Immigration. “Typical case-1”
LLG and “threat to national security” (VSD assessments, army, police, criminal record)
Typical situation
A foreign national has been living in Lithuania for several years, has a family, children, a job or a business. However, because of:
- service in the Belarusian or Russian army, police or emergency services,
- an old criminal conviction or a cyber-crime background,
- family links to people who served in such structures,
the State Security Department (VSD) issues a negative assessment. Based on this, the Migration Department (MD):
- cancels or refuses to issue / renew a residence permit, and
- often additionally imposes a long-term entry ban and records the person in SIS.
What we do in such cases
- We carefully document the client’s actual life in Lithuania: family, employment, integration, children, language, social ties.
- We reconstruct the true content of the service or job – whether it was compulsory military service, a low-level technical role (electrician, driver, guard) or a higher position with real decision-making powers.
- We challenge the automatic reasoning: we demand concrete facts showing a real threat, not merely an abstract link with an institution or a relative.
- We rely on case-law of the Supreme Administrative Court (LVAT) which distinguishes between compulsory service and long-term contractual service in sensitive units, and stresses the duty to respect proportionality and individual assessment.
We also have experience in more unusual situations where a threat to security is based on:
- a close relative’s service in the army,
- previous IT/cyber offences,
- desertion from the army in the country of origin,
- political statements made in public space.
Results in practice
- In a number of cases the courts annulled MD decisions, finding that compulsory service or low-level work alone, without specific facts, is not enough to establish a threat.
- In other cases we managed to reduce the impact – for example, to cancel or shorten entry bans and SIS records, even though the courts took a stricter view on the residence permit itself.
- There are also cases where LVAT remains very strict – in particular, where a client served for many years under contract in special units. In such situations we look for partial solutions (shortening the ban, opening the way to re-apply in the future).
If your situation is similar
A “national security threat” label does not mean the case is lost in advance. It is crucial to act in time, analyse the specific circumstances and prepare a clear, evidence-based strategy.
