Mayor of Vilnius proposes not to extend residence permit to those who do not speak Lithuanian at an elementary level
According to Valdas Benkunskas, now is the time to decide on policy matters to avoid serious consequences in the future.
«Today we are at an important juncture: either we take ourselves in hand and introduce clear rules, or we let everything take its course and repeat the mistakes of other European countries», — said Benkunskas, writes Delfi.lt.
The mayor of the Lithuanian capital advocated for newcomers to have motivation to learn Lithuanian, and therefore proposes to link the issuance of a residence permit with language proficiency.
«I ask the Minister of Internal Affairs to initiate a requirement that temporary residence permits be extended only to those who speak Lithuanian at a level not lower than A2», — said the mayor.
The municipality has launched an online platform. It provides migrants with the opportunity to learn Lithuanian (they pay for the lessons themselves), the city only provides free spaces for teaching. Initial results showed great interest from foreigners — in less than a week, 15,000 users visited the platform, and almost 3,000 subscribed for updates.
«In 5 working days, we received inquiries from 600 foreigners who want to participate in the language teaching program. I would say this is a good result. And the process has only just begun», — the mayor rejoiced.
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