refugee resettlement

Lithuania has promised to accept more than 1,000 refugees over the next two years but has barely received a handful of asylum seekers. Though it is not believed that they will start arriving by the hundred this year, the number of those interested in coming to Lithuania is increasing.

Refugees resettled in Lithuania have started looking for job, says the country's Labour Exchange which set up a special unit to work with them.

Lithuanian member of the European Parliament Petras Auštrevičius is sheltering a refugee family from Iraq for half a year, Lietuvos Žinios daily reports.

The European Commission's proposals to automatically relocate migrants to EU member states and impose financial sanctions for refusing to take them in do not contribute to solving the migrant crisis, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė said on Wednesday.

A Syrian family of five have arrived in Lithuania from Turkey under the European Union's (EU) resettlement programme.

A Syrian couple relocated to Lithuania under the EU's refugee relocation program have been granted refugee status.

An Iraqi family relocated to Lithuania under the EU's refugee relocation program have decided not to appeal a court ruling refusing to grant them refugee status.

A public activist group against the resettlement of refugees in Lithuania failed to collect a sufficient number of signatures to force the Seimas to consider repealing last autumn's decision to lay the groundwork for participation in the European Union's refugee resettlement program.

Lithuania will not support radical proposals for the overhaul of the refugee system as long as the European Union's borders aren't completely secured, said president Dalia Grybauskaitė.

A Vilnius court rejected a complaint on Tuesday that had been filed by an Iraqi migrant family, relocated to Lithuania under the EU's refugee resettlement program, over their legal status.

The Vilnius County Administrative Court is prepared to deliver its verdict on the appeal of the first Iraqi family to be transferred to Lithuania as part of the EU agreement on refugee resettlement.

Lithuania's Labour Party has issued a statement, saying that the country should not to accept any more refugees than it has already committed to.

Last week the first refugees from Syria settled in the Rukla refugee reception camp – 29-year-old painter and graphic designer Majd Kara and 27-year-old English teacher Mohammed Farah told of how they came to end up in Lithuania - a story about the refugee smuggling business.

Another refugee family maybe relocated to Lithuania shortly under the European Union's (EU) agreement, says Lithuania's Interior Vice-Minister Elvinas Jankevičius.

A rally organized in Vilnius this Saturday called for solidarity with refugees from war-stricken zones in the Middle East, while a similarly-sized counter-rally voiced concerns about a "clash of cultures" and security.

The European Union's response to Greece's requests for refugee relocation has been disappointing so far, Greek Ambassador to Lithuania Iraklis Asteriadis says.

Germany is having second thoughts about welcoming refugees and this will have effects throughout Europe, says Lithuanian political scientist Kęstutis Girnius.

Refugee resettlement to Lithuania is taking more time than anticipated because Greece and Italy are too slow in processing refugees, Vice-Chancellor of the government Rimantas Vaitkus told Žinių radijas.

Lithuania and the European Union is likely to fail to implement the refugee resettlement plan, says Government Vice-Chancellor Rimantas Vaitkus.