CHAPTER I
Lithuania
84
Mapping Statelessness in Lithuania, UNHCR, May 2016.
UNHCR’s Refugee Data Finder.
UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in Lithuania, pp. 9-10.
Ibid.; Jo Venkov, Not just a simple twist of fate: statelessness in Lithuania and Latvia, ENS, 4 October 2018;
A Latvian non-citizen, “Non-Citizens” of the Baltics: Common Misconceptions explained, ENS, 18 November
2021.
UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in Lithuania, pp. 16-20.
ANNEXES
37
RECOMMENDATIONS
80
81
82
83
CHAPTER VII
Further efforts have continued since that time. In 1996, 1998 and 2004, the Government
facilitated permanent residence permits for stateless people residing in Lithuania, which
benefited 148 people.84 In 2013, the Government acceded to the 1961 Convention and
amended the Law on Citizenship, bringing it closer to alignment with the 1961 Convention.
In 2020, Lithuania amended the Law on Citizenship to improve the situation of stateless
CHAPTER VI
The Lithuanian Government adopted new nationality laws in 1989 and 1991. The new laws
(and practices in subsequent years) enabled the acquisition of nationality in an inclusive
manner. Most lawful permanent residents in Lithuania, regardless of the reasons for their
residence or their ethnicity, and some other cohorts of people with ties to Lithuania, could
obtain citizenship, either automatically or by naturalization.83
CHAPTER V
A mapping study of statelessness in Lithuania published by UNHCR in 2016 identified
strong safeguards against statelessness in Lithuanian law for foundlings, children born
outside Lithuania to Lithuanian nationals and stateless permanent residents of Lithuania,
as well as for people who lose, renounce or are deprived of Lithuanian nationality.82
CHAPTER IV
Measures to reduce statelessness
CHAPTER III
Statelessness in Lithuania is primarily linked to the dissolution of the former Soviet Union
and/or migration. According to Migration Department data, 4,151 stateless people held
residence permits in Lithuania in 2012 (note that this data does not include stateless
people without residence permits). The vast majority (98.9 per cent) had been born on
a territory of the former Soviet Union, and more than a third (38.9 per cent) had been
born on Lithuanian territory. Most lived on Lithuanian territory before 3 November 1989.
Although most members of minority groups obtained Lithuanian nationality in the postSoviet period, some, including some Roma, did not.80 According to Lithuanian Government
statistics, there were 2,236 recorded stateless people and people with undetermined
nationality in Lithuania by the end of 2024.81
CHAPTER II
Population overview