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. 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).
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.
Official internet website of the Deprtment of Migration <http://www.migracija.lt/index.php?-1068915596>
Top 
