Table of Contents
Why Lithuania
Lithuania is an EU member state in both the eurozone and the Schengen area, with a small, digitally advanced economy and living costs well below Western Europe. Vilnius has become a genuine EU fintech hub, which means real jobs in English for people with technical skills.
The three practical advantages that matter most day to day:
The eurozone point is underrated. Moving to Poland, Czechia or Hungary means managing a second currency, FX costs and a salary that moves against the euro. In Lithuania your euro savings, euro salary and SEPA transfers all just work.
Who Lithuania suits
Well: tech and fintech professionals, Russian speakers relocating from the region, international students, remote workers wanting EU residence at low cost, and people with Lithuanian ancestry.
Less well: anyone needing a large non-tech job market in English, people who struggle with long dark winters, or those wanting a big-city scale โ Vilnius is a small capital.
Do Things In This Order
Most of the pain people experience moving here comes from doing things in the wrong sequence. Each of these blocks the next.
Sort your legal right to stay
EU citizens register their right of residence. Non-EU citizens need a visa and residence permit. Everything else depends on this.
Open a fintech account โ before you fly
This one is out of order deliberately. You can do it with just a passport, today, and it means you land able to pay for things.
Arrange health insurance
Non-EU applicants need private cover as a condition of the permit application, so this happens before you submit.
Find accommodation
You need an address for residence declaration and for most official processes.
Get your asmens kodas
Arrives with your residence permit or right-of-residence registration.
Declare your place of residence
At the municipality, once you have an address.
Add a traditional bank account, if you need one
Now possible, with your permit and personal code. Many people find they don't need one.
Register with a clinic and start Lithuanian classes
Both easy to postpone indefinitely. Don't.
The single most useful thing to know
There's a gap โ often weeks, sometimes months โ between arriving and holding your residence permit and asmens kodas. During it, traditional banks will turn you away. Revolut, Paysera and Wise open accounts with just a passport, from abroad, before you travel. Revolut issues Lithuanian IBANs, so it counts as a local account for rent and salary. Doing this one thing before you fly removes most of the friction from your first month. How to open an account โ
Getting the Right to Stay
๐ช๐บ EU / EEA / Swiss citizens
- โ No visa, no residence permit
- โ Register right of residence if staying 3+ months
- โ Asmens kodas comes with registration
- โ Full right to work immediately
๐ Non-EU citizens
- โ National visa, then residence permit
- โ Grounds required โ work, study, family, business
- โ Health insurance and funds evidence
- โ Months, not weeks โ start early
The common non-EU routes are employment, study, family reunification, business and the startup visa, plus a distinct and easier path for people of Lithuanian descent. Full detail in our residence permit guide.
Legalisation is the hidden bottleneck. Foreign documents โ criminal record certificates, diplomas, marriage and birth certificates โ generally need an apostille or consular legalisation plus certified translation into Lithuanian. Requesting these from your home country routinely takes weeks and blocks everything downstream. Start here, before anything else.
Your Asmens Kodas
The asmens kodas is Lithuania's 11-digit personal code โ the equivalent of a national insurance or social security number. It identifies you across tax, healthcare, banking and every government system.
You don't apply for it separately. It's issued as part of legalising your residence: with your residence permit for non-EU citizens, or with right-of-residence registration for EU citizens. Get the residence status right and the code follows.
Banking
Lithuania's banking market splits cleanly in two, and knowing which side to start on saves weeks.
Fintechs โ start here
- โ Revolut, Paysera, Wise
- โ Passport only, no permit needed
- โ Open from abroad before arriving
- โ Revolut issues Lithuanian IBANs
Traditional banks โ later
- Swedbank, SEB, Luminor
- โ Need permit + asmens kodas
- โ Deposit guarantee to โฌ100,000
- โ Mortgages and credit products
Lithuania has no BLIK equivalent โ unlike Poland, daily payments run on contactless cards and bank apps, with Apple Pay and Google Pay widely accepted. You can go weeks without cash.
See bank account comparison and how to open an account.
Open your account before you fly
Lithuanian IBAN with just a passport, in about ten minutes.
