Lithuania grants a status called e. rezidento statusas — electronic resident status. It costs €90 in state fees, lasts 3 years, and gives you a chip card carrying a Lithuanian qualified electronic signature.
It is not residency. The word does the damage: "residency" suggests a right to live somewhere, and this confers no right to live, enter, work, or stay anywhere. Lithuania's own state migration service says so in terms. If that is what you came for, stop here and read residence permits instead.
What you actually get is a Lithuanian electronic identity: a polycarbonate card holding two certificates — one that logs you in to Lithuanian state systems, one that is a qualified electronic signature under EU law.
It costs €90 in state fees, plus €80 to the external service provider if you apply from abroad. No expedited tier exists. Any non-citizen of Lithuania aged 18 or over can hold it, and there are exactly two statutory grounds for refusal, both security grounds. You do not have to come to Lithuania if you are in one of the 21 countries with an application centre; if you are anywhere else you do, and you have to be lawfully in Lithuania to apply.
What it does not give you is the part worth memorising: no residence, no right of entry, no right to work, no citizenship, no tax residency, no Schengen anything.
Table of Contents
- What the status actually is
- What it is not
- What you can do with it today
- Who can get it, and who cannot
- Do you have to come to Lithuania?
- What it costs
- Three years, and then what
- How the status is taken away
- Company, bank account, tax
- The Estonian comparison
- Whether it is worth the money
- Where people go wrong
- FAQ
What the Status Actually Is
Lithuanian law defines an e-resident as "an alien who seeks to use administrative, public or commercial services provided in the Republic of Lithuania by electronic (remote) means, and to whom e-resident status has been granted under the procedure laid down by this Law". That definition sits in Article 2 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, and it is the whole idea: a way to identify yourself to Lithuanian systems from outside Lithuania.
The status was created by an amending law that inserted a new Chapter X¹, "E. REZIDENTAS", into the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens No. IX-2206. The Seimas adopted it on 16 July 2019; the e-resident provisions entered into force on 1 January 2021. The chapter runs to five articles, numbered 140² to 140⁶, and it is short enough that a determined reader can get through all of it in twenty minutes. The procedure underneath it is set by Order of the Minister of the Interior No. 1V-1106 of 29 October 2020.
What you physically receive
Not an app, and not a password. Article 140⁴(2) says a successful applicant is issued an elektroninės atpažinties bei elektroninio parašo priemonė — an electronic identification and electronic signature means — carrying two things: an e-resident identification certificate, which proves who you are to a Lithuanian system, and an e-resident qualified electronic signature certificate, which signs documents.
The Migration Department's specimen page describes the means as a card made of polycarbonate, or of materials with the same or better performance characteristics. Both certificates on it are valid "no longer than the alien's e-resident status" — so the card's useful life is the status's life, not the other way round. To sign anything with it you have to install software from the Ministry of the Interior's certification centre on the computer you are using.
The signature is the product. Strip away the branding and this is a state-issued qualified electronic signature for people who are not Lithuanian and do not live in Lithuania. A qualified signature is the top tier under the EU's eIDAS regime — legally equivalent to a handwritten one across the Union. Everything else the programme might one day do is built on top of that one capability, and that one capability exists now.
What It Is Not
This deserves its own section because the name is actively misleading and the fee is non-refundable.
E-resident status gives you no right to set foot in Lithuania
The state's own migration information service puts it in a box marked SVARBU — important: e-resident status granted to an alien "does not give them the right to enter the Republic of Lithuania or any other state of the Schengen area". If you travel, the ordinary rules apply to you exactly as they did before, and you need a valid travel document and whatever visa your nationality requires. The card is not a travel document and will not be treated as one at a border.
What it is
Credentials, not status:
- A Lithuanian electronic identity
- A qualified electronic signature
- A login to Lithuanian state e-services
- Open to almost any adult foreigner
- Granted for 3 years
What it is not
It changes nothing about where you may be:
- Not a residence permit
- Not a right to enter Lithuania or Schengen
- Not a right to work in Lithuania
- Not a route to citizenship
- Not tax residency, and not a tax status at all
Three of those deserve a sentence each, because each of them is a thing people have assumed.
It is not a residence permit. A residence permit is granted under a different part of the same law, on grounds — work, study, family, business — that you have to evidence. Nothing about e-resident status counts towards one, and time spent holding it counts towards nothing. If you want to live here, the page you want is residence permits, and if you want to work here it is work permits.
It is not a route to citizenship. Lithuanian citizenship by naturalisation requires ten years of lawful residence, a language exam and a constitution exam. E-resident status is not residence, so it contributes nothing. See naturalisation.
It is not tax residency. Whether Lithuania taxes your worldwide income is decided by the Law on Personal Income Tax, which counts days: 183 days in one tax period, or 280 days across two consecutive periods with at least 90 in one of them, plus a permanent-home test. Holding an e-resident card is not on that list and does not put you on it. Income tax explains the rest.
What You Can Do With It Today
This is the part the marketing pages skip, and it is the part that decides whether €90 is money well spent.
Lithuania's state migration information service publishes a list of what an e-resident can currently do. The list has 3 items on it:
- Log in to Elektroniniai valdžios vartai. The Lithuanian government's single e-services gateway. The card is your credential for it.
- Log in to MIGRIS through that gateway. The Migration Department's own migration information system — the same system you filled your application in.
- Sign documents with an electronic signature. A qualified electronic signature, using the certificate on the card and software installed from the Ministry of the Interior's certification centre.
That is the published list in full. The same page says the range of services "will be gradually expanded, with the aim of creating opportunities to develop business relations electronically, to establish and manage a company, to carry out financial operations, and to obtain other services relevant to foreigners electronically".
Read that sentence twice. Establishing and managing a company, and carrying out financial operations, are described by the state as things the programme is aiming to make possible. They are in the future tense on the state's own page. They are not on the list of what an e-resident can do today. Anyone selling you Lithuanian e-residency as a way to incorporate remotely is making a claim the Lithuanian state does not make.
The expansion has no roadmap, no date and no named next service attached to it, and the list has not grown since the programme opened. Buy the card for the signature, not for a company registration nobody has promised you. Lithuania's own institutions do not agree on whether the Register of Legal Entities accepts the card for incorporation — e-residency and Lithuanian companies sets out both positions and the question to put to Registrų centras in writing before you pay.
Who Can Get It, and Who Cannot
The eligibility rule is remarkably wide, and the exclusion rule is remarkably narrow. That combination is unusual in immigration law and it is the programme's most attractive feature.
Who qualifies
Any užsienietis aged 18 or over. The Law on the Legal Status of Aliens defines užsienietis as "a person who is not a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, irrespective of whether they hold the citizenship of any foreign state or hold none". That is the whole eligibility test as the statute writes it, with the age floor of 18 coming from the procedure underneath.
| Are you… | Eligible? |
|---|---|
| A citizen of a third country, living anywhere | Yes |
| A citizen of another EU or EEA state | Yes — you are still an alien for this purpose |
| Stateless | Yes — the definition covers holding no citizenship |
| A Lithuanian citizen | No — you are not an alien, and you already have an eID |
| Under 18 | No |
Notice what is not required. No business in Lithuania. No connection to Lithuania at all. No minimum income, no company, no invitation, no sponsor, no clean bill of financial health, no interview. The statute asks for identity and nothing else.
Who is excluded
Article 140³ sets out the grounds for refusal, and there are two of them:
- Another Schengen state has entered an alert on you in the Schengen Information System (SIS II) for the purpose of refusing entry.
- You are on the national list of aliens prohibited from entering the Republic of Lithuania.
That is the complete list. There is no discretion clause, no "other grounds the Migration Department considers relevant", and no financial or business test. Both grounds are entry bans — which is a slightly odd fit for a status that confers no right of entry, but it is what the statute says.
A criminal record is not, by itself, a refusal ground. Convictions appear in Article 140⁵ as grounds for revoking a status already granted, not in Article 140³ as grounds for refusing one. On the face of the statute those are different lists doing different jobs. Do not read that as an invitation: an alien with a serious conviction is quite likely to be the subject of an entry ban, which is a refusal ground, and a status granted can be taken back on the day the conviction surfaces.
Do You Have to Come to Lithuania?
This is the question that decides whether the programme is any use to you, so here is the answer before the reasoning: usually not — but only if you are in one of 21 countries. There is no fully remote route for anybody.
Article 140²(1) gives exactly two ways in, and no third:
The statutory words are worth having exactly. "An alien's application for the grant of e-resident status is submitted to the Migration Department. An alien who is abroad submits the application through a chosen external service provider, and an alien who is lawfully in the Republic of Lithuania — personally to the Migration Department."
Two consequences follow, and both matter.
You must appear in person somewhere, always. Article 140²(2) requires the applicant to give biometric data to confirm identity — "a facial image and 2 fingerprints" — save in the cases provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002. Fingerprints cannot be taken over a video call. Whatever else is remote, this step is not.
The card is handed to you by the same office that took your application. Article 140⁴(4) says the means is prepared by an institution authorised by the Minister of the Interior and issued to the alien by the entities named in Article 140²(1) — that is, the external service provider if you applied abroad, or the Migration Department if you applied here. It does not say you must travel to Lithuania to collect it.
The 21 countries
The Migration Department publishes the list of jurisdictions with an external service provider branch that accepts e-resident applications. As read on 27 August 2026 it holds 21 entries:
Where you can apply without travelling to Lithuania: Australia · Austria · Belgium · Canada · Denmark · Finland · France · Germany · Ireland · Israel · Italy · Japan · Netherlands · Norway · Singapore · South Korea · Sweden · Switzerland · Taiwan · United Kingdom · United States
The provider is VFS Global, operating under its local entities — VF Services (UK) Limited at 66 Wilson Street, London EC2A 2BT; VFS Services (USA) Inc. at 128 E 32nd Street, New York NY 10016; VFS Global at Zimmerstraße 68, Berlin. The Migration Department's country pages give one address per country, and for the United States that means a single centre in New York for the whole country. Which is the honest catch: "you do not have to fly to Vilnius" is not the same as "there is a centre near you".
If your country is not on that list, there is no route from abroad. The statute offers the alien abroad exactly one option, and it is the external service provider. There is no consular route, no postal route, no notarised-application route and no remote route. So if you are in a country with no provider branch — which is most countries, including every country in Latin America, Africa, South Asia and the former Soviet Union — the only remaining route in Article 140²(1) is the second one: be lawfully in the Republic of Lithuania and apply in person to the Migration Department. For those readers, travelling to Lithuania really is the requirement, which is why checking the list is the first thing to do.
Article 140⁴(4) names who issues the card, but the Migration Department's country pages give an address and a booking link and stop there — they do not say how the card reaches you, whether that is a second appointment at the same centre, a courier, or collection by a representative, or how long after the decision it becomes available. Ask the centre you book with, and ask before you pay.
The list is not fixed. In March 2025 the Migration Department opened a consultation inviting reasoned proposals on the countries in which external service provider branches ought to be established. If your country is missing, the list has at least been treated as a live question rather than a settled one.
What It Costs
| Item | Amount | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| State fee — examination of the application and issue of the means | €90 | State Tax Inspectorate, payment code 5740 |
| External service provider service charge, per person | €80 | VFS Global, if you apply from abroad |
| Total, applying from abroad | €170 | — |
| Total, applying in person in Lithuania | €90 | — |
| Expedited handling | Does not exist | — |
The Migration Department's Lithuanian fee list carries exactly one e-resident line: "Prašymo dėl Lietuvos Respublikos elektroninio rezidento statuso suteikimo nagrinėjimas ir elektroninės atpažinties ir elektroninio parašo priemonės išdavimas — 90 Eur". Its English fee page renders the same line as "E-residence card including certificate and e-signature: 90 Eur". Neither page lists a skubos tvarka — expedited — tier, which is notable, because the Migration Department does publish expedited tiers for other documents. There is one price and one speed.
