Temporary residence permit for an alien engaged in lawful activity – participant in a Lithuanian company
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Leidimas laikinai gyventi užsieniečiui, kuris užsiima ir ketina toliau užsiimti teisėta veikla (Įstatymo „Dėl užsieniečių teisinės padėties“ 45 straipsnio 1 dalies 1 punktas) as of 2026-07-01[3] Lithuania does not brand these permits. Art. 45(1) is headed 'Issue of a temporary residence permit to an alien who engages and intends to continue to engage in lawful activity'; the string recorded is the statutory description of clause 1, not a programme name. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Temporary residence permit for an alien engaged in lawful activity – participant in a Lithuanian company as of 2026-07-01[3] |
| Legal basis | Law on the Legal Status of Aliens (Įstatymas „Dėl užsieniečių teisinės padėties“) No. IX-2206, art. 45(1)(1), with the general grounds provision at art. 40(1)(5) and the general conditions at art. 26 as of 2026-07-01[3] Read from the consolidated text in force from 1 July 2026 to 31 October 2026 at e-seimas.lrs.lt, the Seimas's official consolidated-law service. Amendment check (research-rules section 3 step 2) performed against the act's own edition list: the consolidation in force was produced by law No. XV-1062 of 25 June 2026; the preceding consolidations were produced by law No. XV-945 of 14 May 2026 (in force 22 May 2026 and 1 July 2026) and law No. XV-671 of 11 December 2025. Two further consolidations produced by XV-945 are dated ahead – 1 November 2026 and 1 January 2027 – and are recorded in pending_changes. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-07-01[3] Art. 45 issues a leidimas laikinai gyventi – a temporary residence permit. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-07-01[3] Chapter IV of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens governs residence permits for third-country nationals. Citizens of EU, EEA and EFTA member states and their family members exercising the EU free-movement right enter and reside under a separate regime (the Law's free-movement chapter), so this ground is not open to them. Investment Law art. 13(1) para. 3 and art. 15(7) para. 5 state the exclusion in the same terms in their own text. |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source No minimum age is stated for this ground in the sources read. |
| Criminal-record condition | Not established from a qualifying source |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 2 years as of 2026-07-01[3] |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | fixed |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-07-01[3] Art. 45(2) speaks of the permit being 'issued and changed' (išduodamas ir keičiamas) for 2 years, which is the Lithuanian formula for a renewable permit. |
| Renewal duration | up to 2 years as of 2026-07-01[3] Art. 45(2) applies the same 2-year term to a change of the permit. |
| Maximum total duration | Not established from a qualifying source No aggregate ceiling is stated for this ground in the sources read. |
| Work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source Not sourced as a property of this ground. The permanent-residence track is recorded at country level: art. 53(1)(8) opens it on five years' continuous lawful residence without naming qualifying grounds. |
|---|---|
| How this time counts toward citizenship | Not established from a qualifying source Art. 53(9) halves time held on the study ground only; no factor is stated for this ground, and the naturalisation clock in the Citizenship Law is a separate 10-year test. |
Requirements
| Minimum capital | EUR 28,000 as of 2026-07-01[3] |
|---|---|
| Business plan required | Yes as of 2026-07-01[3] Art. 45(1)(1) requires that the company has been carrying on its activity 'pagal verslo planą' – in accordance with a business plan – for at least the preceding 6 months. |
| Endorsement required | No as of 2026-07-01[3] No third-party endorsement is required for this clause. Art. 45(5) instead requires the Migration Department to assess, in the manner laid down by the Minister of the Interior, whether there is serious ground to believe the company is fictitious. The start-up ground at art. 45(1) of art. 45-1 is the clause that does require an endorsement. |
| Innovation criterion | No as of 2026-07-01[3] Art. 45(1)(1) states no innovation test; the innovation-based potential test belongs to the start-up ground at art. 45-1(2). |
| Jobs to be created | Not established from a qualifying source Art. 45(1)(1) states no number of jobs. It states a payroll test instead – full-time employees who are Lithuanian, EU or EFTA citizens or permanent residents, paid together at least 2 BDU a month. The clauses that do state job counts are art. 45(1)(2-1) – five jobs – and art. 45(1)(2-2) – ten jobs. |
| Own means requirement | EUR 14,000 as of 2026-07-01[3] Art. 45(1)(1): of the company's EUR 28 000 own capital, at least EUR 14 000 must be funds or other assets invested by the alien personally. Recorded here because it is the applicant's own committed sum rather than the company's balance-sheet test; it is not a living-costs requirement – the separate subsistence condition is at art. 26(1)(3) and is recorded at country level. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2025-11-02[1] |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Fees |
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Physical presence
| maximum consecutive absence | 6 months · to keep the permit as of 2026-07-01[3] |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Not established from a qualifying source |
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Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 3 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 3 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2024-07-11 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-07-01 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Lietuvos Respublikos investicijų įstatymas (Law on Investments) No. VIII-1312, consolidated text in force from 2 November 2025
Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas (e-seimas.lrs.lt consolidated-law service) · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-11-02 · Accessed 2026-08-17 · Archived copy - [2] Valstybės rinkliavų sąrašas – Leidimai gyventi (state fee schedule for residence permits)
Migracijos departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos vidaus reikalų ministerijos · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Published 2024-07-11 · Accessed 2026-08-22 · Archived copy - [3] Lietuvos Respublikos įstatymas dėl užsieniečių teisinės padėties (Law on the Legal Status of Aliens) No. IX-2206, consolidated text in force 1 July 2026 – 31 October 2026
Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas (e-seimas.lrs.lt consolidated-law service) · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-01 · Accessed 2026-08-17