Lithuania plans to reduce the number of hours foreign students are allowed to work per week from 40 to 20 starting with the new academic year.
Deputy Interior Minister Gintaras Aliksandravičius said draft amendments have been submitted to the Seimas and are expected to come into force this year.
“Draft amendments to the law have been submitted to the Seimas and will be debated during the spring session. I believe that the concerns you raise about students potentially circumventing the rules will likely be resolved from the beginning of this academic year,” Aliksandravičius told reporters.
The proposed changes would also regulate the validity of residence permits and require higher education institutions to more strictly monitor attendance and academic progress. Operators of food delivery and ride-hailing platforms would be required to track foreign students’ working hours.
Rimantas Sinkevičius, chairman of the Seimas National Security and Defence Committee, said foreign student employment and related immigration represent a “loophole that should be closed”.
As of early February, Lithuania hosted nearly 81,000 Ukrainians, 50,000 Belarusians and 14,000 Russians. Other sizable foreign communities included about 11,000 Uzbeks, 8,000 Indians and nearly 7,000 Tajiks.
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