Temporary residence permit, or Lithuania-country of new opportunities

More and more frequently, the citizens of ex-CIS and other third states explore the possibilities of obtaining temporary residence permit in countries that belong to Schengen zone. One of Schengen zone Member States is Lithuania. Lithuania - country on the Baltic Sea coast, belongs to the European Union and has neighbouring borders with Russian Federation, Belarus, Poland and Latvia.

In the article here below we will discuss, what are housing and residence conditions to foreigners in our country, what legal acts govern the granting of the residence permits.

Why people more and more frequently choose Lithuania as their location of living?

Tax system in after-crisis period is considered as one of main objectives when choosing place for living. Lithuanian taxing system is one of most favourable: here it is easy to set up a company, run and develop own business, create improvements of special needs of own activity. In our country there are ones of smallest business taxes in comparison with these of other countries. In case of money shortages, you may go to the bank or companies that run finance, providing or render assistance in searching for funding sources and are leaders in this service sector (e.g., UAB „LDK group“, www.bon.lt). Taking advantage of their professional help will allow you to have your business (company) free of troubles in the future. Another important thing, that is considered by the people, when choosing the place of residence – it is the assurance of security. The Republic of Lithuania has high level of jurisdiction development and there anybody may feel as being safe and confident. Insurance market is positioned among high standards, and it makes available protection against existing business management, real estate and other possible risks. Regarding the education, Lithuania may propose large variety of sciences that are useful and worth to be studied. Besides economics, as one of most popularly chosen domains of studies, there are also management and law sciences. In case you become willing to improve your knowledge, then all educational institutions are ready to provide you with full scale of knowledge basis.

Geographically the Republic of Lithuania itself is the very centre of Europe, strategically it is in convenient location, the sea is in just neighbourhood, and consequently, the sea harbour infrastructure is well developed. When considering communications, in our country there are also three airports, the roads here have been repaired recently using European Union funds that is why Lithuania is a very attractive country. Because this state is relatively young and its territory is not big territory, all new ideas brought there from abroad are accepted benevolently, and that provides the possibility to develop own business freely and without legal restrictions.

What is to be done when willing to settle in Lithuania?

It is possible to shortly answer this question – it is needed to obtain temporary residence permit.

The permit of residence in Lithuania (further – temporary residence permit) – is the document, that provides an alien the right to live in the Republic of Lithuania during certain period of time, as referred to therein. The foreigner may choose his location of residence in the Republic of Lithuania, change it, travel outside of the Republic of Lithuania and return back here during the residence permit validity period.[1] After acquiring the temporary residence permit, the foreigner obtains right to all social security benefits (e.g. health insurance, sickness and motherhood social security insurance, industrial work accidents and professional diseases social security, right to live and work in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, to apply for loans etc.) This kind of permit is being issued to foreigners that are not citizens of European Union Member Countries.

Currently there are twelve possibilities of acquiring temporary residence permit. Their more extended description is in Art. 40 - „Who qualifies for the temporary residence permit’’ (see the reference below)[2]. Among all existing possibilities, one may be distinguished, that is tested by time and is in highest demand – it is setting up of companies, starting new business ventures. To the foreigner, who declares his desire to obtain temporary residence permit, it is suggested to set up a closed stock company („CSC“, or further „UAB“), that is one of mostly popular of business organisation forms in Lithuania. The details of closed stock company incorporation procedures are described in the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, there it is stated, that minimum authorized capital of UAB shall be 10 thousand litas (LTL) and there are no its further restrictions. For example, in Latvia minimum authorized capital shall be 25 thousand lats (LVL) (that is, 100 thousand litas), and meanwhile, in Lithuania it is 10 times less. It is necessary to deposit the authorized capital when setting up a company as new formation, nevertheless there is a possibility to invest capital in the company that has been existing (already formed), see www.bon.lt for more information.

One of UAB shareholders may become its Director, and, after being appointed by the general meeting of the shareholders, henceforth he shall become Head of Company, who shall be handling all UAB matters, related to its financial, legal and other kinds of responsibilities. Number of shareholders of UAB shall be at least one natural person, maximum number of the shareholders can be 249 natural persons. One of the biggest advantages of closed stock company is thing that the shareholders are liable for the company in only the amount that is within the limits of the company assets.

Establishing of companies is a procedure short enough, it may take maximum 10 working days. The time needed in order to set up a company depends on what is desire of company-seeking person: 1) to acquire the already established UAB or 2 to set up it by him. The first of these options takes maximum 5 days. After starting its activity, the company shall be obliged to pay monthly all industrial relations-pertinent taxes, that shall be minimum 439,84 LTL on salary, since July 2012; all other taxes shall depend on company specific activity.

All questions that are related to temporary residence permit shall be considered within 3 to 6 months. It is not cleared up precisely, what predetermines the duration of this considering, meanwhile on the basis of long time accumulated experience it is possible to maintain, that many things depend on what are documents available and how they have been submitted to the Migration Board. It is important to describe business activity in precise and detail specifying way, future plans, and the necessity of shareholders staying in Lithuania. In summary, we may assure that Lithuania is country of new opportunities. All legal and political nuances that may be related with temporary residence permit are favourable to foreigners, who are willing to run activity and develop their new ideas in this country. Therefore, in comparison with other countries of European Union, there are no major obstacles in order to turn Lithuania into your place of permanent residence.

[1] Official internet website of the Deprtment of Migration



[2] Official internet website of the Deprtment of Migration: