Table of Contents
Why This Page Exists
This site covers immigration, tax, banking and insurance. People make consequential decisions based on this kind of information โ whether to accept a job offer, which insurance policy will satisfy a residence permit application, how much money to show at a migration appointment.
Getting those wrong has real costs. A refused permit application. A missed deadline. A policy that doesn't cover what someone assumed it did.
So it's reasonable for you to ask where our information comes from, how it's checked, and who pays for the site. This page answers all three.
How We Source Information
Everything factual on this site should be traceable to a primary source. In practice that means:
| Topic | Primary source we use |
|---|---|
| Immigration, permits, visas | Migration Department (Migracijos departamentas) |
| Income tax, VAT, tax returns | State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) |
| Social contributions, pensions | Sodra |
| Health insurance, PSD coverage | National Health Insurance Fund |
| Personal codes, population register | Centre of Registers |
| Higher education, diploma recognition | studyin.lt, SKVC, universities directly |
| Licensed insurers | Lithuanian Insurers Association register |
| Bank and fintech terms | The provider's own published terms and pricing |
Where a figure is disputed between sources, we say so on the page rather than quietly picking one.
The rule we hold ourselves to
If we can't verify a number against a primary source, we don't publish the number. We'd rather tell you to check with the Migration Department than give you a figure we're not certain of. A guide that's confidently wrong is worse than one that's honestly incomplete.
What We Do When We Don't Know
Three things, in order of preference:
- Find the primary source and cite it. Usually possible.
- State the uncertainty explicitly and point you at the authority to confirm with. You'll see this phrasing throughout the site โ it isn't padding, it's a genuine flag.
- Leave it out. If we can't do either of the above, the section doesn't get written.
What we never do is fill a gap with a plausible-sounding estimate. On an immigration or tax page, an invented number is worse than a blank space, because a blank space prompts you to check and a number doesn't.
How We Make Money
HowToLithuania.com is free to read and reader-supported. We earn money in two ways:
Affiliate commissions
- Some links to banks, fintechs and insurers are affiliate links
- If you open an account or buy a policy, we may earn a commission
- This never costs you more โ the price is the same
- Affiliate links are marked and disclosed on every page carrying them
Referral partnerships
- We connect readers with immigration specialists
- We may receive a fee for a successful introduction
- The service is free to you
- We only work with licensed practitioners
That's it. We don't sell your personal data, we don't publish sponsored articles disguised as guides, and we don't accept payment to change a ranking or a review.
Commercial Separation
The obvious risk with an affiliate-funded site is that the money quietly shapes the advice. Here is specifically how we prevent that:
- Rankings are set before commercial terms are considered. We decide what's genuinely best for a given reader, then attach links โ not the reverse.
- We recommend products that pay us nothing when they're the right answer. Several pages on this site tell readers that the state option, a free alternative, or doing nothing is better than the commercial product.
- Every recommendation lists its downsides. If a product comparison has no criticism in it, it isn't a comparison โ it's an advertisement. You'll find drawbacks listed for every option we cover, including the ones we recommend.
- We tell you when you can stop paying us. For example, our insurance guides explain that getting a job may move you onto employer-funded state health cover, letting you cancel the private policy we may have earned a commission on.
- A partner cannot buy a better review. There is no price for this.
The test we apply
Before publishing a recommendation, we ask: would we give this same advice to a friend who was moving here, if there were no commission attached? If the answer is no, the recommendation changes. Not the disclosure โ the recommendation.
How We Decide What to Recommend
Our criteria, roughly in the order we weigh them:
- Does it actually solve the reader's problem? The best bank account for a newly arrived non-EU student is a different product from the best one for a settled professional. We segment recommendations by situation rather than crowning a single winner.
- Is it accessible to the reader? A great account you can't open without a residence permit is useless to someone who doesn't have one yet. Availability beats features.
- Total cost, including the invisible parts. Exchange-rate markups and conditional fees often matter more than headline prices.
- Is it legitimate and licensed? We only cover regulated providers.
- Does it work in English? Our readers largely don't speak Lithuanian yet.
How Often We Update
Every page carries a "last updated" date at the top. That date reflects when the content was actually reviewed, not when a template changed.
- Tax and contribution rates โ reviewed annually, and whenever rates change mid-year
- Immigration rules and fees โ reviewed regularly; these change without much notice
- Product comparisons โ reviewed periodically, since terms change quietly
- Anything a reader flags โ checked promptly
If a page looks out of date to you, it may be. Tell us and we'll check it.
Corrections
We will get things wrong. When we do, we want to know quickly and fix it visibly.
- Report it via our contact page. Include the page and, if you have it, the source showing the correct position.
- We check it against the primary source rather than simply taking either your word or our own previous work.
- We correct it and update the date. For anything material, we note what changed.
- We don't quietly delete errors. If something was wrong in a way that could have affected a decision, we say so.
If you're a provider we've covered
If we've described your product inaccurately, tell us and we'll correct it โ regardless of whether we have a commercial relationship with you. What we won't do is remove accurate criticism because you'd prefer it wasn't there.
Our Position on AI
We use AI tools to help with research, drafting and structure โ the same way we'd use a search engine or a spellchecker. We're telling you this because you'd reasonably want to know.
What that does not mean:
- We don't publish unverified AI-generated facts. Language models are confidently wrong about tax rates and immigration rules, which is precisely the failure mode this site can't afford.
- Every figure is checked against a primary source by a human before publication.
- Editorial judgement โ what to recommend, what to warn about, what to leave out โ is ours.
The verification standard is the same regardless of how a draft was produced.
What We Are Not
Worth being direct about this.
We are not lawyers, tax advisers, immigration consultants or financial advisers. This site is general information, not advice about your specific situation. Immigration and tax outcomes depend on individual circumstances in ways a general guide cannot account for. For anything consequential or unusual, get professional advice โ and always confirm current requirements with the relevant Lithuanian authority before acting.
We also aren't the government. Where an official source exists โ the Migration Department, VMI, Sodra, studyin.lt โ it is authoritative and we are not. We link to them throughout, and where they disagree with us, they're right.
What we try to be is the practical layer: the guide that explains what the official page means, what order to do things in, what it actually costs, and what people get wrong.