The €80 service charge is the external service provider's own, described by the Migration Department as uniform across all the countries where it operates. It is not a state fee and it does not go to Lithuania.
Budget the travel, not just the fee. With one centre per country and a single centre for the whole of the United States, the real cost for many readers is a domestic flight and a night in a hotel on top of €170. Price the trip before you decide the card is cheap.
Three Years, and Then What
Status is granted for 3 years, provided none of the refusal grounds applies. The decision itself is described by the state migration information service as taken nedelsiant — immediately — which reads oddly against a three-page application until you remember what the decision consists of: two database checks against SIS II and the national entry-ban list.
The certificates on the card are valid no longer than the status, so they expire with it rather than on their own schedule.
No Lithuanian authority sets out a renewal procedure, a renewal fee or a renewal window, so there is nothing to plan a fourth year around. Treat the €90 as buying 3 years and no more, and budget for repeating the exercise in full: a fresh application at the full fee, and a second trip to a centre for fresh biometrics.
How the Status Is Taken Away
Article 140⁵ lists the grounds for revocation, and unlike the two-line refusal test it is long. The status is revoked if:
- You ask for it to be revoked. A voluntary surrender is the first ground on the list.
- Data is received that you have died. The register is updated on the same footing as any other status.
- A refusal ground under Article 140³ comes to light. A SIS II entry-refusal alert, or the national list of aliens prohibited from entering Lithuania.
- The status was obtained by deception. False data, or forged or unlawfully obtained documents.
- A final Lithuanian judgment convicts you of a serious or grave crime. Sunkus ar labai sunkus nusikaltimas, as those categories are defined in Lithuanian criminal law.
- You are found guilty of a crime against peace, a crime against humanity or a war crime. Including inciting or otherwise participating in such crimes, as defined in Lithuanian law, in treaties, or in other sources of international law.
- There is serious ground to believe you are connected with money laundering, other unlawful financial operations, or corruption offences. This ground turns on there being serious ground to believe, not on a conviction.
- You owe tax, customs obligations or fines above one basic social benefit. Arrears to the state or municipal budgets, to funds administered by the State Tax Inspectorate, or to the Sodra budget, and unpaid fines — with an exception where payment has been deferred, spread into instalments, or is under a tax dispute.
The last ground has a number attached to it. The threshold is one basic social benefit (bazinė socialinė išmoka, BSI), which the Ministry of Social Security and Labour set at €74 from 1 January 2026. So an unpaid Lithuanian fine of €75 is, on the face of the statute, enough.
Revocation takes effect on removal from the Register of Aliens, and the decision is taken by the Migration Department.
Note who this list is really aimed at. Six of the eight grounds are financial-crime and serious-criminality grounds. Lithuania built a remote identity product and then wrote a revocation clause that reads like a bank's offboarding policy — money laundering, unlawful financial operations, corruption, tax arrears, customs, unpaid fines. That tells you what the state expects the card to be used for, and what it is watching for.
Company, Bank Account, Tax
Most people arrive at this topic wanting one of three things. Here is where each of them stands.
The state's own list of live e-resident services does not include company registration, and the same page places establishing and managing a company in the future tense. No Lithuanian authority publishes a statement that the e-resident card is accepted for incorporation.
Non-residents do register Lithuanian companies, routinely — but by the ordinary routes, which involve a notary or the electronic incorporation process and do not depend on this card. If the company is the objective, treat the card as unproven for it and read e-residency and Lithuanian companies and the startup and business visa.
Again: not on the published service list. And a bank's decision to onboard you is a commercial and anti-money-laundering decision, not an identity decision. An identity credential removes one obstacle out of several; it does not remove the bank's own tests of residence, source of funds and business substance. Our business bank accounts page covers who actually opens accounts for non-residents.
