No more ‘born in Soviet Union’ record in Belgian documents for Baltic citizens

Thanks to efforts of the Lithuanian Embassy, an agreement was reached with the Belgian Foreign Ministry and the country’s National Register to review information about Lithuanian citizens residing in Belgium and change the records of their place of birth from “the Soviet Union” to “Lithuania”.

Although Belgium never recognized the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, under the country’s law, the National Register has to record the name of the country that existed during the time of birth. Up until now a temporary decision has been in place regarding Lithuanian citizens born before 1991 and only a city or territory where they were born, instead of the country (Soviet Union), were identified in documents issued by Belgium.

Not all Belgian municipalities have followed the recommendations, however.

The Belgian Foreign Affairs Ministry has now recommended the National Register to change the records on the place of birth of Baltic states’ citizens to Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia.