How to immigrate to Lithuania

This Baltic state has been witnessing a phenomenal growth over past few years and is reckoned as one of the most rapidly prospering economies of EU. Although this destination is yet so popular with Indians, but nevertheless many Indian migration aspirations have started realizing benefits of emigrating to this relatively young economy with a lot of potential for development.

Process of immigration to this country starts with filing for provisional residence permission – TRP. TRP enables a foreign citizen (Non-EU citizens) to reside in Lithuania on provisional basis for a term specified on visa document or one year.

Procuring a Lithuanian TRP is quite easy as compared to other EU nations as you do not need to possess considerable work exposure or any specific trade qualifications to be eligible for TRP. But it is desired in general that you must have a good academic record and qualifications along with appropriate linguistic skills in English.

As per section 40 of statutes on legal standing of foreigners in Lithuania TRP is usually awarded in cases where a foreign citizen          

  • Continues to maintain eligibility for citizenship of Lithuania (section 41)
  • Wishes to reunite with family (section43)
  • Gain employment in the country (section 44)
  • Wishes to establish business in legal and permitted activities (section 45)
  • Aims undertake an academic course in Lithuania (section 46)
  • Is under guardianship (section 47)
  • Has been an affected party in human trafficking racket and is assisting authorities in ongoing investigations or in battling menace of human trafficking (Para1 of section 49)
  • Wishes to conduct scientific research (Para 2 of section 49)
  • Is under secondary or provisional protecting in Lithuania
  • Is not able to leave country on basis of health issues
  • Cannot be expatriated from Lithuania

It is essential here that a migrant must obtain a residence permission before entering the country. Permission is granted by migration department functioning under Ministry of interior. It usually takes upto a maximum of

  • 6 months for processing and deciding on a TRP request
  • 4 months in case you hold a long tenure residential permission of another EU member

Renewal of TRP must be filed atleast 60 days (maximum upto 120 days in advance) before the expiry of provisional visa. The decision to renew the provisional permission is awarded with 2 months of filing such a request. It must be clearly understood here that failure to use the permission within 3 months of grant or renewal of TRP results in invalidation of issued permission.

A migrant can advance to file for permanent residence permission (PRP) beyond 5 years of uninterrupted residence in Lithuania. Renewable PPR is awarded for a period of 5 years.  There are certain preliminaries that a migrant must fulfil while requesting for a PR including substantiating

  • Linguistic skills in Lithuanian Language
  • Confirming to Schengen border entry norms
  • Financial credentials to finance residence in Lithuania etc.