The foreigner (non-EU national) who intends to work legally in Lithuania must obtain a work permit and a national visa D.

The foreigner who wishes to work in Lithuania should first find an employer, a Lithuanian company that would like to hire him/ her. Once finding an employer, the foreigner should apply for a work permit in the Republic of Lithuania and national visa D.

HOW TO APPLY:

Before submission of the documents for the work permit in Lithuania to be issued, the Lithuanian Employment Service (Lith. Užimtumo tarnyba) must register a vacant position in the Lithuanian company. The employer applies for a vacancy to be registered.

A foreign national is released from an obligation to obtain a work permit if such foreigner:

1. has a temporary residence permit,
2. has a permanent residence permit;
3. applies for or the issue or renewal of a temporary residence permit;
4. is a foreign national subject to an intra-corporate transfer for a period of up to 90 days in any 180-day period to the host undertaking established in the Republic of Lithuania,
5. is a permanent employee of an undertaking established in an EU Member State or a European Free Trade Association State who is posted by the undertaking for temporary employment to the Republic of Lithuania and is covered by social insurance in that (Member) State;
6. enters the Republic of Lithuania for a period not exceeding three months per year for the purpose of arranging matters related to negotiations for the conclusion of a contract and performance of the contract, training of the staff or installation of the equipment;
7. enters the Republic of Lithuania to take up employment as a teacher or to conduct research and/or experimental development as a researcher under a contract of employment or a copyright agreement concluded with a higher education and research institution;
8. the foreigner enters the Republic of Lithuania to engage in lawful activities and is a participant of an undertaking which pursues in the Republic of Lithuania the activities specified in its documents of incorporation;
9. enters the Republic of Lithuania to take up employment and is a foreigner whose occupation is included in the List of Shortage Occupations in the Republic of Lithuania by type of economic activity,
10. the foreigner is a national of Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea who enters the Republic of Lithuania to take up employment or to pursue other lawful activities;
11. intends to take up highly qualified employment in an occupation included in the List of Shortage Occupations Requiring Higher Professional Qualifications in the Republic of Lithuania or presents the employer’s binding offer to pay him/her a monthly wage not less than 3 amounts of average gross monthly earnings in the whole economy in the quarter most recently published by Statistics Lithuania.

The following basic requirements are set for a foreigner who intends to work in Lithuania:

• the foreigner who intends to work in Lithuania must have a qualification in an appropriate area, the qualification supporting documents (certificates on completion of courses, seminars, practical training, diplomas, etc.);
• the foreigner must have at least 1 year of work experience within the last 2 years in an appropriate area and the supporting documents.

In order to employ a foreigner under the employment contract, the following documents must be submitted to the Employment Service: 

• an application;
• a copy of the passport;
• the employer’s information on the foreigner’s qualification and at least one year of working experience according to his/her qualification within the last two years (the employer’s letter must contain the foreigner’s qualification, current and former workplaces, wherein the foreigner has worked in accordance with his/her qualification during the last 2 years, duration of working therein, and the job title);
• an obligation to employ the foreigner under the employment contract for a period not shorter than 6 (six) months and to pay the average wage of employees, provided the company has more employees doing the same job, for which the foreigner is trying to obtain a work permit;
• a copy of the payment order or a receipt for the issue of work permit.

Documents must be provided in Lithuanian. Foreign documents must be legalized or certified with an Apostille in accordance with the established procedure, unless otherwise provided for by other legislation. The translation into Lithuanian of the documents drawn up not in Lithuanian must be confirmed by a signature of the translator. Copies of documents must be approved by a signature and stamp of the head of the company.

TIMING

• Time limits for the issuance of a work permit in Lithuania: up to 7 working days.
• After obtaining of a work permit in Lithuania, documents for the issue of a national visa D should be submitted. Time limits for the issuance of a national visa D: up to 15 days.

A foreign national is issued a work permit for the duration of his/her legal stay in the Republic of Lithuania which may not exceed the expiration date of the national visa. National visa D is issued for a period of up to 12 months. After expiry of this twelve-month period, a foreigner may apply for a renewal of national visa D.

• Time limits for the issuance of a work permit and national visa D: 6-8 weeks

Fees to be paid to the local authorities (amount in EUR per person):

• For a work permit of up to 1 year: EUR 121,
• For a work permit of up to 2 years: EUR 150.

A temporary residence permit can be issued on the following grounds:

• family reunification;
• work;
• research;
• lawful activities;
• other.

A temporary residence permit is usually issued for 1, 2 or 3 years, but may be issued for a shorter period.

HOW TO APPLY:

First, an application to issue (renew) a temporary residence permit should be filed electronically via the system, and attach digital copies of relevant documents. Having filed the application and booked the time for a visit via the system, the applicant must personally apply for issuance (renewal) of a temporary residence permit and provide his/her biometric data as well as originals of the documents. The applicant must arrive at the territorial branch of the Migration Department for issuance (renewal) of a temporary residence permit.

