Too many: Lithuania freezes new work applications from Central Asia

Lithuania’s Migration Department confirmed that it had stopped accepting new work applications through its external service centres in Central Asia after receiving an overwhelmingly large number of requests, according to LRT.

«We see a sharp increase in arrivals from Central Asia recently,» Migration Department chief Indre Gaspere told LRT. The media outlet reported that the authorities have now suspended the relevant overseas service centres, as they were receiving «very large volumes of employment applications».

Gaspere said applications were no longer being processed through those centres as Lithuania was working to «manage expectations among both employers and prospective workers.»

LRT cited the Migration Department as saying that some 13,000 Uzbek and 7,400 Tajik citizens worked in Lithuania on valid residence permits.

Kursiv Uzbekistan understood that the suspension does not mean Central Asians with legal status to live or work in Lithuania are being forced to leave.

Broader context: 1.4m Uzbeks work abroad as migration spreads beyond Russia

Lithuania runs out of foreign-worker jobs

The surge comes as Lithuania’s overall foreign-worker system is already under strain. By the end of July, Lithuania had nearly depleted its 2026 employment quota of 24,706 positions, months before the end of the year. By the end of July, employers had filled 20,731 job openings and were still reviewing an additional 4,573 applications.

Once the quota is depleted, employers can generally hire new third-country workers only under more stringent conditions, such as paying at least €2,893.68 gross per month or placing them in designated high-value shortage occupations.

There are more than 168,000 workers from non-EU countries in Lithuania, about half of them working in transport, a fifth in construction and about a tenth in manufacturing, LRT reported. Lithuania’s labour shortages make foreign recruitment unavoidable, employers say.

Read more: Central Europe tightens migration policies as Austria opens talks with Uzbekistan

For Central Asian workers, Lithuania’s pause coincides with a broader shift in migration routes. Around 258,000 Uzbek citizens now work in Europe, while work-related arrivals from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan to Russia fell by approximately 15% in the first half of 2026.