Lithuania Closes Visa Centers in Four Countries Over Terrorism Concerns

Lithuania's Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas announced on Wednesday a decision to close visa centers operated by an outsourcing provider in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. The minister shared the announcement on Facebook.

These centers allowed foreign nationals to submit applications for visas and residence permits, acting as intermediaries between applicants and Lithuanian authorities that would then initiate migration procedures.

Reasoning behind the decision

Katelynas said the decision followed warnings from Lithuania's State Security Department about potential terrorism threats. According to the minister, the security service has already identified individuals arriving from Central Asia who hold radical views or have ties to terrorism.

The minister stressed that the state cannot afford to wait until a potential risk turns into an actual incident, and that he made the decision immediately after assessing the security risks. He also announced that no new outsourced application centers will be opened in these countries going forward.

Katelynas explained that it is the state's duty to act preventively rather than only respond once threats become unavoidable.