Do international students need health insurance in Lithuania? If you are a non-EU student, yes — it is a condition of your residence permit, and you will not be covered by the state system while you are studying. What almost nobody tells you is that the law sets no minimum sum insured for a student permit, so the €30,000 figure quoted all over the internet is not your requirement. Below: what the statute actually asks for, which insurers will sell to you before you have a Lithuanian personal code, and what it costs.
Non-EU international students are almost certainly not covered by Lithuania's state PSD system, and health insurance is a condition of the residence permit application. The law sets no minimum sum insured for that permit — the €30,000 figure you have read elsewhere belongs to the Schengen short-stay visa. You have two routes: a medical-expenses policy from an insurer, priced by individual quote, or paying PSD contributions yourself at €80.48 a month.
Table of Contents
Which Insurers Sell to Foreign Students
Nothing on this page is paid placement and no provider pays to appear. Where one runs an affiliate programme we may earn a commission if you sign up through our link; where one does not, we link to them anyway. Ordering reflects published terms and how well each option works for someone arriving from abroad — never what it pays.
You are buying the same product as any other permit applicant — there is no student version. What separates these insurers is not price but whether you can buy at all without a Lithuanian personal code and a phone call in Lithuanian.
All of these are on the Bank of Lithuania register of insurers — Lietuvos draudimas and Compensa as Lithuanian companies, ERGO, BTA, Balcia and If as Lithuanian branches of EEA insurers.
The options, side by side
There is no student product, so these are the same five insurers every permit applicant deals with. They are ordered by how usable they are from abroad before you arrive — which for a student booking a September start is the thing that matters.
Feather
Best for: buying before a personal code
Key highlights
Key features
- No Lithuanian personal code
- Instant documents
- English throughout, support included
- Written for permit applicants
Policy details
- personal code
- Not needed
- buying
- Fully online
- language
- English
Summary
- No Lithuanian personal code
- Instant documents
- English throughout, support included
- Written for permit applicants
- 31-day waiting period
- You pay clinics and claim back
- New conditions only
- Not a Lithuanian insurer
ERGO
Best for: English with a Lithuanian insurer
Key highlights
Key features
- Full English product page
- Terms published in English
- Repatriation stated explicitly
- Sum insured set to your case
Policy details
- terms
- English, No. 043
- personal code
- Not needed
- price
- Quote only
Summary
- Full English product page
- Terms published in English
- Repatriation stated explicitly
- Sum insured set to your case
- No published price
- Excludes conditions treated within 6 months
- Excludes manual work and extreme sports
- Email reply, not instant cover
Lietuvos draudimas
Best for: a certificate no official queries
Key highlights
Key features
- Purpose-built foreigner product
- Repatriation and remains covered
- Lithuanian company, not a branch
- Phone line for callers abroad
Policy details
- page language
- Lithuanian
- from abroad
- +370 5 266 6612
- price
- Quote only
Summary
- Purpose-built foreigner product
- Repatriation and remains covered
- Lithuanian company, not a branch
- Phone line for callers abroad
- Product page is Lithuanian only
- Not in the English section
- Quote only, by contact form
- No limits published beyond dental
Balcia
Best for: asking for the product by name
Key highlights
Key features
- Named foreigner policy exists
- Terms in both languages
- Full English site
- International line, around the clock
Policy details
- terms
- LT and EN
- support
- 24/7
- price
- Not published
Summary
- Named foreigner policy exists
- Terms in both languages
- Full English site
- International line, around the clock
- No sales page for it
- Link lands on travel cover
- Limits not published
- Easy to be sold wrong product
BTA
Best for: a Schengen visa sum you pick
Key highlights
Key features
- Live English calculator
- Price shown immediately
- Full English page
- Assistance line around the clock
Policy details
- page language
- English
- buying
- Calculator
- assistance
- English and Russian
Summary
- Live English calculator
- Price shown immediately
- Full English page
- Assistance line around the clock
- Not a permit-specific product
- Repatriation not stated on page
- Assistance number is Latvian
- Check wording before relying on it
Compensa
Best for: readers who manage some Lithuanian
Key highlights
Key features
- Calculator loads and quotes
- Lithuanian company on the register
- No phone call needed
Policy details
- page language
- Lithuanian
- buying
- Calculator
- price
- Shown on screen
Summary
- Calculator loads and quotes
- Lithuanian company on the register
- No phone call needed
- No working English path
- Main product page broken
- Travel cover, not permit product
- Over-75s treated as a special case
What the Cards Leave Out
A specification table cannot say how each of these insurers behaves once you try to buy from abroad, and that is where they differ most.
