About Lithuania

The country of hills, waters and greenery - Lithuania is located on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. With some of the picturesque scenic beauty to witness, Lithuania is progressively emerging as an ideal destination to immigrate on account of its attractive geographical location and gateway to Europe. Lithuania offers temporary residence visa to experienced businessmen and entrepreneurs on fair eligibility conditions.

The largest and most densely inhabited out of the three Baltic States, Lithuania is attired with every fine grain required to make an idealistic immigration destination to work, study or reside on a permanent basis.

Talking about the country`s economy, the country experienced a steady progress since its independence in the year 1991. From budding employment options to augmented trades, the country is experiencing a tide of growth this particular era!

Immigrating 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 fulfill 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.

Temporary Residence Visa

It is essential for the applicant to know that no specific/minimum requirement/ work experience or qualification or significant part travel history is required to apply for the Lithuanian Temporary Residence Permit. But obvious preference would be given to applicants having good academic and professional qualifications over the other, hence providing them with that much needed upper hand. Additionally, being bedecked with ace English language skills would add chocolates in the already sweet pudding! Overall, underlying key eligibility factor is business experience and personal net worth of the applicant as also his proposed business plan that will help him in becoming a successful resident.

Basis on which your application may be refused:

• He is regarded as a threat to national security/ health/public policies of the country.
• The documents are not submitted in the right manner/ or submitted in a forged way.
• If Immigration office is not convinced of purpose and objective of the application or the likelihood of the applicant to succeed in Lithuania.

Further, as a holder of Lithuanian Temporary Residence Permit, the alien can apply for the Lithuanian Permanent Residence Permit after fulfilling certain mandates like clearing the Lithuanian language exam and maintaining his residence stay for first five years.

File the Application At Local Lithuanian Embassy/Consulate

Under this option, the application is prepared and filed at Local Lithuanian Embassy. The Embassy then forwards the application to Immigration Office in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Immigration office reverts with decision to the Embassy and the Embassy then let the applicant know about the decision. IF biometric facilities are not available at Local Embassy, the applicant may have to fly down to Vilnius to collect TRP Card. Overall application processing time could be around 6-12 months though normally "informed" application processing time frame is around 6 months.

The applicant can get the Lithuanian Permanent Residence Permit (PRP) after five years of continuous stay in the Lithuanian Republic and clearing the Lithuanian language exam. The language examination normally focuses on daily life used words and sentences and is limited in scope. The holder of Lithuanian Temporary Resident Permit (TRV) after getting Permanent Residence Permit (PRV) would be entitled with following advantages:

• With exception to vote in an election, standing in the same and join police force/army in Lithuania, the Permanent Resident Permit holders get all the rights entitled to a native Lithuanian citizen.
• Permanent Resident Holders are not required to get visa to travel amid nations that fall amid European Union and Schengen zone.
• Lithuanian PRP holders have the freedom to reside, get employment, study, do business, make investments and even buy property in any country that fall amid European Union and Schengen zone.
• Lithuanian PRP holders are permitted to get social aid for certain facets like raising children, unemployment, not able to work courtesy any accident, disability or paying rents.
• Holder of Permanent Resident Visa and their children have the right to avail free education (with the mandate that they should have Lithuanian as their language of study) at school and highly subsidized education at University level. All schools teach in English medium as well and higher education institutes have special English language sections.

Citizenship of Lithuania

The highest level of legal residence status is offered in the form of Lithuanian citizenship. The holder of Lithuanian Permanent Resident Permit gets a majority of rights given to a Lithuanian born native, yet avails the remaining under the Lithuanian Citizenship. Lithuanian citizenship and passport holders:

• Are permitted for Visa Free travel within nations that fall under EU and Schengen zone.
• Are not required to get visa to travel to various nations. Some of them include the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, to name a few.
• Are permitted to reside, gain employment, study, do business, invest and even buy property in any nation that fall under EU or Schengen zone.
• Have the right to give/ stand in vote. Additionally, they are entitled to join Lithuanian police force/Army.
• Have the right to get the Lithuanian identity card.

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