The number of foreigners living in Lithuania has exceeded 200,000 for the first time in the country’s history as 203,157 people from various foreign countries lived in Lithuania on September 1, according to the latest figures from the country’s Migration Department.
There were slightly more than 195,000 foreigners in Lithuania In the middle of this year, up from almost 190,000 at the beginning of the year.
“We observed a slight slowdown in the immigration of foreign workers to Lithuania at the beginning of this year. This may have been due to the talk of an impending recession. However, the pace of applications for residence permits picked up again in the spring, which is why the number of foreigners in Lithuania increased by 7,000 in July and August,” Evelina Gudzinskaite, director of the Migration Department, says.
Ukrainians continue to be the largest community of foreigners in Lithuania with 85,579 persons. The majority of them have arrived in Lithuania since Russia invaded their country last year. The number of citizens of this country has remained fairly stable recently, the department says.
The Belarusian community in Lithuania has grown the most so far this year as over 60,000 of then lived in Lithuania on September 1, compared to just over 48,000 at the beginning of this year.
The number of Russian citizens in Lithuania has increased by around 500 since the beginning of the year to 16,179. Most of them – 8,571 – are permanent residents of Lithuania, having lived here for a couple of decades or more.
According to the department, the migration of Russian nationals has been influenced both by the tightening of the visa regime last year and by the entry into force of the law that has considerably reduced the possibilities for Russian citizens to legally enter and stay in the European Union and the Schengen area.
The number of members of smaller ethnic communities living in Lithuania has also increased, the Migration Department’s data shows.
For example, the fourth largest group of Kyrgyz citizens in Lithuania has more than doubled so far this year as 4,172 Kyrgyz people lived in Lithuania on September 1, up from 1,960 at the beginning of the year.
The number of Uzbek citizens has gone up from 1,834 to 4,141 and they are now the fifth largest group of foreigners in Lithuania.
Also, more than 3,000 Tajik and Indian nationals, more than 2,000 Azerbaijanis and Kazakhs, almost 2,000 Georgians nationals, about 1,500 Turks and a bit smaller number of Moldovans live in Lithuania right now.
Source: BNS
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