Feather breaks the loop the Lithuanian market creates — you need insurance to get the permit, and the permit to get the code. Sign-up is in English and produces documents in about two minutes, with no Lithuanian personal code and no residence card. It is an EEA insurer passported in rather than a Lithuanian one, you pay the clinic and claim the money back, the first 31 days run on reduced cover, and no price is published. ERGO is the only Lithuanian insurer here with an English product page, English terms and an English quote form that never asks for a personal code. Its terms and conditions No. 043 are published in Lithuanian, English and Russian; medical care and repatriation costs are both covered, accident and liability are sold as add-ons, and the answer comes back by email rather than as instant cover.
Lietuvos draudimas sells a product built for foreigners rather than adapted from holiday cover, from the country's largest insurer: transport home to a hospital in your own country, repatriation of remains, and emergency dental limited to €50. The product page is Lithuanian only, and callers from abroad use +370 5 266 6612. Balcia has a dedicated Foreigner Medical Expense Insurance policy, terms No. LT-003.04 valid from 26 August 2024 and published in Lithuanian and English — but no page that sells it, so the link lands on general travel cover and it is easy to be sold the wrong thing. Ask for the policy by name; its international line runs around the clock.
BTA is one of only two here that shows a price without a phone call, but it is standard travel cover and the page never mentions permits. Medical expenses and repatriation are listed as a risk, luggage is insured up to €150 per piece, and the assistance line — published as 24/7 in English and Russian — is the Latvian number +371 26 121 212. Compensa's calculator works and reaches a price on screen, but the product page it belongs to currently returns a redirect loop, so our link goes straight past it. There is no English path published, and over-75s are treated as a special case.
Nothing on this page is paid placement — see our editorial guidelines.
Do not buy the €28-a-month policy
BTA's resident health tiers are the only published health prices in this market, so they are the ones students find first. That product is supplementary cover for people already inside PSD. It will not satisfy your permit.
Read the exclusions before the price. ERGO is the only insurer publishing its foreigner terms in English — Terms No. 043 — and they exclude chronic illness (defined as a condition that existed or was treated in the previous six months), extreme and combat sports, manual-labour occupations, mental-health conditions and pregnancy other than emergencies. For a student that list is not theoretical: it covers the part-time job you might take, the ski trip, and the counselling you might need in February. Ask every insurer for the terms document by number, and ask what it excludes.
Why You Can Trust This Guide
The Short Answer
If you're a non-EU international student in Lithuania, you are almost certainly not covered by the state health insurance system, and you must arrange cover yourself. It's a condition of your residence permit — not optional, not something you can sort out later.
There are exactly two routes, and only one of them has a published price.
Route one is a medical-expenses policy for foreigners, which Lithuanian insurers quote individually rather than publishing a rate for. Route two is paying PSD yourself at €80.48 per month — €966 a year in 2026. Get the quote, then compare the two.
Non-EU students sit outside Lithuania's compulsory state health insurance (PSD) unless they hold permanent residence or are legally employed. That exclusion is the whole reason this page exists. Take a job and your employer's contributions put you into the state system, at which point you may be able to drop the private policy.
What the Law Actually Requires
Student forums, agency pages and most English-language guides give the same figure: €30,000. For a student residence permit, that figure is not in the statute.
| What you are applying for | Sum insured set by law | Where the rule lives | What the policy must do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schengen short-stay visa (type C) | €30,000 | EU law — Visa Code, Regulation 810/2009, Art. 15 | Cover emergency medical care and repatriation, valid across the Schengen area for the whole visit |
| Student residence permit | No figure | Lithuanian law — Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, Art. 6¹ | Cover necessary medical assistance and repatriation on health grounds, valid for the entire period of residence |
There is no student version of the rule. Article 6¹ applies to every foreigner, and this is the operative sentence:
Užsieniečio sveikatos draudimas ... turi garantuoti būtinosios medicinos pagalbos, kaip ji apibrėžiama Lietuvos Respublikos sveikatos sistemos įstatyme, išlaidų ir išlaidų, galinčių atsirasti dėl užsieniečio grąžinimo į užsienio valstybę dėl sveikatos priežasčių (transportavimo, įskaitant asmens sveikatos priežiūros specialisto (specialistų) palydą), apmokėjimą ir galioti visą užsieniečio buvimo ar gyvenimo Lietuvos Respublikoje laikotarpį.
