Lithuania Grapples with Increased Immigration

Lithuania Grapples with Increased Immigration

Executive Summary:

• Lithuania transitioned from net emigration to significant net immigration in 2019 and created a Reception and Integration Agency in 2025 to manage migrants, signaling that immigration is now central to the country’s demographic and economic stability.
• Social attitudes and cultural norms lag behind demographic realities—immigrants often face social coldness and difficulties navigating institutions, highlighting some persistent latent biases.
• Immigrants’ visible contributions in labor-short sectors are facilitating their gradual acceptance, demonstrating that economic necessity and policy innovations can bridge cultural gaps and support long-term social cohesion.

On January 1, Lithuania implemented amendments to the Law on State Language that significantly strengthened Lithuanian language proficiency requirements for foreign nationals in the workforce (LRT, January 6). This policy shift reflects a broader transformation in Lithuania’s migration profile. For the past six years, Lithuania has experienced positive net migration for the first period of its post-Soviet independence (International Organization for Migration Lithuania, October 2, 2025). The number of non-EU foreign workers in the country has increased twentyfold since 2020, prompting the creation of a dedicated Reception and Integration Agency, operationalized in January 2025, designed to comprehensively address migration challenges (European Commission, December 23, 2024; LRT, November 25, 2025). This institutional development signals a recognition that migration is no longer a marginal issue but a defining feature of Lithuania’s demographic and economic landscape. The agency aims to streamline administrative processes, coordinate support services, and ensure that both refugees and labor migrants can integrate effectively into Lithuanian society.

This transition marks a historic shift from a predominantly emigration-oriented society to one increasingly shaped by incoming populations (Europos Migracijos Tinklas, December 29, 2025).  Lithuania’s demographic narrative was historically defined by labor and educational emigration, leaving gaps in the workforce and shaping social perceptions around mobility. Today, however, the influx of immigrants—ranging from Ukrainians fleeing war to legal labor migrants from other non-EU countries—poses both opportunities and challenges, particularly for the labor market and social cohesion (LRT, November 25, 2025).

The transition from a society historically oriented toward emigration to one increasingly shaped by immigration has highlighted a fundamental tension. Social attitudes and cultural habits often change more slowly than the realities they are meant to respond to. Lithuanian public opinion, as surveys from the Institute of Sociology at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences (LCSS) indicate, remains shaped by deep-seated norms, historical experiences, and collective memories of emigration and cultural trauma (LCSS, May 21, 2025). These enduring mentalities manifest in a general willingness to assist those perceived as orderly and rule-abiding, reflecting a broader moral commitment to fairness and responsibility. Newcomers from more distant countries or with less structured migration pathways, however, often encounter a colder reception, both socially and institutionally (LCSS, May 21, 2025). In these cases, the formal mechanisms designed to provide support—refugee centers, non-governmental organizations, integration programs—may appear rigid, almost like a “frozen” bureaucracy, operating strictly according to legal frameworks rather than flexible human judgment (Arūnas Acus and Esua Alphonsius Fotindong, “On the Problem of the Integration of Migrants into Lithuanian Society in the Context of NGO Experience,” December 30, 2024).

The general public and government institutions increasingly recognize spheres affected by depopulation or labor shortages as areas where immigrant labor is not only tolerated but needed. The rise in migrant numbers has begun to alleviate longstanding shortages in key sectors such as construction, information technology (IT), and transport services (LRT, November 25, 2025). Legal labor migrants are largely welcomed, and organizations exist to help foreign workers integrate as they fill roles critical to economic growth, contributing to productivity and innovation (Migration Information Center; Invest Lithuania, accessed January 14). These emerging patterns help bridge the gap between cultural predispositions and demographic reality, creating spaces where newcomers are gradually accepted and trusted, provided they navigate the social and procedural expectations of Lithuanian society. Social habits may be slow to evolve, but the lived experience of migration—combined with institutional structures, community engagement, and visible economic contributions—facilitates a recalibration of cultural norms.

Lithuanian hospitality remains selective despite these changes. Migrants with similar historical, cultural, or geopolitical backgrounds—particularly from the post-Soviet space—are more readily integrated into communities (LRT, November 25, 2024). Others remain positioned on the margins, tolerated for their economic utility but not necessarily embraced socially. These differentiated patterns of inclusion highlight the persistence of implicit hierarchies and latent xenophobic tendencies, even within a broadly pragmatic and functional migration system (LRT November 3, 2025). Ignoring these dynamics risks reinforcing social fragmentation and undermining the long-term success of integration policies.

Lithuania’s current experiences with migration offer several lessons. First, the creation of dedicated migration institutions has demonstrated the necessity for coordinating support and ensuring fairness across diverse migrant groups. Second, the current situation and opinions toward migrants show how economic integration must be aligned with social integration. Labor market participation alone does not guarantee acceptance or well-being. Third, attention to the psychosocial dimensions of migration—particularly the recognition of the past and the cultivation of structured, reliable care—is critical for fostering long-term stability. Many newcomers arrive not only with material needs but with histories of war, displacement, political repression, or prolonged insecurity. In the case of Ukrainian refugees in Lithuania, for example, access to employment and housing has not eliminated the need for sustained psychological support, as trauma and loss continue to shape everyday functioning and social participation. Without institutional mechanisms that acknowledge and address these experiences, integration risks becoming formally successful but socially fragile. Finally, public communication and education initiatives can help mitigate selective bias. For example, Lithuania developed an Introduction to Sociocultural Knowledge program to support newcomers with practical information and an understanding of how Lithuania’s social, institutional, and cultural systems function. The program provides an overview of the country, its institutions, and its people, and explores Lithuania’s history as well as the social and cultural factors that shape Lithuanian identity, encouraging a broader cultural understanding of hospitality and belonging beyond familiar groups (Sociokultūrinis įvadas, accessed January 14).

Lithuania’s migration landscape is evolving rapidly, with profound implications for the labor market, social policy, and cultural norms. The establishment of a Reception and Integration Agency reflects a recognition that migration requires comprehensive, institutionalized responses. Lithuania’s characteristic form of hospitality—disciplined, structured, and culturally grounded—offers a viable framework for managing this change. The long-term challenge, however, lies in ensuring that this hospitality becomes less conditional and more inclusive, capable of accommodating not only those who feel familiar but also those who seem distant. If Lithuania succeeds in aligning its institutional innovations with deeper cultural transformation, it may offer a compelling model of post-migration adaptation for other societies facing similar demographic shifts.