Lithuania to Extend Temporary Residence Permits for Ukrainian Refugees Until March 4, 2024

The Migration Department of Lithuania has announced that all kind of documents issued on the basis of temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees will be valid until March 4, 2024.

Data provided by the same authority revealed that as of March 6 of this year, a total of 41,933 Ukrainian refugees have valid permits to temporarily live in this country on the basis of temporary protection, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Such data also show that 35,039 people have been issued digital permits, and 6,894 people have temporary residence permits in the form of plastic cards.

“The number fixed on March 6 will change the next day, because several dozen new people fleeing the war arrive in Lithuania every day. In addition, some foreigners already living in Lithuania leave for other countries or return to Ukraine. We chose this day to mark the anniversary of the year when Ukrainian war refugees began to be granted temporary protection,” the director of the Migration Department, Evelina Gudzinskaitė, noted.

According to the Migration Department, residence permits valid for one year have been issued to those who submitted an application until September 2022. The same have already been replaced with digital ones and are valid until March 4, 2024.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, a total of more than 75,000 people have been registered in the Lithuanian migration information system MIGRIS.

In addition, about two thousand Ukrainians have temporary residence permits for humanitarian reasons, and more than half a thousand people later applied for temporary residence permits for other reasons, such as work or studies.

In this regard, Gudzinskaitė said the numbers show that all these refugees have put down roots in Lithuania and connected their immediate future more closely with it. She also added that most of migrants have found a job that met their needs, started learning the language and began their studies.

Moreover, refugees from Ukraine who have not changed their temporary residence permits in Lithuania by March 4 may have problems with receiving some services such as health, applying for social benefits, benefits for children, applying for housing heating costs and hot or cold water compensation as well.

Such persons in the Lithuanian migration information system MIGRIS will not have to fill out a request for change, but a request for issuing a new temporary digital residence permit on the basis of temporary protection. Thus, after completing the online application, they will be asked to book a visit to the Migration Department and provide biometric data.