s spring session, she said.
Furthermore, Director of the Migration Department Eveilna Gudzinskaitė noted at the press conference that in some cases a foreign worker may be hired for just an hour per week and may be working for 10 employers simultaneously.
She said some foreigners who arrive in Lithuania on grounds of employment also take out individual business certificates and provide ride-hailing services during their free time. It then transpires that the person works just for an hour per week in the original company which invited him to Lithuania, but spends the rest of the time providing ride hailing services and thus migration procedures are abused.
Gudzinskaitė added that restrictions on Russia and Belarus imposed last year have given results – the number of Belarusian citizens in Lithuania is now rising slower than last year, while the number of Russian citizens living in Lithuania has started to decrease.
The director of the Migration Department added that last year 197 Belarusian citizens and 25 Russian citizens were stripped of their residence permits in Lithuania, whereas 951 Belarusians and 163 Russians were not issued residence permits in 2023.
The Interior Ministry stated that currently foreigners in Lithuania are vetted by the Migration Department, the police, the State Security Department (VSD), the Tax Inspectorate and other bodies.
In January-February 2024, 641 foreigners were checked and 17 criminal offences were discovered. Administrative measures were taken against 6,000 people for violation of migration regulations.
According to the Interior Ministry, last year, 6,112 foreigners were not issued or reissued temporary residence permits or had them cancelled due to abuse of migration procedures. In two months of 2024 alone, the figure stands at 1,807.
The ministry said that the number of foreigners residing in Lithuania exceeded 200,000 last year for the first time. Currently, more than 227,000 foreigners reside in Lithuania, which accounts for 8.1% of the entire population. 114,000 foreigners are in Lithuania on the grounds of employment.
In 2023, 16,000 foreigners were barred from entering the country due to national security threats, compared with 244 in the first two months of 2024.