The Lithuanian Migration Department has received one and a half thousand asylum applications from illegal migrants, reviewed about two hundred of them and rejected all of them, the head of the department Evelīna Gudzinskaite informed journalists on Friday.
“To date, (..) about 1,500 asylum applications have been registered for migrants arriving across the Belarusian border, about 200 decisions have been taken and none of them have been in their favor so far, ie no asylum decision has been taken. This means that with all these platforms working, they are informed about alternatives, about the possibilities to return home voluntarily, “she pointed out, adding that about 160 decisions have entered into force, but some of the rejections have been appealed.
Since the beginning of this year, the total number of illegal immigrants detained in Lithuania has exceeded 4,000, but most of them have not applied for asylum, at least for the time being.
As Rustam Lubayev, the head of the State Border Guard Service, explained, this is due, among other things, to communication difficulties, because a part of the illegal migrants do not speak English or even Arabic.
He reminded that those who have not applied for asylum will be offered to return to the country of origin, but if they refuse, they may be held liable for illegal entry into Lithuania. It is hoped that this will motivate migrants whose asylum applications are rejected to return to their countries of origin.
Gudzinskaite said that some of the rejected migrants have not yet decided what to do.
The Minister of the Interior Agne Bilotaite added that currently 14 migrants have agreed to voluntary repatriation, but other procedures are being performed for another 11 people.
The first illegal immigrant, who entered Lithuania across the Belarusian border in June, voluntarily returned to Iraq on Thursday evening, as reported through the new voluntary repatriation regime. The Iraqi has agreed to return with the help offered by Lithuania – tickets for cancellation and a benefit of 300 euros. Tickets were bought for him in cooperation with the European Union (EU) border guard agency “Frontex”.
According to Gudzinskaitė, the Migration Department this week received assistance from the European Asylum Support Office, which has delegated staff for remote interviewing of asylum seekers. From next week, the department plans to operate not only in the Pabrade Aliens Registration Center, but also in other accommodation places for illegal migrants.
“We are starting with mobile teams, which will include not only representatives of the Migration Department, but also the State Border Guard, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has kindly delegated its employees, who have more experience in intercultural communication and contacts with foreigners,” she said.
By offering illegal immigrants the opportunity to return voluntarily, Lithuania wants to save money that would otherwise be needed to organize the forced return of these aliens in order to maintain, feed, identify, deal with escorts and finance administrative costs for detained immigrants.
An immigrant who is entitled to a voluntary repatriation allowance can leave immediately after the decision has been made, while forced return can take more than a month, the Ministry of the Interior explained earlier.
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