The Law on Citizenship allows emigrants to retain citizenship. Jewish and Polish minorities criticized the provisions because they create special conditions enabling "ethnic Lithuanian" emigrants to retain dual citizenship but do not allow this for local minorities when they "repatriate" to their "homeland" (for instance, Jews to Israel or Poles to Poland)

The law provides for the granting of refugee status or asylum to persons who meet the definition in the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement and granted refugee status and asylum. The Vilnius Administrative Court hears asylum appeals. The Court received assistance from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Government cooperated with the office of the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. The Law on Asylum Status provides that an asylum seeker coming from a safe country of transit may not enter the country. The right of an asylum seeker to appeal a decision denying entry into the country is limited. From January to June, 88 persons applied for refugee status, and 318 applied for residence permits on humanitarian grounds. The applicants came mostly from Chechnya, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. From 1997 to 2002, more than 1,500 asylum requests were filed; 64 persons received refugee status, and 476 persons received a residence permit on humanitarian grounds.

Irregular immigration continued to decrease due to improved border control, stricter laws against human smuggling, and more effective detention and return of migrants to their countries of origin.

In May, the Government signed a re-admission treaty with Russia (which was later ratified) and continued negotiating such an agreement with Belarus. There were a number of conflicts between refugees and asylum seekers and the local population during the year.

The Government also provides temporary protection to certain individuals who fall outside of the definition of the 1951 U.N. Convention Related to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol.