VILNIUS - A lawmaker and the Migration Department's director say they agree that same-sex marriages registered abroad can serve as a basis for foreign spouses to reside lawfully in Lithuania, but underline that this would not grant them any other rights.

Valerijus Simulikas, chairman of the parliament's Committee on Human Rights, and Evelina Gudzinskaite, the department's director, stated the position before the Constitutional Court on Thursday.

"The right to live in the country does not, in itself, grant other rights under other laws," Gudzinskaite told the court. "There must be a strict separation."

The Constitutional Court is hearing a case referred to it by the Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court, which examines an appeal filed by a foreigner, who married a Lithuanian citizen of the same sex in Denmark three years ago, against the Migration Department's decision to refuse him a residence permit.

The court is looking at whether a marriage or partnership registered abroad can be the basis for issuing a temporary residence permit in Lithuania if one of the spouses or partners holds such a permit.

Homosexuals married abroad have until now had no legal right to join their spouses living in Lithuania. The Migration Department has refused to issue residence permits to such people on the grounds that same-sex marriages and partnerships are not allowed in Lithuania. Read more via Baltic Times