Lithuania

Lithuania Investment Immigration Programs Overview

Lithuania has no official citizenship-by-investment program, but since 2017 has offered a startup visa through which entrepreneurs can obtain residency. The visa confers a one-year renewable visa, allowing free travel throughout the Schengen Area. It also provides a pathway to permanent status and eventual citizenship if successful applicants remain in good standing.

The application process is designed to select for genuinely viable businesses, especially in the high-tech sector, with all business proposals carefully evaluated by a panel of experts from the business world in addition to government immigration officials. With no minimum capital requirements, a family-friendly framework allowing dependents to accompany the investor, and plenty of logistical support for successful applicants, the Lithuanian startup visa compares favorably to other European programs for immigrant entrepreneurs.

How To Apply

Lithuania uses an online application portal to initiate startup-visa applications, and would-be entrepreneurs are then invited to participate in a 30 to 60 minute video interview, which must include a short pitch to a panel of business experts. Experts say the business pitch is a critical part of the application process: only genuinely viable businesses, run by entrepreneurs with the skills and resources they need to succeed, will qualify for startup visas. Unsuccessful applicants are, however, encouraged to further develop their business proposal and reapply.

Once approved by the panel of experts, applicants receive a letter of support for their business proposal, with which they can obtain a temporary residence permit either from their home country’s Lithuanian consulate, or from the Lithuanian Migration department. There is no application fee, but successful applicants must pay either 114 euros or 228 euros (depending on processing speed) to secure a temporary residency permit. Successful applicants must start their business within 30 days of their arrival in Lithuania.

Mobility

Lithuania is part of the Schengen Area, so new residents are able to travel freely across the region. Residents who go on to obtain Lithuanian citizenship can look forward to receiving one of the world’s top travel documents: the Lithuanian passport is the 12th-strongest in the world, with visa-free travel to 166 countries.

Country

A Baltic state in the geographic center of Europe, Lithuania is a former Soviet republic that embraced modernization in the 1990s, and went on to become one of the eurozone’s fastest-growing economies. Russia, Germany and the US are important trade partners, and younger Lithuanians generally speak good English. The weather can be brisk: daytime temperatures seldom climb above freezing in January, and wintry Siberian wind currents can drag the temperature well below -20C at times. Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, has a longstanding heritage as a major Jewish center, and was dubbed the “Jerusalem of the North” by Napoleon; these days, it’s also a tourist hotspot known for its architecture, its artistic communities, and its parks and lakes.