Healthcare and Insurance
Lithuania runs a state compulsory health insurance system called PSD, funded through contributions of 6.98% of gross salary, collected alongside Sodra.
The sequence for most non-EU arrivals:
- Private insurance โ required as a condition of your residence permit application
- Start work โ your employer begins paying PSD contributions
- State coverage โ you enter the public system, and the private policy may become unnecessary
If you're not employed and not in a state-covered category, you can self-pay PSD at โฌ80.48 per month in 2026. EU citizens should carry a European Health Insurance Card.
Full detail in our health insurance guide.
Where to Live
| Vilnius | Kaunas | Klaipฤda | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Role | Capital, largest | Second city | Port city, coast |
| Cost | Highest | Noticeably lower | Lowest |
| Jobs in English | Best โ fintech and IT | Good, more industrial | Maritime, logistics |
| International community | Largest | Large, student-heavy | Smallest |
| Best for | Professionals, tech | Students, value | Coast, maritime work |
For most people moving for work, Vilnius is the answer โ it's where the English-speaking jobs are. Kaunas makes sense for students and anyone prioritising cost. Klaipฤda is a genuine specialism rather than a general alternative.
Finding Somewhere to Live
Renting is straightforward by European standards, but a few local points matter:
- Deposits are normal, typically alongside first month's rent. Budget for both at once.
- Registration matters. You need an address to declare your residence, and your landlord's cooperation to do it. Confirm they're willing before signing โ some informal landlords aren't.
- Utilities may be separate from rent, and heating in winter is a significant cost. Ask what a January bill looks like, not an average.
- Get a written contract. Verbal arrangements leave you exposed and can complicate your residence declaration.
- Furnished is common, which helps enormously when arriving from abroad.
Ask about heating before you sign. Lithuanian winters are long and cold, and older buildings can be expensive to heat. A cheap rent with an uninsulated flat is not a bargain. Ask specifically what the heating cost was in December, January and February.
Working and Getting Paid
Where the English-language jobs are: fintech and IT in Vilnius, by a wide margin. Lithuania deliberately built itself into an EU fintech licensing hub, and the resulting cluster of payment institutions, banks and IT services companies operates in English and hires internationally. Shared service centres also hire heavily for language skills โ Russian, Polish, German and Nordic languages are all genuinely marketable.
Outside those sectors, Lithuanian is usually required.
Employers quote gross salaries. The gap between the gross figure in your offer and what reaches your account is substantial โ roughly 19.5% in employee social contributions plus income tax, offset by a tax-free allowance at lower incomes. Run any offer through our salary calculator before accepting.
Tax and Sodra
Two deductions come off employment income:
| What | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax (GPM) โ 20% | up to โฌ83,237/yr | 36 ร average wage (VDU โฌ2,312.15) |
| Income tax (GPM) โ 25% | โฌ83,237โโฌ138,729 | 36โ60 ร VDU |
| Income tax (GPM) โ 32% | above โฌ138,729 | 60 ร VDU |
| Sodra โ employee | 19.5% | Includes PSD health at 6.98% |
| Sodra โ employer | 1.77% | Paid on top by the employer |
| Pillar II pension | +3% optional | Voluntary additional contribution |
| Dividends | 15% | Flat, regardless of other income |
| VAT (PVM) | 21% | Reduced rates of 12% and 5% apply to some categories |
A tax-free allowance (NPD) of up to โฌ747/month reduces taxable income at lower salaries, tapering to zero at โฌ2,677.49 gross. Full detail in our income tax guide and Sodra guide.
New for 2026
Employment income and self-employment (individuali veikla) income are now taxed on the same progressive scale. Older guidance describing a separate flat rate for self-employment is out of date.
Cost of Living
Lithuania is meaningfully cheaper than Western Europe, though Vilnius has been rising. The main variables are rent and heating, both of which swing with city and building quality.
Rough shape of a monthly budget: rent is the dominant cost, groceries are inexpensive, eating out is affordable by Western standards, public transport is cheap, and winter heating is the cost people fail to plan for.
โ Verify before publishing. Specific cost-of-living figures must be researched and dated before publication. See the dedicated cost of living guide.
Practical First Month
- Get a SIM card. Cheap and easy; prepaid options are widely available.
