2020 08 10 More Persons in Lithuania Will Be Eligible for Dual Citizenship

A Draft Law on Amending Articles 2, 7, 12, 15, 16 18, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 33, 37, 39, 40, 41, 411, 42 and Supplementing Article 211 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania No XI-1196 has been prepared in Lithuania. It intends to expand a circle of persons eligible for dual citizenship.

Recently, dual citizenship in Lithuania is only possible in exceptional cases, which have been established in Article 7 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania.

Article 7 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania sets out that a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania may be a citizen of another state at the same time, provided he meets at least one of the following conditions:
1) he has acquired citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania and citizenship of another state at birth;
2) he is a person who was exiled from the occupied Republic of Lithuania before 11 March 1990;
3) he is a person who fled the Republic of Lithuania before 11 March 1990;
4) he is a descendant of a person referred to in paragraph 2 or 3 of this Article;
5) by virtue of marriage to a citizen of another state he has ipso facto acquired citizenship of that state;
6) he is a person adopted by citizens (citizen) of the Republic of Lithuania before reaching 18 years of age and, as a result of the adoption, acquired citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 17 of this Law;
7) he is a person - a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, who was adopted by citizens (citizen) of another state before reaching 18 years of age and, as a result of the adoption, acquired citizenship of that state;
8) he has acquired citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania by way of exception while being a citizen of another state;
9) he is a person who has retained citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania or who has citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania restored for his outstanding merits to the Republic of Lithuania;
10) he has acquired citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania while having refugee status in the Republic of Lithuania.

It is intended to supplement Article 7 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania by paragraph 11, establishing that a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania may be a citizen of another state at the same time, provided he is a person, who has not reached 20 years of age and who acquired citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania at birth, but who, before reaching 18 years of age, acquired citizenship of another state in other way than by birth.

Nevertheless, there is also a requirement established that such a person will be able to make an independent decision, within a period of 2 years, of which country he wants to be a citizen. In such a case, a person will have an opportunity to independently choose, within a period of 2 years (until he reaches 20 years of age), which citizenship he prefers to keep, also, to make a decision, whether to renounce citizenship of another state or to lose citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania. There would be around 300 such persons per year. A 2-year term is also set regarding the fact that a person intending to renounce citizenship of another state will have to carry out certain actions and procedures provided for in law of another state (usually, the procedure for renouncing citizenship of another state may last from 6 months to 1 year).

If a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, who is a citizen of another state at the same time, would fail to renounce citizenship of another state(-s) when he reaches 20 years of age, he will lose citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania. This ground for loss of citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania would only be applied in cases when a person acquired citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania at birth and acquired citizenship of another state in other way than by birth until he reached 18 years of age, and when he failed to renounce citizenship of another state until he reached 20 years of age.

In order to provide opportunity for all persons to take advantage of the case provided for in paragraph 11 of Article 7 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania, where a person is eligible to be a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania and a citizen of another state at the same time, a proposal was made to establish that persons who have lost citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania due to the acquisition of citizenship of another state before the entry into force of the above-mentioned law, may reinstate citizenship if they have not reached 20 years of age.

Currently, a person who has acquired citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania at birth shall lose Lithuanian citizenship, if he acquired citizenship of another state in other way than by birth.

MIGRATION LAW CENTER