The number of foreign citizens residing in Lithuania increased by more than 6,000 in the first half of the year. The number of Ukrainians, however, went down by about 10,000, the Migration Department said on Wednesday.
According to the latest data, there were 195,550 foreigners living in Lithuania on July 1, compared to 189,411 in January.
“The number of Belarusians living in our country significantly increased, the number of Russians increased slightly, and the number of Ukrainians went down,” the report states.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian citizens still make up the largest share of foreigners, as there were 84,734 Ukrainians living in Lithuania in early July.
The number of Belarusian citizens living in Lithuania rose from 48,804 to 58,347 in the first half of the year.
“Belarusian citizens remain one of the most numerous groups of foreigners coming to Lithuania to work, and is the second largest group after Ukrainians,” said Evelina Gudzinskaitė, head of the Migration Department.
“They are not subject to immigration restrictions due to the aggression against Ukraine, so Belarusians can easily obtain residence permits in Lithuania,” she added.
The number of Russian citizens increased slightly as there were 15,706 Russians living in Lithuania at the beginning of this year, compared to 16,193 in July.
“Although restrictions were imposed on the immigration of Russian citizens due to the aggression against Ukraine, it is likely that some of them managed to arrive before the introduction of such restrictions, or they had previously issued visas, which allowed them to apply for residence permits in Lithuania,” Gudzinskaitė said.
On July 1, foreigners living in Lithuania accounted for 6.83 percent of the total population in Lithuania, up from 6.67 percent in January.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
