Around 5,000 third‑country nationals come to Estonia every year for seasonal work, mostly on farms, according to the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), ERR reports. Most seasonal workers come from Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan, India, and Georgia. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many seasonal workers came from Belarus as well, but Estonia has since barred their entry. Around 2,400 work permits were issued for short-term work by the end of June 2026. The number of permits totalled 4,980 in 2025 and 5,379 in 2024.
Latvian farms are facing a shortage of local workers and are therefore hiring more foreign guest workers and investing in more modern forms of cultivation, LSM and TV3 report. Meanwhile, some guest workers are being exploited by unscrupulous labour agencies, Latvijas Avize reports. The agencies often use different schemes to avoid paying taxes and withhold wages, according to Ilze Norvaisa, social worker at the Safe House association. The State Labour Inspectorate (VDI) receives complaints from third-country nationals regularly as well.
In Lithuania, more than 5,000 foreigners are working on farms across the country, with the majority coming from outside the EU, according to the Public Employment Service (UzT), LRT reports. Local farmers expect the number of foreign workers to keep rising over the next five years. Jurgita Zemblyte, head of the monitoring and analysis division at UzT, said that around 20% of farm workers are doing unskilled work. However, farms are increasingly short of skilled workers, particularly operators of agricultural machinery and drivers of heavy-duty vehicles.