Lithuania has effectively exhausted its annual quota of 24,700 non-EU foreign workers for the year, the Migration Department said.
As of Thursday, approximately 4,100 slots remained unused, but 4,500 applications were under review. The department expects most of these applications to be approved.
The quota applies across all professions, job functions and business sectors.
According to the department, once the limit is reached, work-based temporary residence permits will only be issued if a foreigner's salary is at least 1.2 times the national average monthly gross wage, currently 2,893 euros
Alternatively, for those in high-value-added professions facing shortages in Lithuania, the salary must meet the average monthly gross wage, currently 2,411.4 euros.
Reaching the quota before the end of July was a blow to the logistics sector, the International Transport and Logistics Alliance (TTLA) told the Verslo Žinios business daily on Thursday.
The alliance said the quota is calculated using outdated data that does not reflect market realities.
TTLA warned that transport companies are likely to face challenges in maintaining current operations and may be unable to expand their activities as a result.
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