Lithuanian citizenship is a permanent legal relationship of a person with The Republic of Lithuania, based on mutual rights and obligations.
Lithuanian Citizenship is acquired by:
1. birth;
2. citizenship restoration;
3. being granted Lithuanian citizenship.
Reinstatement of Lithuanian Citizenship While Renouncing the Current Citizenship
The persons who held Lithuanian citizenship prior to 15 June 1940 and their descendants shall be able to reinstate Lithuanian citizenship if they are not citizens of a different state or they want to renounce their current citizenship.
Reinstatement of Lithuanian Citizenship While Retaining the Current Citizenship (Dual Citizenship)
The requirement to renounce citizenship of a different state is not applied to persons who can be citizens of both the Lithuania and a different state, in accordance with the Law on Lithuanian Citizenship article 7 subsections 2, 3, and 4, i.e.:
1. the person who was exiled from the occupied Republic of Lithuania prior to 11 March 1990 and has acquired citizenship of a different state;
2. the person who left Lithuania prior to 11 March 1990 and acquired citizenship of a different state;
3. the person who is a descendant of a person mentioned above.
Dual Citizenship in Lithuania can be Acquired by persons who:
gained Lithuanian citizenship and citizenship a different state by birth and are under 21 years of age;
gained a foreign citizenship by virtue of marriage to a citizen of a different state;
are under 21 years of age, provided they were adopted by a citizen (-s) of Lithuania before reaching 18 years of age and, as a result of the adoption, acquired Lithuanian citizenship;
are under 21 years of age, provided they, being citizens of Lithuania, were adopted by a citizen (-s) of a different state before reaching 18 years of age and, as a result of the adoption, acquired citizenship of that state;
acquired Lithuanian citizenship by way of exception while being a citizen of a different state;
acquired Lithuanian citizenship while having a refugee status in Lithuania.
FREE analysis of your options for obtaining Lithuanian citizenship
The lawyers of MIGRATION LAW CENTER offer a free legal analysis of your options for obtaining Lithuanian citizenship. To receive a detailed analysis, please complete an application form by clicking this link – FORM.
Following a thorough legal analysis of your options that would allow to obtain Lithuanian citizenship, our lawyers will provide you with a written response (analytical results) regarding your options of obtaining Lithuanian citizenship and further requirements as well as procedure processes.
Read more:
Lithuanian citizenship for exiled citizens. Dual citizenship in Lithuania.
Lithuanian citizenship can be acquired: by birth, by naturalization, by way of exception, by restoration of Lithuanian citizenship.
Acquisition of Lithuanian Citizenship of by Birth.
A child, both of whose parents are Lithuanian citizens, shall be a citizen of Lithuania regardless of whether he was born in the territory of Lithuania or beyond its borders.
A child adopted by a Lithuanian citizen (-s) shall become a Lithuanian citizen.
A child who is a Lithuanian citizen and who is adopted by a citizen (-s) of a different state retains the Lithuanian citizenship regardless if he acquired citizenship of a different state due to adoption.
A child born in the territory of Lithuania, whose parents are stateless persons habitually resident in Lithuania, shall acquire citizenship of Lithuania.
A child found in the territory of Lithuania, both of whose parents are unknown, shall be considered born in the territory of Lithuania and shall be a Lithuanian citizen, unless circumstances are disclosed whereupon the child would acquire a different status.
Naturalisation
A person can be granted Lithuanian citizenship if he:
1. Has been residing in the territory of Lithuania for the last 10 years;
2. Has the right to habitually reside in the territory of Lithuania;
3. Has passed the examination in the state language;
4. Has passed the examination in the basic provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania;
5. Has a legal source of income;
6. Is a stateless person or notifies in writing of his will to renounce citizenship of another state held by him;
7. Meets other requirements laid down in the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania.
Acquisition of Lithuanian Citizenship by Way of Exception
The citizenship is granted by the president of the Republic of Lithuania.
Restoration of Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania
A person who has lost Lithuanian citizenship may have it restored to him upon his application. The request for restoration of Lithuanian citizenship shall be submitted to the president of Lithuania through competent authorities.
The application is a certain type of form that must be completed in Lithuanian language. Other foreign language documents supporting the application must be translated into Lithuanian and certified by a translator. Copies of those documents must be certified by a notary. Documents issued by foreign countries must be legalized or come with an Apostille certificate, unless international agreements of the Republic of Lithuania and European Union law do not provide otherwise.
