Žilvinas Širvinskas, 43, from Kaunas, named his temporary home, where he will live until Saturday, if weather conditions and health permit, “5-star hotel for Lithuanians who have lost their citizenship”.
Although he was born, grew up in Lithuania and returned from emigration almost a decade ago, he only recently found out that he had lost his citizenship and was living here illegally.
“Tent towns are not only temporary homes, but also the only shelter for those who lose them.” This is exactly the feeling you get when you find out that you have lost the citizenship of your homeland”, said the man, who did not hide his disappointment.
Žilvinas was born and grew up in Kaunas. He lived here almost until adulthood. When he turned 17, his parents immigrated to Canada for economic reasons. He took his son with him. In Canada, the man finished school, studied, helped his parents with work, and later became a real estate agent.
However, it was not possible to fit in abroad – in 2015, the man decided that it was time to return home. As he himself said, he was always fascinated by the stories of partisans and other Lithuanian heroes, so the house had been attracting him for some time.
“I lived there for half of my life, but I decided to return in the name of the rebels and partisans. A lot of blood has been spilled here. It seems to me that Lithuania was built ideologically, we regained independence and only people make it stronger, not institutions. I didn’t come back for financial incentives, normally I really shouldn’t live in a tent”, – to the portal lrytas.lt said Žilvinas.
After returning to Lithuania in 2015, the man renewed his passport, started a family, and started developing a business. There were a lot of difficulties because, as he assured, the Lithuanian legal base is much more complicated, bureaucratic mechanisms are everywhere.
“Economically, it is not easy to create a life here, even though Lithuania is a great country,” remarked the Kaunian.
At the end of 2023, while renewing his business permit in the State Tax Inspectorate system, Žilvinas heard news that shocked him – he is not a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania and lives here illegally.
“I got a message that I don’t have status, so I can’t renew my business license. I returned to Lithuania in 2015, and on November 8, 2023, by order of Agnes Bilotaitė, my citizenship was revoked. They say that I lost her, but I would say that she was taken from me,” said the man.
He lost his citizenship because he still has a Canadian passport, which our laws do not allow. Žilvinas also does not fall under any of the exceptions of the Law on Citizenship that allow holding more than one citizenship.
It is true that the man testified that in 2015, when he renewed the passport of a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania upon his return, he had informed the employees of the Migration Department that he also had Canadian citizenship, but no one noticed this, and a new Lithuanian document was issued to the man from Kaunas a few weeks later.
Žilvinas does not want to give up his Canadian citizenship, at least for now, because he is not sure how his life will turn out here, or whether he will not be able to return.
In addition, his son is growing up in Canada, so he needs a passport from this country to visit him.
“It hurts a lot. It happens in life that you only realize what you have lost after losing. It happened to me too. After the loss, I realized how painful it was, I cried, I doubted who I am. I had to check in my heart, am I still Lithuanian? How strange. Such feelings flooded in, as if a mother had rejected her child,” Žilvinas sighed.
He wondered why Lithuania, which is increasingly disappearing, does not show love to its compatriots returning home, although it publicly encourages emigrants to come and live in their homeland.
“I am raising a young child born in Lithuania, I have real estate here, I have put down roots here. They didn’t even warn me that they took away my citizenship, and they made me illegal,” said the Kaunian.
It is true that in the explanation sent to the man by the Migration Department as to why he lost his Lithuanian citizenship and was not informed about it, it is claimed that this message was sent to him on November 13, 2023 by e-mail, which he himself had previously submitted, but he did not see it because it was a long time ago no longer in use.
The Migration Department also stated in the letter that Žilvinas, when renewing the passport of a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, did not submit a document confirming the date of acquisition of Canadian citizenship. Back in 2016, the department sent a letter to the man, urging him to do so, but when he did not receive such a document, he sent the Ministry of the Interior a proposal to revoke his citizenship, because he is also a Canadian citizen, so in November 2023, Minister A. Bilotaitė accepted this proposal and signed it.
Finally, a couple of days ago, the man managed to get a temporary five-year residence permit in Lithuania as a foreign citizen. “I became legal only two days ago,” Žilvinas grimly smiled.
“What is even more absurd is that they changed my name as well.” I was born as Žilvin Širvinskas, and now I am Zilvin Sirvinskas, because that is what is written on my Canadian passport. “Lithuania is lost, out of touch with reality,” the man complained.
He said he was unpleasantly surprised when he learned that over a thousand persons born here lose their Lithuanian citizenship every year.
It was on Tuesday that the presidential elections began, in which all citizens participate together in the referendum on the amendment of the Constitution, which would allow Lithuanians who have acquired the citizenship of another country to retain their Lithuanian citizenship.
“I talked to many people, I was in the Seimas, and I realized that the referendum has been announced, but there is no driving force behind it. It will happen, it won’t happen – politicians are not interested. Look at how many people have left – hundreds of thousands, multiply by their spouses and children, it will be a very large number. For some of them, it is really relevant to have two citizenships so that they can return.
But look at that ballot, the people who get that paper in their hands won’t even understand what they are voting for,” criticized Žilvinas.
In the tent in front of the windows of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the man intends to hide until the weekend. True, he only spends days here, because the nights are cold, the air temperature reaches only a few degrees of heat.
“I hope that some street musicians will come and play so that it won’t be so sad,” said the Kaunian.
Tags: chance citizenship revoked
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