Over 16,000 foreigners declared at a single dormitory in Šiauliai

A single dormitory in Šiauliai has more than 16,000 foreigners officially registered as residents, according to an investigation by LRT. Most of these individuals likely no longer live in the dormitory—or even in Šiauliai—but remain in the city’s official population statistics.

Neither the Šiauliai authorities nor the business that accommodates thousands of foreigners see any issue with the situation. On the contrary, the declared residents help Šiauliai maintain its status as a major city.

The dormitory, located in the city center, has a declared population exceeding 16,000—roughly one-seventh of Šiauliai’s total registered residents. The discrepancy was discovered when officials noticed the city’s population growing in records, yet the number of taxpaying residents remained stagnant. Normally, only around 300 people are present in the building on any given day, primarily long-haul drivers. Some stay for a few months, others longer.

“We feel like this is our second home. Wages in our country are very low, so we come here to work,” said one foreign resident. Another added, “We stay here for a couple of weeks, then go back to work. After my trips, I’ll return to India.”

The building is owned by Vilnius University but was leased to a business five years ago. There is no suspicion that thousands of foreigners could be living there. Renata Bilbokaitė, head of Vilnius University’s Šiauliai Academy, stated, “We started looking into how this could have happened without Vilnius University’s knowledge. According to our lawyers and the contract we signed with the businessman, such a possibility was certainly not foreseen.”

Gintautas Milašauskas, head of the company Cryptotekas that rented the dormitory, claims to see no problems. “Well, there are laws that a person must be registered. People look for where to register—foreigners must be declared, otherwise they face administrative liability, so they look for where to register. I don’t need them. I don’t know, maybe the municipality will lose those people. Imagine if Šiauliai’s population decreases by 16,000—maybe we’ll lose our status as a major city or something else,” he said.

According to Martynas Šiurkus, an opposition member of the Šiauliai City Council, this situation may have arisen from the city authorities seeking financial benefit. Šiauliai currently claims to have around 120,000 residents, though the actual number may be significantly lower.

“If we only counted Lithuanian citizens actually living in Šiauliai, we would have a lower mayor’s salary and fewer city council members, because there aren’t even 100,000 residents in Šiauliai. But when we hide behind the number of registered residents, everything seems fine—we can boast that we are growing,” Šiurkus noted.

The municipality is responsible for the declaration of residential addresses. City authorities state that foreigners can only be deregistered upon the owner’s request. “We will talk to Vilnius University. As the owners of the dormitory in question, they can cancel all registrations and terminate the lease agreement if they wish. We would accept such a request from them. Undoubtedly, there is a possibility that three parties are in a grey zone: the legal entity providing accommodation services, Vilnius University, and the Šiauliai City Municipality,” said Šiauliai Vice Mayor Justinas Švėgžda.

The Migration Department sees no violation. Similar cases exist elsewhere in the country, with municipalities responsible for more accurately accounting for their residents.