Renunciation of Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania
The right of a Lithuanian citizen to renounce citizenship may not be restricted.
A person's application for renunciation of Lithuanian citizenship shall be submitted to the Minister of the Interior or the institution authorised by him.
The application for renunciation of citizenship needs to be completed in Lithuanian language. Other foreign language documents supporting the application must be translated into Lithuanian and certified by a translator. Copies of those documents must be certified by a notary. Documents issued by foreign countries must be legalized or come with an Apostille certificate, unless international agreements of the Republic of Lithuania and European Union law do not provide otherwise.
Documents that support the application for renunciation of citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania:
1. Documents certifying Lithuanian citizenship;
2. Personal identification document issued by a foreign body (if such was issued);
3. Documents issued by competent foreign authorities stating that the person is a national of that state or shall acquire citizenship of that state after losing Lithuanian citizenship.
If you have any questions regarding Lithuanian citizenship or should you require more information or help, please contact us by e-mail: info@migration.lt or tel.: + 370 6 1861886. We will gladly help you.
A reinstatement of citizenship of Lithuania is a process of a obtaining of citizenship of Lithuania for a person in one of the available ways.
A citizenship of Lithuania may be reinstated for a person, if such a person was a citizen of Lithuania prior to 15 June 1940. In addition, a citizenship of Lithuania may be reinstated for descendants of persons who were citizens of Lithuania prior to 15 June 1940. This provision is applicable to three generations of descendants, i.e. to children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Dual (double) citizenship can be allowed in Lithuania in exceptional cases only.
The cases when dual citizenship is allowed in Lithuania include:
1. A person was deported from occupied Lithuania prior to 11 March 1990 or is a descendant (a child, a grandchild or a great-grandchild) of a person deported from occupied Lithuania prior to 11 March 1990;
The institute of the simplified procedure of granting the citizenship of Lithuania is applicable to persons of Lithuanian origin: it provides them a right to become citizens of Lithuania upon exclusion of the naturalization process. A person may apply for granting the citizenship of Lithuania according to the simplified procedure, if he (she) is of Lithuanian origin and has the relevant evidences. According to provisions of Lithuanian legal norms, a person of Lithuanian origin is considered a person whose parents and grandparents or at least one of them are or were Lithuanians, that believes to be a Lithuanian and declares the same by an affidavit.
A certificate of Lithuanian descent shall be issued to persons of Lithuanian origin. It is a document usable as an evidence of Lithuanian origin of the person that facilitates accessibility to granting the citizenship of Lithuania according to the simplified procedure or issue a Permanent (Temporarily) Residence Permit. If a person strives to be granted the citizenship of Lithuania according to the simplified procedure or issue a Permanent (Temporarily) Residence Permit on the base of his (her) Lithuanian origin, he (she) should prove to be of Lithuanian origin. If a person has a certificate of Lithuanian descent, the process of proving becomes considerably easier and the process of granting the citizenship of Lithuania or issue a Residence Permit becomes shorter.
A certificate certifying a right for reinstatement the citizenship of Lithuania is a document certifying the facts usable as a base for reinstatement of citizenship of Lithuania and provides a right for reinstatement of the citizenship of Lithuania to the person. The said document facilitates the process of reinstatement of citizenship of Lithuania and is issued for a termless period, so its bearer may apply for reinstatement of citizenship of Lithuania and use the document at any time.
If a person was a citizen of Lithuania and lost the Lithuanian citizenship, it may be restored. If a person acquired a citizenship of Lithuania at birth, or his (her) citizenship of Lithuania was restored or granted according to the simplified procedure, or the person acquired the citizenship of Lithuania according to the procedure of naturalization and then lost it for certain circumstances (such as acquisition of a citizenship of another state), such a person may apply for restoration of the lost citizenship of Lithuania.
If Lithuania is a place of lawful permanent residence of a person for over 10 years and such a person satisfies other requirements provided in legal norms, the person acquires a right to be granted the citizenship of Lithuania according to the procedure of naturalization.
Permanent residence of a person in the country means that the person resides in Lithuania without breaks for at least six months per year. If a person strives for recognition of his (her) residence in Lithuania permanent, such a person should not leave Lithuania for staying in another state for a period over six months.
