Lithuania tightens legalization procedures for foreigners, changes to affect Belarusians

November 22, BPN. Lithuanian Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė has approved amendments to the document issuing procedure for foreigners.

“We must protect the state from persons who can pose a threat to national security by regulating immigration and citizenship verification procedures tighter,” she said, as quoted by the interior ministry’s press office.

Additional documents or details would be required from certain categories of foreigners applying for visas, Lithuanian residence permits or residence cards of EU nationals’ family members.

“Failure to provide the requested information or the provision of false details will help the migration department to estimate the illegal migration risk more effectively, making decisions to issue or cancel documents,” it said.

The interior ministry, with the assistance of other government agencies, would strengthen control over foreigners’ stay and life in Lithuania.

Bilotaitė instructed the migration department to “check whether foreigners who had arrived from Belarus under a business relocation scheme, especially Russian nationals (including those with double nationality), were present in Lithuania.”

The department would also have to pay significant attention to the loss of nationality process for Lithuanians turning Belarusian or Russian nationals.