Business immigrant stories

Artiomas Smirnovas

Lithuania welcomes foreigners without hesitation: A. Smirnova was pushed out of the Town Hall Square to Naujininkai

Artiomas Smirnovas is a Russian who defended his doctoral thesis in physics and now lives in Lithuania with his family and owns an IT company. In other words, exactly the kind that Lithuania seems to be waiting for with open arms - a young specialist who regularly pays taxes and has already put down roots here. But the Lithuanian authorities have so far only put sticks in the wheels, instead of helping him to settle down.

"A young business is like a small seedling - you need to not stop it from growing. You don't need to peel him from the soil, he only needs the best," Artiomas Smirnovas, who has been living in Lithuania with his wife and daughter since 2012, told 15min.

However, the Lithuanian authorities seem to be tearing his business from the ground. A. Smirnov has not packed his bags yet, but some of his acquaintances have already done so. The businessman interviewed for 15 minutes, who once rented an apartment near the Town Hall Square, moved to Naujininkai, and now to Belmont.

Oleksii Iarotskyi

About the life of a Ukrainian in Lithuania, the business he created.

For Ukrainian citizens, Lithuania is one of the most popular countries to work and live. It is officially stated that there are already 30 thousand Ukrainians in our country, and unofficially - even more.

Ukrainian Aleksei Jarockis has been living in Lithuania for five years, he likes it here, he has created a business here.

According to the guest, the standard of living here is higher than in Ukraine, although taxes are high, but everything is developing much more efficiently than in his homeland.

He also pointed out that the majority of Lithuanians view the Russian language as the language of the country's aggressor, i.e. negatively.