It neither makes you a Lithuanian tax resident nor stops you being one. Residency for income tax is decided by the day-count and permanent-home tests in the Law on Personal Income Tax — 183 days, or 280 across two periods with 90 in one — and an electronic credential is not one of the tests. See income tax and taxes in Lithuania.
Starting a business in Lithuania?
Registering a UAB, opening individuali veikla, or working out which one you actually want. Get matched with specialists who set companies up for foreigners.
The Estonian Comparison
Nearly everyone who reaches this question reaches it after reading about Estonia, so one specific claim is worth handling.
Estonia's own e-Residency programme publishes a comparison page — updated May 2026 — which says of Lithuania: "in order to apply for e‑residency status in Lithuania, you need to travel there to do so, and again to pick up the card." The same page says Estonian applicants can apply entirely online and collect from "one of 50+ collection points around the world."
The second half of that is Estonia describing Estonia, and it stands here as Estonia's own account. The first half is Estonia describing Lithuania, and against the Lithuanian statute and the Migration Department's own published country list it is wrong for the 21 jurisdictions on that list, and right for everywhere else.
| The claim | What the Lithuanian sources say |
|---|---|
| You must travel to Lithuania to apply | Article 140²(1) provides an external service provider route for an alien abroad, and the Migration Department lists 21 countries where it operates |
| You must travel to Lithuania again to collect | Article 140⁴(4) has the card issued by the same entities named in 140²(1) — the provider abroad, or the Department here |
| Nothing can be done remotely | Half right. Biometrics require an in-person appointment somewhere, always |
| Applying from a country with no provider | Genuinely requires being lawfully in Lithuania and attending the Migration Department in person |
Why the source of that claim matters. A competing state programme is not a neutral source about its competitor. Each claim in the table above is therefore set against Lithuanian law and the Lithuanian administering authority, and the right-hand column reports what those say rather than what Estonia says. The reverse holds too: nothing about Lithuania follows from what is true in Estonia. Estonia has a legally required contact person, a mature service-provider marketplace and a decade of company-formation practice behind its card. None of that exists in Lithuanian law, and no Lithuanian source claims an equivalent. A side-by-side comparison is on Lithuania vs Estonia.
Whether It Is Worth the Money
€90 is small. The trip to the centre usually is not, and that is the real decision.
Worth it if…
- You already deal with Lithuanian institutions and keep hitting a login wall
- You need a qualified EU electronic signature and have no other way to get one
- You are in one of the 21 countries, near the centre
- You have a specific document you must sign in a form Lithuania accepts
Not worth it if…
- You want to incorporate remotely — that is not on the published list
- You want a bank account — the card is not the obstacle
- You want residence, work rights or a path to citizenship
- Your country has no centre and you have no reason to be in Lithuania
- You already live in Lithuania on a permit — see below
If you already live in Lithuania, you probably do not want this. The state migration information service points foreigners holding a Lithuanian residence permit somewhere else entirely: an electronic signature through a mobile operator or through your bank. Those are the mainstream Lithuanian e-signature routes, they attach to the identity you already have, and they do not cost €90 plus an appointment. E-resident status is designed for people without a Lithuanian permit. If you have one, start with your bank.
Where People Go Wrong
Reading "residency" as residency is the single most expensive misreading here. The status confers no right to enter, live, work or stay, and Lithuania says so itself.
Assuming Lithuania copies Estonia is the next one. Estonia's contact person requirement, its provider marketplace and its company-formation flow are Estonian. Nothing in Lithuanian law creates an equivalent.
Buying it in order to incorporate rests on a service that does not yet exist: company formation is described by the Lithuanian state as an aim, in the future tense, not as a live service.
Not checking the country list first wastes an application. There are 21 jurisdictions with a centre; if yours is not one, the only route left runs through being lawfully in Lithuania.
Assuming one centre means one nearby centre is the version of that mistake that catches people who did check. The Migration Department lists a single address per country. For the United States that is one office in New York, for everyone in the United States.
Forgetting the provider's own fee understates the cost by nearly half. The state fee is €90; applying from abroad also costs €80 to the provider.
