While Ukrainian citizens who fled the war to the EU enjoy protections, those who came before February 2022 find themselves in a contradictory situation.
Maria is a Ukrainian citizen living in Lithuania but she is facing deportation because her residence permit has expired. She admits that she missed the deadline herself, but does not understand why Lithuania is sending her home where she has nothing left and could face danger.
According to Maria, even her lawyers are calling her case hopeless.
Since 2017, she has been a volunteer working with children in Ukraine’s zone. Later, she came to Lithuania with the European Solidarity Corps programme and volunteered here. Eventually, she married a Lithuanian man – who she divorced later – and was living here when Russia attacked her country in 2022.
In all, Maria spent four years living in Lithuania. But now her residence permit, which is issued for a year, has expired.
“I tried to return to Kharkiv, but it was not the best time. My home, my school – everything was destroyed,” said Maria.
Kharkiv is currently under intense Russian attacks. Maria used to live in an even more dangerous place, Vovchansk. With Ukrainian and Russian forces battling for its control, the town is under constant shelling. One of Maria’s acquaintances was recently kidnapped. So she decided to return to Lithuania.
“My work is here, I have friends,” she says. “I am doing the best I can for both Ukraine and Lithuania.”
Because she came to Lithuania before the 2022 Russian invasions of Ukraine, she has not obtained a new residence permit and has a temporary humanitarian visa.
She is not alone in this predicament. Some Ukrainians make short trips to Ukraine and then return to Lithuania as refugees.
Maria says she is now sorry that she didn’t do this herself.
“They went to Ukraine, they came back and they had a case, because ther’s war, they’re fleeing,” she says.
Maria has the right to apply for asylum, but this would mean additional difficulties: her document would be taken away, she would not be allowed to work or travel.
“Nobody told me that the situation was so bad. I was told: Oh, you’re from Ukraine, nobody will send you out of Lithuania,” recalls Maria.
She also says that the staff of the Migration Department in Klaipėda took her passport and held it for a whole day, supposedly to prevent her from running away.
“They say to me, you have to leave Lithuania, how many days do you need? I was shocked, I have projects until September.
“I asked where I should go. It doesn’t matter, they said, anywhere. If you don’t leave, we will deport you and you won’t be able to return for five years,” she recalls.
Inconsistent rules
Rytis Satkauskas, a lawyer interviewed by LRT.lt, says that Maria’s situation is quite typical, especially for male Ukrainian citizens who lived in Lithuania before the war. Many Ukrainians left the country shortly before the fateful day of February 24, 2022, because tensions had been mounting even before. These people, however, are not seen as having fled war.
This is because only Ukrainians who entered the EU after the February 2022 invasion fall under the temporary protection mechanism set up by the EU and extended last autumn. Everyone else is treated by the usual rules.
“It is not held that Ukraine is unsafe,” says Satkauskas.
He confirms that some Ukrainians find a way around this by going briefly to another EU country, returning and saying that they have only now fled Ukraine.
“The inconsistency is obvious because, on the one hand, the EU decision on the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive recognises that it is not safe to return to Ukraine, but when it comes to renewing permits for Ukrainians who had been legally residing in Lithuania before 2022, this argument does not apply, the general rules apply,” the lawyer says.
The European Commission is urging member states to consider extending the scope of temporary protection, he adds.
Migration Department: no one’s passport is taken away
Evelina Gudzinskaitė, head of the Migration Department, also confirms to LRT.lt that this situation is common.
“Indeed, a number of Ukrainians who were living in Lithuania (or Schengen area) before the beginning of the war wanted to receive temporary protection as war refugees, but they are not entitled to such protection, as they are subject to the common legal regime, which applies equally to all foreigners. When foreigners stay in Lithuania illegally, fail to renew their residence permits on time, they are obliged to leave Lithuania,” she comments.
She insists that the Migration Department considers the person’s individual situation and the situation in their country. Moreover, she notes, the Ukrainian government takes care to resettle citizens from war zones.
According to Gudzinskaitė, Maria could return to Ukraine and re-enter the EU “if she found a legal way to do so”.
She also says that Migration Department staff do not confiscate people’s passports.
“The Migration Department only takes the passports of foreigners if they apply for asylum. In other cases, the passport is taken only for identity verification, to enter the necessary data into the systems, and then returned to the owner,” Gudzinskaitė assures.
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