2019 02 26 EU citizen card, which gives the right to live in Lithuania

Since 01 March 2019, amendments to the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Order No 1V-194 of the Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania “Regarding the Approval of the Description of the Procedure for Issuing a Certificate of the Right of Temporary or Permanent Residence in the Republic of Lithuania” as of 22 February 2019 have entered into force.

By this Order, from 01 March 2019, citizens of the Member States of the European Union and of the European Free Trade Association entitled to temporarily or permanently reside in the Republic of Lithuania will be issued with certificates of the new format – documents in the card form, wherein biometric data – facial image and two fingerprints – of EU citizens for the confirmation of identity will be electronically recorded.

Up to now, A4 format paper certificates approving the right of citizens of the European Union of temporal or permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania were issued. Nevertheless, very often due to a document of such form EU citizens used to confront with problems in public, as well as in private life, when it was necessary to provide the certificate.

Certificates already issued will be valid for the entire specified term, however, from 01 March 2019, EU citizens will be able to replace them with the document of a new type – certificate. Terms of validity of this document remain the same, certificates confirming the right of temporal residence in the Republic of Lithuania are being issued for the duration of 5 years or for the shorter stipulated period of residence in the Republic of Lithuania, whereas the certificates confirming the right of permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania are being issued for the period of 10 years.

The certificates will be issued no later than within one month after the submission of the application. The public fee for the issue or renewal of the certificate is EUR 8.6.

Moreover, other amendments on the convenience of EU citizens have been adopted, precisely, not only the citizen of EU himself, but also a person authorized by him/her will be able to collect certificates. In certain cases, documents may be presented not only translated to Lithuanian, but also to English.

MIGRATION LAW CENTER