Minister: the growing flow of labor immigrants poses a threat, they are covered by foreign intelligence

She, along with other politicians, introduced new restrictions on migration.

“The growing flow poses a threat, as it becomes obvious that it is more difficult to ensure control and the integration processes themselves. The Department of State Security also drew attention to the fact that recently an alarming trend has emerged, when immigrants become a cover for the activities of the intelligence services of hostile states”, said Agnė Bilotaitė during a press conference on Monday.

According to her, 50 thousand people came to work in Lithuania this year. foreigners. These are mostly citizens of Belarus, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan. There is also an increase in the number of foreigners coming from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

“This year, 16 thousand were accepted. decisions to ban the entry of foreign citizens to Lithuania due to threats to national security,” the Minister of the Interior announced.

According to her, for the same reason, 411 Belarusian citizens had their residence permits revoked in Lithuania, and 562 were refused temporary residence permits.

According to A. Bilotaitė, the State Border Guard Service did not allow 527 Russian citizens and 600 Belarusian citizens to enter this year due to the threat posed to state security.

“This shows that our earlier decisions and restrictive measures are really producing results,” said the minister.

She pointed out that for the first time the total number of foreigners living in Lithuania exceeded 200 thousand, of which 62 thousand. are citizens of Belarus. This year alone, they have increased by 14 thousand.

Visa centers will be closed

According to A. Bilotaitė, current legal acts allow employers to abuse the employment of foreigners.

“It is observed that many new companies are being created that do not employ, but, I would say, sublease foreigners to other companies,” asserted the Minister of the Interior.

She announced that she would initiate an inter-institutional working group to prepare a new migration policy strategy in line with the threats of the times.

In addition, from the New Year, it is planned to abandon the centers of external service providers in some countries, that is, places where foreigners can apply for the issuance of national visas and temporary residence permits in Lithuania. There are currently 34 of them.

Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chairman of the Seimas National Security and Defense Committee (NSGK), said that when deciding in which countries to close these centers, not only the needs of the labor market will be assessed, but also the threat to national security and cultural proximity.

“Whether you like it or not, you need to push political correctness a little to the side and talk realistically about those countries where the labor force coming from would not only be a labor force, but also a community integrating into the life of our state,” said the parliamentarian.

The head of NSGK suggests that the position of the Department of State Security should be sought before establishing units of an external service provider abroad.

According to the Minister of the Interior, the ministry will propose to tighten the control of the employment of foreigners, the activities of their employers and the presence of foreigners in Lithuania, as well as taxing mediation letters for companies that invite foreigners to work.

Will require learning the language

Seimas members L. Kasčiūnas and Paulius Saudargas prepared amendments to the law, which provide that a foreigner who has lived in Lithuania for five years and wants to extend a temporary residence permit in Lithuania would be issued such a document only if the person submits documents confirming knowledge of the state language.

According to the parliamentarians, practice shows that individuals tend to extend their temporary residence permit indefinitely, so they are not subject to the requirements of checking the state language and the basics of the Constitution, which appear when applying for a permanent residence permit. According to them, this poses the risk of the formation of diasporas of foreigners.

“There is an attempt to bypass the integration mechanism. (…) There is a very clear path precisely to prevent the formation of closed diasporas that would create parallel societies here, communities that would integrate into the life of the state through the knowledge of the state language”, explained the chairman of NSGK.

Members of the Seimas will also propose to adopt an amendment that if the residence permit in Lithuania is suspended or revoked, the foreigner will have to leave the country immediately.

According to Mr. Saudargo, if such a person were to complain to the courts, he would no longer be able to wait for their decisions in Lithuania.

It is also proposed to tighten the employer’s responsibility when employing foreigners. The amendments aim to establish that a temporary residence permit issued on the basis of work is revoked or a new one is refused, if a non-insurance period has been established for at least one employed foreigner at the employer for more than 90 days during the last 180 days.

In addition, it is proposed to determine that a foreigner who has arrived in Lithuania can change his employer no earlier than six months after receiving the temporary residence permit.

According to the current regulations, employers undertake to employ a foreigner for six months, but practice shows that after a month or several, foreigners ask the Migration Department for permission to change employers, according to the authors of the amendments.

Seimas members also propose to limit the number of temporary residence permits in Lithuania to persons of Lithuanian origin or to foreigners who have the right to restore Lithuanian citizenship. According to the draft, they would be issued a temporary permit once.

Such persons, who have lived in Lithuania for five years, should learn the Lithuanian language, pass the Basic Law of the Constitution exam and be able to obtain a permanent residence permit in the country.

Will return to restrictions on Belarusians

The head of NSGK also confirmed that it will be considered to return to the tightening of restrictions on citizens of Belarus.

“We are returning to Belarus’ restrictive measures. Next week, we will meet with the minister and discuss specific wordings, regarding the possible extension of restrictive measures to the citizens of Belarus,” L. Kasciūnas told journalists.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, A. Bilotaitė, said that the ministry has never given up its position that Belarusians should be subject to similar restrictions as Russians, but after the parliament rejected such a proposal, it is now possible to return to it, because the context has changed.

“We have consistently spoken out as a ministry regarding these measures and we have not changed our position, those discussions continue,” said the minister.

“Especially after the State Security Department publicly expressed its arguments to the public, naming the real threats, I think it is necessary to return to these discussions and talk to the members of the Seimas, because there is a new context and new circumstances that need to be assessed,” she added.

The Seimas has adopted a law on restrictive measures for citizens of Russia and Belarus, but fewer restrictions have been introduced for the latter.

Russians and Belarusians are limited in their ability to obtain Lithuanian visas and electronic resident status, but Russian citizens are further hampered in their ability to come to Lithuania and purchase real estate, and their applications for residence permits are temporarily not accepted.

President Gitanas Nausėda took the position that Belarusian citizens should be subject to the same sanctions as Russians, but the Seimas rejected his veto due to freer conditions for Belarusians.

Secondary migration is growing

Speaking about illegal migration, A. Bilotaitė said that it is controlled and countered, but it is necessary to remain vigilant.

According to her data, more than 500 asylum applications were accepted this year, half of them from citizens of Belarus.

“We see that secondary migration is also growing. More than 1,000 were detained this year. of migrants who came from the Latvian side”, said the minister.

This year, officers of the State Border Guard Service prevented a total of 2,505 illegal migrants from entering Lithuania from Belarus in unauthorized places.

Since August 3, 2021, when Lithuanian border guards gained the right to turn illegal migrants, more than 21.8 thousand of them have not been allowed to enter the country from Belarus. Some foreigners tried to enter Lithuania more than once.

The influx of migrants to the eastern members of the European Union from Belarus started in 2021, and the West blames the Minsk regime for it.

At that time, almost 4.2 thousand people arrived illegally from Belarus to Lithuania. migrants, but most of them left the country after the end of movement restrictions.