Lithuanian Citizenship for Persons Having Lithuanian Ancestry. Lithuanian Citizenship for Descendants of Lithuanians

One of the ways in which Lithuanian citizenship may be acquired is a reinstatement of citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania. Lithuanian citizenship may be reinstated for a person, whose ancestors (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, or one of them) were citizens of Lithuania before 15 June 1940, or who himself/herself was a citizen of Lithuania before 15 June 1940.

Lithuania was established as an independent state in 1918. The first law regulating the institute of Lithuanian citizenship was the Provisional Law on Lithuanian Citizenship adopted on 09 January 1919. The Provisional Law on Lithuanian Citizenship dated 09 January 1919 establishes that the citizens of Lithuania shall be:
1. Persons, whose parents and grandparents have resided in Lithuania for quite a while, and they have always resided in Lithuania themselves;
2. Children of persons specified in the first Item, who, even though have not always resided in Lithuania, finally returned to reside there;
3. Persons, who had resided in Lithuania for not less than ten years until 1914 and:
a) either owned their own real property, or
b) had a permanent job;
4. Children of a Lithuanian citizen;
5. His wife or widow;
6. Children of an unmarried woman, who is a Lithuanian citizen, if they are not accepted by a foreigner as his children.

Pursuant to the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania that is currently in force, documents proving that the person concerned held citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940 shall be as follows:
1. Internal or foreign passports of the Republic of Lithuania issued before 15 June 1940;
2. Foreign passports of the Republic of Lithuania issued by diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania after 15 June 1940;
3. Documents attesting to the person’s service in the Lithuanian armed forces or employment in the civil service;
4. Birth certificates or other documents containing direct reference to citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania held by the person concerned;
5. Personal certificates issued before 15 June 1940 in Lithuania or personal certificates issued on the basis of documents issued before 15 June 1940;
in the absence of above-mentioned documents, documents concerning studies, work and life in Lithuania before 15 June 1940, as well as a passport of a foreign state and other documents may be provided.

Lithuanian citizenship may be reinstated for a person, if he/she renounces citizenship of another state, or without renunciation of it (retention of dual (double) citizenship). In order to reinstate citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania without renouncing the held citizenship of another state, it is not sufficient to prove the fact that a person held Lithuanian citizenship before 15 June 1940. For retention of dual (double) citizenship, such a person shall prove the following additional circumstances:
1. The fact of exile from the occupied Lithuania before 11 March 1990 (i.e. a person or his/her parents, grandparents or great-grandparents or at least one of them were exiled from Lithuania prior to 11 March 1990 or were forcibly expelled from Lithuania by decisions of institutions or courts of occupation regimes in the period from 15 June 1940 to 11 March 1990 for reasons of resistance to occupation regimes, political or social reasons or reasons of origin);
or
2. The fact of fleeing Lithuania before 11 March 1990 (i.e. a person or his/her parents, grandparents or great-grandparents or at least one of them fled Lithuania before 11 March 1990 and

their permanent residence on 11 March 1990 was outside Lithuania. It should be noted that the said concept shall not include the persons who left the territory of Lithuania after 15 June 1940 for the territory of the former Soviet Union).

An application for reinstatement of Lithuanian citizenship shall be completed in Lithuanian. The documents enclosed to an application, if they have been drawn up in another language, shall be translated into Lithuanian and certified in accordance with the procedure established by legislation (legalisation of document or approval certificate (Apostille)).

The documents shall be submitted at the Migration Department or the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania, or a consular post in a foreign state.

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