- Get a public transport card for your city and register it.
- Declare your place of residence at the municipality once you have an address.
- Register with a primary care clinic once you're PSD-covered.
- Check your permit card details carefully when you collect it โ errors are easier to fix immediately.
- Set up your bank app properly, including your address, to avoid fraud freezes.
- Budget double for month one. Deposit, first rent, insurance, transport card, household basics.
Language and Settling In
Lithuanian is difficult โ an old, heavily inflected Baltic language with little overlap with English or Russian. You can work in tech and live in Vilnius without it. You cannot integrate fully, work outside tech, or get permanent residence without it.
Start Lithuanian in year one, not year four
This is the advice long-term residents give most consistently. Permanent residence requires passing a Lithuanian language exam plus a test on the basics of the Constitution, and the language requirement is what stops people at the five-year mark. It cannot be crammed. Beginning early also transforms daily life long before any exam.
Russian is widely spoken, particularly by older generations and in Vilnius. If you arrive with Russian, daily life is considerably easier than in most of Europe โ though be aware that language choice can carry political weight for some people, and Lithuanian is always the more welcome effort.
English is common among younger people and standard in the tech sector.
The Honest Downsides
- The winters. Long, dark and cold, with very short days for months. This affects more people than expect it to, and it's the most common reason arrivals from warmer countries leave.
- A small job market outside tech. If you're not in technology, finance or a language-services role, options in English are genuinely limited.
- The language barrier is real. Lithuanian is hard, and it gates permanent residence.
- Vilnius is small. Charming and easy to live in, but not a major metropolis โ some people find it limiting after a year or two.
- Bureaucracy for non-EU citizens. Manageable, but slow, sequential and appointment-constrained.
- Geopolitical context. Lithuania borders Belarus and Kaliningrad, and regional security is a live topic locally in a way it isn't in Western Europe.
These aren't reasons not to move. They're the things worth knowing before you do, so the decision is yours rather than a surprise.
Explore the Guides
Residence Permit
The main route to legal residence in Lithuania.
๐ฆOpen a Bank Account
Banking with just a passport, before you arrive.
๐ขAsmens Kodas
The personal code that unlocks everything else.
๐ก๏ธHealth Insurance
PSD versus private cover, and who needs what.
๐งฎSalary Calculator
Turn a gross offer into real take-home pay.
๐Studying in Lithuania
The complete guide for international students.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I move to Lithuania as an EU citizen?
Yes, freely. Register your right of residence if staying beyond three months, which also gives you an asmens kodas. No visa or permit required.
How long does a residence permit take for non-EU citizens?
Months rather than weeks in practice, driven as much by document legalisation and appointment availability as by the statutory examination period. Start the moment you have grounds to apply.
Can I open a bank account before I arrive?
Yes โ Revolut, Paysera and Wise open accounts with just a passport from abroad. Traditional banks need your permit and asmens kodas first.
Do I need to speak Lithuanian?
Not for tech work in Vilnius or for daily life at a basic level. Yes for most other employment, full integration, and permanent residence โ which requires a language exam.
Is Lithuania expensive?
Cheaper than Western Europe, with rent as the main variable. Vilnius costs noticeably more than Kaunas. Winter heating is the cost newcomers most often forget.
Does Lithuania use the euro?
Yes. Lithuania is in the eurozone, so there's no currency conversion for anyone arriving with euros โ a real advantage over Poland, Czechia or Hungary.
Can I bring my family?
Family reunification routes exist for spouses and minor children. Requirements around income and accommodation apply to you as sponsor.
What's the path to permanent residence?
Generally five years of continuous legal residence, plus a Lithuanian language exam and a test on the basics of the Constitution. The language requirement is the real barrier โ start early.
Is Lithuania safe?
Yes, with low crime by European standards. Regional security is a more prominent topic locally than in Western Europe given the borders with Belarus and Kaliningrad, and it's discussed openly.
Disclaimer. General guidance, not legal, tax or financial advice. Immigration rules, tax rates and costs change. Always confirm current requirements with the Migration Department, VMI and Sodra before acting. Some links on this page are affiliate links, which may earn us a commission at no cost to you.