American ice dancer Allison Reed, who won a bronze medal at the European Figure Skating Championships in January and is looking to represent Lithuania in upcoming winter Olympics, has submitted a new application for the Lithuanian citizenship.
“We can confirm that Allison Reed has submitted her documents through the Migris (Lithuanian Migration Information System) system to obtain citizenship,” Laura Šaučiukovaitė-Astrauskienė, secretary general of the Lithuanian Skating Federation, told BNS on Thursday.
According to BNS sources, the skater, who lives and trains in the US, plans to arrive in Lithuania at the end of February and submit original documents.
Reed applied for citizenship after her successful performance at the European Figure Skating Championships.
In January, she and her partner Saulius Ambrulevičius represented Lithuania and won bronze in the ice dancing event at the European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas.
President Gitanas Nausėda rejected Reed’s application for citizenship by exception twice before – last year and in 2022 – because, he said, she did not meet the criteria. After January’s championships, however, President Nausėda indicated that the situation had changed.
The president can grant citizenship by exception to foreign nationals for special merits, such as sporting or artistic achievements. They also must meet be integration criterion.
Special merit for Lithuania is defined as an activity by which a foreigner makes a particularly significant contribution to strengthening Lithuania’s statehood, its power and authority in the international community.
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