Katelynas has VSAT candidate and plans changes to foreign worker quotas

Lithuania’s Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas has selected a candidate to lead the State Border Guard Service (VSAT), but will disclose the person’s name only after all required checks are completed, LRT reported.

“I have a candidate, I just have not announced it publicly. When I see the need, when all the checks have been completed and I can inform the public and you, I will certainly do so at the very first opportunity,” Katelynas told reporters on Monday.

He did not specify when a new VSAT commander would be appointed, saying this would happen once he had received all the answers from the checks.

Katelynas said in August that, if reports of an incident involving border guards and migrants near the Belarusian border were confirmed, he would no longer see a possibility for then-VSAT commander Rustamas Liubajevas to remain in office.

According to information reported by the Lrytas news portal, one Lithuanian officer was assaulted during the incident in Lazdijai district after migrants emerged from a tunnel. One of the border guards was also allegedly dragged towards Belarus, but managed to free himself.

On August 17, the minister announced that Liubajevas had decided to step down. Liubajevas wrote on VSAT’s Facebook account that he had made the decision in response to doubts expressed publicly about the service and out of a sense of responsibility for both the institution’s successes and failures.

Liubajevas was first appointed VSAT commander in 2019, when he was also granted the rank of general. He was appointed to a second term in 2024.

Minister calls quota system ineffective

Katelynas also said Lithuania’s system for setting quotas on foreign nationals’ employment was not working and that broader changes should be considered.

“I have to acknowledge that the quota system is not working and that we should consider broader changes. I am already thinking about them, and an option is being prepared,” he said at a press conference.

The minister did not disclose what proposal was being prepared or say whether the quota system should be abolished. He said he hoped to discuss the issue in more detail in the near future.

According to the Social Security and Labour Ministry, Lithuania approved an employment quota of 24,700 foreign nationals in 2026. This represented 0.9% of the country’s permanent resident population, which stood at 2.9 million on July 1, 2025, according to the State Data Agency.

The quota is set based on labour market monitoring by the Employment Service, an assessment of labour market conditions and forecasts of future changes.

Once the quota has been reached, a temporary residence permit for employment may still be issued if the foreign national’s salary is at least 1.2 times the average gross wage, or at least equal to the average gross wage if the job is in a high-value-added profession.

Lithuania used up its foreign employment quota in July. Transport and haulage representatives said about 10,000 drivers could be left without jobs as a result.

The International Transport and Logistics Alliance estimated that Lithuania could lose about 650 million euros in export revenues and 85 million euros in employment-related tax revenue.