Almost 250,000 Lithuanians have applied to stay in the UK after the July 1 deadline set in the Brexit agreement, Lithuania’s national television LRT reports.

Lithuanian Ambassador to the UK Renatas Norkys says the existing figure includes people who applied by the middle of April and is expected to further growth. Meanwhile, under the official UK statistics, only around 150,000 Lithuanians live in the country.

At least 175,000 Lithuanians have been granted settles status, having resided in the country for five years, and another 50,000 Lithuanian citizens have received pre-settled status, meaning that they will need to register once again once they reach the five-year mark.

British institutions have considered a total of around 5.6 million applications from EU citizens to remain in the country and did not expect the number to be that high, Norkus said.

EU citizens living in the UK are required to register by July 1. Otherwise, they will lose the rights defined in the UK’s agreements with the EU.

en.delfi.lt