"A foreigner's health insurance ... must guarantee payment of the costs of necessary medical assistance, as defined in the Law on the Health System of the Republic of Lithuania, and of costs that may arise from the foreigner's return to a foreign state on health grounds (transport, including the accompaniment of a healthcare professional or professionals), and must be valid for the entire period of the foreigner's stay or residence in the Republic of Lithuania."
Three requirements, no euro figure:
- Necessary medical assistance, as defined in the Law on the Health System.
- Repatriation on health grounds, including transport and, where needed, an escorting healthcare professional.
- Validity for the entire period of your stay — for a student, the permit period, not an arbitrary twelve months.
Two figures you will see quoted that are not in the law. The first is a €10,000 minimum sum insured for the residence permit. Article 6¹ sets no euro figure at all, so ask any source that gives you one which article it comes from. The second is a one-year minimum validity. The article asks for cover running the entire period of your stay or residence — which for a first student permit is usually shorter than a year.
Statute read in the consolidated text on e-seimas, 11 August 2026.
Why Students Aren't Covered by PSD
Lithuania's public healthcare is funded through PSD — privalomasis sveikatos draudimas, compulsory health insurance. Everyone who works in Lithuania pays into it, including foreign workers. It's administered alongside Sodra, and the employee contribution is 6.98% of gross salary.
The catch for students is the word "works." PSD coverage follows employment or a small number of state-covered categories. Being an international student isn't one of them.
You become covered by PSD only if:
- You hold a permanent residence permit in Lithuania, or
- You are legally employed, so PSD is withheld from your gross pay and remitted by your employer
A student on a temporary study permit who isn't working meets neither condition. Hence the private insurance requirement.
| Your situation | Covered by state PSD? | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Non-EU student, not working | No | Private insurance |
| Non-EU student, legally employed | Yes — via employer | State cover may replace private |
| Non-EU student, permanent residence | Yes | State cover |
| EU/EEA student | Via home country | EHIC + optional top-up |
What It Costs
Only one of the two routes has a number you can look up in advance.
| Option | Cost | Per year | Available to students? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical-expenses policy for foreigners | By quote | Depends on age and dates | ✓ Yes |
| Self-paid PSD contributions | €80.48 / month | ≈ €966 | ✓ Yes |
| PSD via employment | 6.98% withheld from gross salary | Varies | Only if employed |
The self-paid PSD figure is calculated as 6.98% of the minimum monthly wage (MMA), which is €1,153 in 2026 — giving €80.48 per month. That is the number to hold a quote up against.
How to work out which is cheaper for you. Ask two or three insurers from the Bank of Lithuania register of insurers and insurance intermediaries for a quote on a medical-expenses policy covering your permit period, then compare it with €966 a year. It is not a like-for-like comparison: self-paid PSD buys full access to the public system, while a compliance policy is written to satisfy Article 6¹ and to cover new conditions. Cheaper is not automatically better here — but for many students it is, which is why the quote is worth getting.
No Lithuanian insurer publishes a student health insurance price, or a student health product at all — not Lietuvos draudimas, ERGO, Compensa, BTA, Balcia, If or Gjensidige. This cover is individually underwritten on your age and your dates, so no premium exists until you ask for one, and every relevant product ends in a contact form rather than a price.
What does exist under student-sounding names is Compensa's accident cover for pupils and students and Lietuvos draudimas's possessions cover. Neither is health insurance and neither will satisfy your permit.
Two names to strike off older lists. Seesam is not an independent insurer — it merged into Compensa on 1 July 2020. Lamantinas sells customs-procedure liability to businesses and nothing in this class.
What Your Certificate Must Say
Health insurance is a documented condition of the student residence permit application. Your certificate is uploaded with the rest of the file, and it is read against Article 6¹ — not against a euro target.
