Lithuania: National Visa Application Portal Temporarily Closed; National Visa Eligibility Restricted
June 21, 2023
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At a Glance
- Individuals will not be able to apply for National Visas on the government's online application system through July 1, 2023. Then, starting on July 2, applicants will submit applications using a different government website.
- Additionally, the National Visa category will no longer be available to many applicants, including (among others):
- foreign employees who have a work permit issued by the Employment Service;
- citizens of Australia, Belarus, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States;
- foreign nationals awaiting their temporary residence permits or family member cards to be issued; and
- foreign nationals who submitted an application to issue or change a residence permit or a family member card of an EU citizen, or for whom the decision was made already to issue such a document.
- Instead, these applicants will need to submit a temporary residence permit application, which has a longer processing time than a National Visa.
The situation
National Visa applicants will temporarily not be able to file applications through the Electronic Application Module until July 1, 2023. Additionally, starting July 1, 2023, the National Visa category will be closed off to many third-country nationals, who will instead be required to apply for a residence permit.
A closer look
There have been several important changes made relating to the issuance of National Visas. Key changes are noted below.
| CHANGE | DETAILS | IMPACT |
| Temporary closure of Electronic Application Module for National Visa applicants |
|
The MIGRIS portal has not been updated and it is not yet clear what the application process will look like. |
| National Visa category to become more limited |
The National Visa category will no longer be available to the following applicants, among others:
The National Visa will be available to applicants listed here. The application processing time will remain up to three weeks for these applicants. |
Affected nationals will instead need to apply for a temporary residence permit on the government MIGRIS website, which takes up to three months to process. Temporary residence permit applications can be submitted at the Migration Department in Lithuania or at a VFS Global center abroad. |
| New provider for National Visa applications |
After July 1, 2023, foreign nationals residing outside Lithuania will only be able to apply for a National Visa through an external service provider chosen by the Migration Department, and will no longer be able to apply at a consular post abroad (which will only make decisions on cancelations and revocations of National Visas). Currently, Lithuanian consular posts accept National Visa applications. |
National Visa applicants will need to apply with the external service provider. Details about this process have not been published. |
Background
Temporary residence permits allow the foreign nationals to obtain a national identification number, and allow a longer stay (depending on which the temporary residence permit was issued, but in some cases up to five years), rather than up to one year under the National Visa (with a cooling-off period that applies before another National Visa application can be filed).
Looking ahead
More government policies to steer applicants toward the temporary residence permit in Lithuania are projected. We will provide relevant updates.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].