The increasingly growing number of mixed families (where a husband or a wife of a citizen of Lithuania is an alien) as well as intensive emigration from Lithuania cause the problems of a citizenship of children, including the problem of dual citizenship, that become more and more important.
The legal norms of Lithuania regulate the problems of the citizenship of children on the base of filiation, i.e. a child acquires the citizenship of Lithuania by birth. Granting the citizenship of Lithuania by birth is the principal way for acquiring the citizenship of Lithuania.
In course of increasingly growing number of mixed families (when citizens of Lithuania get married with citizens of foreign states), the problem of a dual citizenship and the opportunities for acquiring the citizenship of Lithuania by a spouse of a citizen of Lithuania becomes important.
If a citizen of Lithuania registers a marriage with a citizen of a foreign state, the latter (husband or a wife of a citizen of Lithuania) may be granted the citizenship of Lithuania after 7 years of the permanent residence in Lithuania with the citizen of Lithuania.
Legal norms of Lithuania provide the possible cases of losing the citizenship of Lithuania by a person.
A person shall lose the citizenship of Lithuania:
1. If the person acquires the citizenship of another state and no circumstances provide him (her) a right for dual citizenship;
2. If the person renounces the citizenship of Lithuania;
Renouncing the citizenship of Lithuania is one of the ways of losing the citizenship of Lithuania.
Any citizen of Lithuania has a right to renounce the citizenship of Lithuania and this right should not be restricted, except of certain cases provided in laws.
The cases when renouncing the citizenship of Lithuania is impossible:
It is required that documents issued by institutions of foreign states or their copies should be legalized or certified by an Apostille prior to their submission to state institutions of Lithuania.
The procedure of legalization is more complicated. A document issued by an institution of a foreign state should be legalized in the foreign state and then in Lithuania. The process of certification of a document by an Apostille is simpler and shorter; however, certification of a document by an Apostille is not available in all states.
Both the process of acquisition of the citizenship of Lithuania and the process of obtaining a Residence Permit often starts from search and collection of the required data and documents. Usually, this process is bound with preparation of requests to archives of Lithuania. This initial phase is very important both for acquisition of the citizenship of Lithuania (its reinstatement, granting according to the simplified procedure etc.) and an issue a Residence Permit to a person (when the base of issue a Residence Permit is Lithuanian descent or a right of a person for reinstatement of the citizenship of Lithuania) and the further run of the process and its success depend on it.
A frequent problem arising on submission of an application for reinstatement or acquisition of citizenship of Lithuania is discrepancy between names n/or surnames in documents of the applicant and his father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, great-grandfather or great-grandmother. Sometimes, examination of the case may be suspended because of several different letters in a first name or a surname.
In certain cases, a person may lack some documents required for supporting the circumstances important in the process of reinstatement of the citizenship of Lithuania or its acquisition in other ways as well as in the process of issue a Residence Permit, such as the documents supporting the family connections, proving that a certain person (a citizen of Lithuania) was a father, a mother, a grandmother, a grandfather, a great-grandmother or a great-grandfather of an applicant. Or proving that persons mentioned in several documents whose first names and/or surnames differ are the same person.
Sometimes, extracts from a civil status record (such as related to birth, marriage, death etc.) required for the process of reinstatement of the citizenship of Lithuania or its acquisition in other ways as well as in the process of issue a Residence Permit is not available or is incorrect. For example, the first name or the surname of the father or mother of the person is not specified in the Certificate of Birth of the person or the entry is made unduly, so the person cannot prove the family connections, so he (she) cannot prove that his (her) father, mother, grandmother, grandfather, great-grandmother or great-grandfather was of Lithuanian origin or a citizen of Lithuania.
The grandmother of the applicant was of Jewish origin; she was born in 1919 in Lithuania and was the citizenship of Lithuania prior to 15 June 1940. The grandmother of the person left Lithuania in 1938 because of suspicion of the forthcoming World War II and possible dangers bound with it, such as anti-Semitism and hard situation of Jews in Lithuania. The person applied for reinstatement of the citizenship of Lithuania upon preservation of the current citizenship of Slovenia. After examination of the submitted documents, the Migration Department of Lithuania passed a positive decision on a reinstatement of the citizenship of Lithuania upon preservation of the current citizenship (a dual citizenship).