Check it for four things:
- Necessary medical assistance — that the policy pays the cost of it, and that it is valid in Lithuania, not only at home
- Repatriation on health grounds — named explicitly, ideally including the medical escort
- Dates — running the entire period of the residence you are applying for
- Language — a certificate the Migration Department accepts, usually Lithuanian or English
EU and EFTA citizens and their family members are exempt from this requirement entirely.
A visa policy does not carry over to the permit
If you enter on a Schengen short-stay visa first, that stage does have a figure. €30,000, set by Article 15 of the EU Visa Code, including repatriation and valid across the Schengen area. It is an EU visa rule, not a Lithuanian permit rule — and a policy bought for it does not automatically satisfy Article 6¹ later, because the dates will not cover your permit period.
Buy the policy before you submit your application. The insurance certificate is one of the documents you upload. Students who leave it until after submission end up delaying their own application — and appointment slots are scarce enough already. See our student residence permit guide.
Choosing a Policy
Two questions, in this order: will the Migration Department accept it, and will it actually help if you're ill. Students often only think about the first.
What must be true
- Answers the Article 6¹ test — medical assistance, repatriation, the entire period
- Valid for treatment in Lithuania
- Issued by a licensed insurer, with documentation the authorities accept
- Covers your full period of stay, or is renewable before it lapses
What's worth paying slightly more for
- Direct billing with local clinics — so you aren't paying up front and reclaiming later on a student budget
- English-language support — the moment you need it is the worst moment to be navigating Lithuanian
- Outpatient and prescription cover, not just emergencies — most of what students actually use
- Mental health cover — genuinely relevant given long dark winters and a heavy academic load, and excluded from the one set of terms published in English
- Repatriation cover — unpleasant to think about, and required by the statute
Buy at home or in Lithuania?
A policy bought in Lithuania is written against the Lithuanian requirement, comes with direct relationships to local clinics, and makes claims and support easier while you are here. The trade-off is that these are quote-only, so allow days rather than minutes.
A policy bought in your home country can be arranged before you travel and is sometimes cheaper. It must explicitly cover Lithuania, must name repatriation, and must run your full permit period — and claims from abroad can be slow.
Either can work. If you buy at home, confirm in writing that the policy covers treatment in Lithuania for your full stay and that the certificate will be accepted — ask your university's international office, which sees this every year.
If You Get a Job, You May Be Able to Drop It
This is the piece most students never find out, and it's worth real money.
Once you're legally employed in Lithuania, PSD comes out of your gross salary — 6.98%, withheld and remitted by your employer, not paid on top by them. That brings you into the state compulsory health insurance system, with access to public healthcare on the same basis as anyone else.
At that point the private policy you bought for your permit may become redundant. Before you cancel anything:
- Confirm your PSD coverage is actually active — there can be a lag between starting work and coverage beginning
- Check what your permit renewal requires — state coverage generally satisfies it, but confirm for your case
- Don't leave a gap. Article 6¹ asks for the entire period. Overlap the two rather than cancelling early and hoping
- Check your policy's cancellation terms — you may or may not get a refund on the unused portion
See working as a student for work rights and permitted hours, and what is Sodra for how contributions work.
EU Students and the EHIC
If you're an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, your position is different and much simpler.
Your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), issued in your home country, entitles you to necessary state healthcare in Lithuania on the same terms as a Lithuanian resident. Get it before you leave — it's free and it's the single most useful document you'll carry.
What the EHIC does not do:
- Cover private treatment or private clinics
- Cover repatriation to your home country
- Replace travel insurance for lost belongings or cancellations
- Cover treatment you specifically travelled to Lithuania to receive
Many EU students carry the EHIC plus a modest top-up policy. That combination costs little and closes the gaps.
Common Mistakes
Buying to a €30,000 target for a student permit
That is the Schengen short-stay visa figure from the EU Visa Code. Article 6¹ sets no sum for a residence permit. Buy the wording — medical assistance, repatriation, full period.
Assuming you're covered because you're a student
In many countries students get state coverage automatically. In Lithuania, non-EU students don't. This is the assumption that causes problems.
Buying BTA's resident health tier because it has a price
It is the only published price in the market and it is the wrong product — supplementary cover for people already in PSD.
Buying insurance after submitting the permit application
The certificate is a required document at submission. Buying late delays everything, and quote-only insurers take days to answer.
