The short answer: no, not to live here — and yes, if you ever want a passport. Here is which situations actually require the language and which do not.
Table of Contents
When You Actually Need Lithuanian
| Situation | Language needed |
|---|---|
| Opening a bank account | English — all three major banks serve in English |
| Migration Department (MIGRIS) | English interface available |
| Doctor, private clinic | English, reliably |
| Doctor, state clinic | Usually English, not guaranteed |
| Renting a flat | English in the cities |
| Tech, finance, shared services | English is often the working language |
| Official letters from the state | Lithuanian only — nothing is translated |
| Court, notary, legal documents | Lithuanian, with a sworn translator if needed |
| Small towns and villages | Lithuanian, or Russian with older speakers |
| Public sector and many customer-facing jobs | Lithuanian required |
| Citizenship by naturalisation | State language exam — mandatory |
The pattern: anything you choose to do works in English; anything the state does to you happens in Lithuanian. Tax notices, Sodra letters and Migration Department decisions arrive in Lithuanian, and their deadlines run whether or not you understood the letter.
The Citizenship Language Exam
This is what makes the language non-optional long-term. Naturalisation requires a state language examination plus a separate exam on the basics of the Constitution.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Language exam | State language proficiency, first category |
| Format | A written test and an interview |
| Second exam | Basics of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania |
| Issued by | State Commission of the Lithuanian Language |
| Typical route | Ten years of lawful residence |
| Exemptions | Age 65+, work capacity 0–55%, pensionable age with special needs, serious chronic mental disorders |
First category means A2 — not B1, and almost every guide gets this wrong. Government Resolution No. 889 of 27 October 2021, in force from 1 January 2022, maps the state language categories onto the Common European Framework: category I = A2, category II = B1, category III = not lower than B2, plus C1 and C2 above. The citizenship exam confers category I, so the level to reach is A2. Sources: the resolution itself and the ministry announcement, checked 7 August 2026. B1 is category II — the level many customer-facing jobs require. If someone tells you citizenship needs B1, they are quoting the jobs rule.
That A1 rule is now in force, and it may apply to your job
The resolution of 26 November 2025 took effect on 1 January 2026: foreigners working in customer-facing service and retail roles must be able to serve customers in Lithuanian, and a new basic category, equivalent to A1, was created for them.
After a two-year transition — from 1 January 2026, or from when you first received residence documentation if that was earlier — the requirement rises to A2, category I. Temporary protection holders, temporary market traders and people selling their own forest produce are exempt.
Only 157 foreigners registered for the first three exam sessions of 2026, against capacity for up to 800 per session — a sign most people affected have not heard about it, not that it is unenforced.
What the exams cost
There are two separate exam systems, and guides conflate them constantly.
| Exam | What it is for | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| State language, basic (A1) and category I (A2) | Employment | €52 |
| State language exam | Permanent residence and citizenship | €57 |
| Basics of the Constitution | Permanent residence and citizenship | €21 |
The €52 employment fee rose from €49 on 1 January 2026. The €57 and €21 come from the National Agency for Education's mid-2025 candidate guidance with no 2026 confirmation — treat them as a floor rather than a certainty.
Where you register differs by purpose. For an employment-category exam, register at eksternams.nsa.smm.lt — open 30 days before, closing 7 days before, with payment within 24 hours confirming the place. For permanent residence you register through MIGRIS, and registration closes 15 calendar days before. Exams run at 58 designated schools, 15 sessions across 2026.
Fail the language exam and you cannot sit the Constitution exam in the same round; results take up to 12 working days. Anyone who completed secondary education in Lithuania already holds category I. And citizenship by descent does not require the exam at all: through a Lithuanian ancestor you are restoring citizenship rather than naturalising — worth thousands of hours, so check your family history before enrolling in anything.
How Hard Is It, Really?
Harder than Spanish, easier than Hungarian, and front-loaded: the first six months are the steepest.
| Feature | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Seven cases | Nouns change ending by grammatical role — the main obstacle, and it reaches adjectives and numbers too |
| Two genders | Masculine and feminine only — simpler than German |
| No articles | No a or the to worry about at all |
| Phonetic spelling | Written as spoken; learn the alphabet and you can read any word aloud |
| Pitch accent | Real, and mostly ignorable early on |
| Vocabulary | Few cognates with English; words are learned from scratch |
| Names decline too | Your surname changes shape in Lithuanian sentences — normal, not a mistake |
The consolation is that the pronunciation is genuinely easy and the spelling never lies. Beginners often speak with a good accent long before they can build a correct sentence.
