Just over 300 foreigners, who have entered since the start of the migrant influx last year, are still in Lithuania, the country’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT) has said.
“There are 329 migrants in Lithuania at the moment, but the number changes daily as they leave [...]. They are melting like snow in the spring,” Giedrius Mišutis, VSAT’s spokesperson, told BNS.
According to him, 640 foreigners have left voluntarily for their countries of origin so far this year, while another 15 have been forcibly returned.
“Most of them, of course, are Iraqi citizens,” Mišutis said.
Foreigners are accommodated in Lithuanian migrant centres until their asylum applications are reviewed. If they are rejected, foreigners must be returned to their countries of origin within five years.
Around 2,600 migrants have fled their place of accommodation this year, Mišutis said. Migrants who remain in Lithuania have the right to move freely within the country.
Almost 4,200 migrants entered Lithuania from Belarus last year. Lithuania calls the influx of migrants from Belarus a hybrid attack orchestrated by the Minsk regime.
Read more: Lithuania dismantles migrant camps as foreigners head West
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