Poland has temporarily reinstated internal controls at 13 checkpoints on its border with Lithuania in response to increased secondary irregular migration via Belarus, LRT reports. Both Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT) and the Lithuanian National Road Carriers Association (LINAVA) said that there were no traffic jams on the border on the first day of…
Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT) has reported a sharp rise in secondary migration via Latvia, BNS reports. Altogether 352 irregular migrants who entered Latvia from Belarus were detained in Lithuania and Poland in the first half of 2025, which was up 2.5 times from 140 in the same period of 2024. Most of the…
No migrants have tried to cross the border illegally from Belarus to Latvia for nearly a month, the Latvian State Border Guard (VRS) announced, LETA reports. VRS has not detected any attempts at illegal crossings at the border with Belarus since 10 December 2024. VRS estimated that the drop in the flow of irregular migrants…
Lithuania’s Interior Minister, Vladislav Kondratovic, sees no need to relax existing restrictions on the entry of Belarusian citizens into Lithuania, BNS reports. Lithuania has stopped issuing new visas to Belarusian citizens with few exceptions and has closed four out of six checkpoints on the border with Belarus. Moreover, Belarusians arriving in the country are subject…
Latvia approved 30 applications for investor visas and 53 dependent visas under its so-called golden visa programme in the first half of 2024, Investment Migration Insider reports. The biggest number of approved applications were submitted by Chinese (11) and Turkish (7) nationals. The EUR 50,000 business investment option accounted for 22 and real estate investments…
Lithuania has introduced stricter rules on residence permit applications through external service providers as of 1 December 2024, BNS reports. From now on, only citizens of countries with an office of the external service provider can use their services. Citizens of other countries can apply for temporary residency permits at an office in another country…
The Estonian government may triple the country’s immigration quota, Minister of Economy and Industry Erkki Keldo announced, ERR reports. The current quota amounts to 1,303 people or 0.1% of Estonia’s permanent population per year. Keldo suggested that the quota could be raised to 2,600 people normally and to 3,900 people when annual GDP growth exceeds…
Lithuania has almost 8,000 foreign students with temporary residence permits, according to the Lithuanian Migration Department (LMD), BNS reports. Nearly 1,400 Indian citizens, 959 Belarusians, and 709 Pakistanis are currently doing their studies in Lithuania. So far in 2024, LMD has issued over 3,000 temporary residence permits for permanent studies to foreigners, compared to 4,400…
Latvia’s State Border Guard (VRS) has procured high-power speaker devices meant for psychological deterrence, LETA reports. VRS purchased the sound devices from Lithuania’s NT Service for around EUR 150,000. VRS has deployed the devices to Latvia’s eastern border to deter the illegal entry of large groups of people into the country. The non-lethal devices can…