Expecting to pay for speed does not work here. There is no expedited tier for e-resident status, unlike several other Migration Department documents.
Planning past year three is planning on nothing. No authority publishes a renewal route, so assume a fresh application, a fresh fee and fresh biometrics.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Lithuanian e-resident status let me live in Lithuania?
No. Lithuania's state migration information service states directly that e-resident status does not give the holder the right to enter Lithuania or any other Schengen state. It is an electronic identity, not an immigration status, and it counts towards nothing in the residence permit or citizenship rules.
How much does it cost?
The state fee is 90 euros, covering examination of the application and issue of the electronic identification and electronic signature means. If you apply from abroad the external service provider charges a further 80 euros per person, which the Migration Department describes as uniform across all countries. There is no expedited tier at any price.
Do I have to travel to Lithuania?
Not if you are in one of the 21 countries where an external service provider branch accepts e-resident applications. Lithuanian law gives an alien abroad exactly one route, through that provider, and gives an alien lawfully in Lithuania a second route, in person at the Migration Department. If your country has no branch, being lawfully in Lithuania is the only route left. Nobody can do it entirely remotely, because fingerprints have to be taken in person.
How long does the status last?
Three years, according to Lithuania's state migration information service. Chapter 10-1 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens does not itself state a term, so the three years come from the procedure set under the statute rather than from the statute. The certificates on the card are valid no longer than the status.
What happens when the three years are up?
No Lithuanian authority publishes a renewal procedure, a renewal fee or a renewal window. Plan on a fresh application at the full fee, with fresh biometrics.
Can I register a Lithuanian company with the card?
No Lithuanian authority publishes a statement that you can. The state's own list of live e-resident services has three items on it — logging in to the government e-services gateway, logging in to MIGRIS through it, and signing documents — and describes establishing and managing a company as something the programme aims to enable. Treat remote incorporation as unproven, not as a feature.
Can EU citizens apply?
Yes. The Law on the Legal Status of Aliens defines an alien as any person who is not a Lithuanian citizen, whether or not they hold another citizenship, so citizens of other EU and EEA states qualify. Stateless people qualify too. Only Lithuanian citizens are outside the definition, and they already hold a Lithuanian eID.
Who is refused?
Article 140-3 sets out two grounds and only two. You are refused if another Schengen state has entered an alert on you in the Schengen Information System for refusal of entry, or if you are on Lithuania's national list of aliens prohibited from entering. There is no financial test, no business test and no general discretion.
Can the status be taken away?
Yes, on eight grounds in Article 140-5, most of them financial-crime grounds: deception in obtaining it, conviction for a serious or grave crime, crimes against peace or humanity, serious grounds to believe you are connected with money laundering or corruption, and tax, customs or fine arrears above one basic social benefit — 74 euros in 2026. It is also revoked at your own request or on your death.
Does it make me a Lithuanian tax resident?
No, and it does not stop you being one either. Tax residency is decided by the Law on Personal Income Tax on day counts and a permanent-home test — 183 days in one tax period, or 280 across two consecutive periods with at least 90 in one of them. Holding an electronic credential is not one of the tests.
What do I physically get?
A card made of polycarbonate, or of material with the same or better performance characteristics, carrying two certificates: an e-resident identification certificate and an e-resident qualified electronic signature certificate. To sign documents with it you install software from the Ministry of the Interior's certification centre.
I already have a Lithuanian residence permit. Should I get this?
Probably not. The state migration information service points permit holders at the ordinary Lithuanian e-signature routes instead — through a mobile operator or through your bank. Those attach to the identity you already hold and do not cost 90 euros plus an appointment.
Related Guides
Decide whether the card is what you actually need
e-Resident status is an electronic identity, not permission to live here. If signing Lithuanian documents remotely is the whole problem, apply. If you want to actually be in Lithuania, the residence permit is a different route.
Disclaimer
General guidance, not legal advice. E-resident status is administered by the Migration Department under the Ministry of the Interior; fees, country lists and the service list change without notice. Confirm current requirements with the Migration Department before paying anything.