A foreigner is charged a state duty of EUR 120 (EUR 240 for a fast-track examining) for accepting, examining of an application for issuance (renewal) of a temporary residence permit, deciding the matter, and issuance of a temporary residence permit, except where a foreigner is exempt from paying the state duty by law.

The list of documents to be provided depends on the grounds for issuance of a temporary residence permit. This is a preliminary list of documents:

• the application (to be filed via the Lithuanian Migration Information System);
• a valid travel document;
• documents supporting the issue of a residence permit;
• the document evidencing sufficient means of subsistence (the means of subsistence amount to 1 minimum monthly salary, i.e., EUR 730 (gross) (or 0.5 minimum monthly salary for students or minors) per month. The amount of available funds should be sufficient for the entire period of the requested temporary residence permit or at least for one year);
• the document evidencing a place of residence. If a foreigner applies for his/her first permit to reside in the Republic of Lithuania, he/she may select the manner in which to declare the place of residence:

1. 1. 1. at the Migration Department where the foreigner arrives at the pre-arranged time to submit the application for issue a residence permit, and also submit the original documents and his/her biometric data;
      2. at the sub-municipal territorial executive unit (Lith. seniūnija) or municipality within 1 month from collecting the residence permit.

• a (non)conviction certificate. It is required when applying for the first temporary residence permit and only if the foreign national is older than 14 years of age.
• a health insurance document.

Foreign documents (except for the passport) must be legalized or certified with an Apostille (unless they are issued in Estonia, Russia, Latvia, Moldova, and Ukraine), and translated into Lithuania.

TIMING

A foreigner’s application for the issue of a temporary residence permit must be examined not later than within 4 months from the lodging of an application in the ordinary manner, and not later than within 2 months from the lodging of an application in the fast-track (expedite) manner. In case of certain grounds, a temporary residence permit may be issued faster, e.g., on the grounds of studies, a blue card. A decision concerning a renewal of the temporary residence permit must be adopted, and the temporary residence permit renewed: not later than within 2 months from the lodging of an application in the ordinary manner; not later than within 1 month from the lodging of an application in the fast-track (expedite) manner.

BLUE CARD may be issued to highly qualified specialists only. The foreigner should have evidence of his/her high qualification. Such evidence issued in a foreign state should be recognized in Lithuania. If the foreigner applies for BLUE CARD, the agreed salary to be paid to the foreigner by the Lithuanian enterprise should be no less than 1.5 or 3 average gross monthly salaries of employees in the sector of national economy according to the recent data published by Lithuanian Department of Statistics. The approximate amounts range between EUR 2,256.15 to EUR 4,512.3 (gross).

If the agreed salary to be paid to the employee by the Lithuanian enterprise is no less than 1.5 average gross monthly salaries of employees in the sector of national economy according to the recent data published by Lithuanian Department of Statistics, the following should take place:

• an application should be lodged to the Lithuanian Employment Service for issue of a decision on conformity of the high professional qualification of the employee to the needs of the labour market of Lithuania;
• a vacancy at the Lithuanian enterprise that plans to engage the employee should be registered by the enterprise in question, and a search for an employee in Lithuania should be carried out,
• if another likely candidate is not found within 5 working days, the employee may submit the documents for issue of the above-mentioned decision to the Lithuanian Employment Service;
• the diploma of higher education issued to the employee in a foreign state should pass the procedure of recognition (which could take about a month);
• when the said decision is obtained, the employee of employer should apply to competent institutions for issue of a residence permit. The BLUE CARD is issued to the employee.

If the agreed salary to be paid to the employee by the Lithuanian enterprise is no less than 3 average gross monthly salaries of employees in the sector of national economy according to the recent data published by Lithuanian Department of Statistics, the simplified procedures of issue of the documents which grant the employee the right to work and reside in Lithuania are applied. The procedure related to the Lithuanian Employment Service is excluded, and the employee applies directly to the Migration Department. The BLUE CARD is issued to the employee.

BLUE CARD Usually remains in effect in Lithuania for up to 3 years, and its extension is possible.

Ukrainian nationals, their family members and stateless persons residing in Ukraine who left Ukraine for the Republic of Lithuania due to military actions committed by the Russian Federation in the territory of Ukraine are released from the obligation to obtain a document permitting to work in Lithuania. Enterprises intending to employ such persons are not required to apply to the Lithuanian Employment Service for a work permit and/or decisions on occupational fitness.

The following should be noted:

• having registered with the Migration Department, a Ukrainian national may be employed immediately without waiting for a temporary residence permit;
• a Ukrainian national with a biometric passport may be employed immediately upon arrival, and no visas is required;

Ukrainian nationals holding biometric passports are subject to a visa-free regime (90 days out of 180 days).

Visas will not be issued to the Ukrainian nationals who do not have valid foreign passports, but applications of such foreigners for temporary residence permits for humanitarian reasons will be accepted.