Buying a policy that doesn't explicitly cover Lithuania
A general travel policy from home may not satisfy the requirement. Check the wording, not the marketing.
Never reading the exclusions
Chronic conditions, mental health, manual work and routine pregnancy care sit outside the one set of foreigner terms published in English. Ask for the terms document by number.
Letting it lapse mid-degree
Your permit condition continues for as long as you hold the permit. Diarise the renewal date.
Losing the certificate
You'll need it again at renewal. Keep a digital copy somewhere you'll find it in a year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do international students need health insurance in Lithuania?
Non-EU students do. It is a condition of the student residence permit, and they are not covered by the state PSD system unless employed or holding permanent residence. EU students should carry an EHIC from their home country.
What insurance do I need for a student residence permit?
A policy that covers the cost of necessary medical assistance as defined in the Law on the Health System, covers repatriation on health grounds including transport and an escorting healthcare professional where needed, and is valid for the entire period of your residence. That is the test in Article 6-1 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, and there is no separate student version of it.
Is €30,000 of cover required?
Not for a residence permit. The €30,000 minimum comes from Article 15 of the EU Visa Code, Regulation 810/2009, and applies to the Schengen short-stay visa. Article 6-1 of the Lithuanian Aliens Law sets no sum insured at all.
How long must the policy be valid?
For the entire period of your stay or residence in Lithuania. The claim that permit insurance must run at least one year appears on relocation portals but not in the statute.
How much does student health insurance cost?
No Lithuanian insurer publishes a price for it, because no insurer sells a student health product at all. Cover for foreigners is quoted individually. The comparison point is self-paid PSD at €80.48 a month, around €966 a year in 2026.
Can I just pay PSD myself instead?
Yes. Self-paid PSD is €80.48 per month in 2026, around €966 a year, and it puts you in the public system rather than merely satisfying the permit condition. Whether a private policy is cheaper depends on your quote, since no insurer publishes a rate.
Can I buy a policy online?
Not the product you need. Lietuvos draudimas and ERGO both end in a contact form. Compensa's online calculator sells travel cover. If has a calculator but asks for a Lithuanian personal code before showing a price, which shuts out anyone applying from abroad.
Which insurers sell cover to foreigners?
Lietuvos draudimas sells Užsieniečių medicininių išlaidų ir repatriacijos draudimas. ERGO sells Užsieniečių kelionių draudimas Lietuvoje under Terms No. 043, published in English. Balcia has a Foreigner Medical Expenses Insurance with bilingual terms. Compensa, BTA and If sell travel cover. Seesam is a Compensa brand rather than an insurer, and Lamantinas does not sell this class of insurance.
What about products with student in the name?
They are not health insurance. Compensa sells accident cover for pupils and students, and Lietuvos draudimas sells possessions cover. Neither satisfies the permit requirement.
Does it cover pre-existing conditions?
Almost never. ERGO, the only insurer publishing its foreigner terms in English, excludes chronic illness and defines it as a condition that existed or was treated in the previous six months. If you have an ongoing condition, ask the insurer in writing before you buy.
Does it cover mental health?
Not under ERGO's published terms, which exclude mental-health conditions outright. Given the academic load and the winters this is worth asking about specifically, insurer by insurer.
Does the policy have to include repatriation?
Yes. Article 6-1 names it directly, including transport and, where needed, the accompaniment of a healthcare professional. Check the word appears on your certificate.
Can I use insurance from my home country?
Sometimes, if it explicitly covers treatment in Lithuania for your full period of stay, names repatriation, and the documentation is acceptable to the Migration Department. Confirm in writing before relying on it.
Does my EHIC work in Lithuania?
Yes, if you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen. It covers necessary state healthcare on the same terms as a resident. It does not cover private treatment or repatriation, and it does not help non-EU students.
What happens if I get a job?
PSD starts being withheld from your pay and you enter the state system. Your private policy may become redundant, but confirm your coverage is active and check your permit renewal requirements before cancelling anything.
Related Guides
General guidance, not insurance advice. Requirements and prices change — confirm cover requirements with the Migration Department and policy terms with the insurer before buying. See the terms.
Ready to Sort Your Student Cover?
Cover is a condition of the student permit, and insurers here price it by quote — so get one before you submit.