Over 300 Belarusians denied Lithuanian residence over national security concerns in 2023

May 22, BPN. Since the start of 2023, Lithuanian authorities denied 309 residence permit applications received from Belarusians, migration department’s head Evelina Gudzinskaitė told Delfi citing national security concerns.

Thirty-eight Russians were denied the issue or renewal of their residence permits for the same reason, she added.

Lithuania stepped up controls and started considering national security threats in migration cases after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

However, every month dozens of applicants believe Belarusian and Russian propaganda and keep saying in questionnaires that they support Russia’s war on Ukraine, Gudzinskaitė noted.

In 2022, the number of Belarusians residing in Lithuania rose by 57.3 percent to 48,804 but it is hard to estimate how many Belarusians have permanently moved there. Over the past couple of years, the range could be between 25,400 and 37,900 based on annual data, according to the BEROC think tank.