Where to Learn
Four routes, in the order most people should try them — plus apps, which the FAQ deals with. Most learners combine a course for structure with a tutor for speaking. Group courses are taught through English or Russian, in groups of three to six.
Key highlights
Advantages
- Free for declared Vilnius residents
- A temporary residence permit qualifies
Considerations
- Heavily oversubscribed
- Registration suspended as of August 2026
Key highlights
Advantages
- The most effective paid option here
- Correction an app cannot give
Considerations
- A small pool for a small language
- Priced per hour, so it adds up
What each route actually involves
Free municipal courses. Vilnius runs free courses for non-EU residents with a declared Vilnius address, delivered by Vytautas Magnus University under the Aš kalbu programme: a 75-hour academic course A1–B2 with a credit-bearing certificate, and a 60-hour online course A1–B1. English or Russian, placement test first, and a temporary residence permit qualifies. The catch is capacity: roughly 6,000 registered in February 2026 for around 1,500 places, and registration was suspended as of mid-August 2026. The programme also runs free language clubs and cafés by level, plus a paid teacher-matching service. vilnius.lt/as-kalbu.
A one-to-one tutor is the most effective paid option: a tutor fixes the case endings in real time and an app cannot. italki and Preply carry Lithuanian tutors — a few dozen rather than thousands.
University courses. Vilnius University publishes fixed prices: a 50-hour evening course for €350, a two-week intensive for €560, a four-week summer course (100 hours) for €850, and semester studies — 256 hours, 30 ECTS — for €1,792. Students and staff get 20% off; all in person. Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas runs the four-week Baltic Summer University course for €800 in person or €500 online, 50% off for Ukrainians, people of Lithuanian descent and VMU students. Klaipėda University runs a four-week 80-hour intensive at €600 on site or €300 online for B1, plus a €30 registration fee, and its semester courses prepare for the state A2, B1 and B2 exams. If you are enrolled at a Lithuanian university, check whether courses are already included.
Private language schools, from each school's published list, checked 15 August 2026. Soros International House — 40 hours, €299 online or €349 in person, individual lessons from €24.99/hour. Skrivanek Akademija — €490 for A1–A2, €650 for B1. Lingua Lituanica — €350 for a 50-hour A1 group. House of National Communities — €180 for A1 or A2, €210 for B1 or B2, €240 for C1, each 60 hours; many sources still call these free, and they are not.
Free and Low-Cost Options
The nationwide free programme is funded and starts this autumn. The Ministry of Culture, with the Ministry of Social Security and Labour and Kauno kolegija among the partners, runs free courses for third-country nationals nationwide at A1 to B2, financed from the EU's Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, targeting at least 6,300 people by 2028. A national registration platform is being built; as of mid-August 2026 its address had not been published.
Free scholarships for summer courses. The state pays tuition plus a €962 scholarship for its Lithuanian Language and Culture Summer Courses, hosted by Vilnius University, VMU, Klaipėda University, Mykolas Romeris and others. The 2026 round has closed — applications ran to mid-March, so diarise March 2027. studyin.lt.
Free clubs and conversation groups. The Migration Information Centre runs a free "Let's Learn Lithuanian" club in Vilnius, Wednesdays 18:00–20:00 at A. Jakšto g. 12, no registration; Caritas of the Archdiocese of Vilnius runs free courses for Vilnius district residents. MiCenter's free helpline on 0 800 22922 will say what is running in your municipality. Public libraries give free access to textbooks, and the National Library keeps a page for non-native speakers.
Twenty Phrases Worth Knowing in Week One
Not a course — the handful that change how strangers respond to you. Lithuanian is spelled as spoken, so read these exactly as written.
Frequently Asked Questions
A letter has arrived in Lithuanian and I cannot read it. How do I tell whether it is urgent?
Learn five words before anything else. Terminas is a deadline, skola a debt, sprendimas a decision, privalote means you must, per 30 dienų means within 30 days. If any appear, get the letter translated the same day. The tax administration, Sodra and the Migration Department do not translate as a matter of course, and their deadlines run whether or not you understood the letter.
Where do I actually register for the state language exam, and does it depend on why I am taking it?
It does, and this is where people lose a session. For an employment-category exam you register at eksternams.nsa.smm.lt, where payment within 24 hours confirms the place rather than the registration itself. For permanent residence you register through MIGRIS instead, and registration closes 15 calendar days before rather than 7.
Is there any way to get citizenship without sitting the language exam at all?
Three. Through a Lithuanian ancestor you are restoring citizenship rather than naturalising, and the language requirement does not apply — check your family history before enrolling in anything. Anyone who completed secondary education in Lithuania already holds category I. And there are statutory exemptions: age 65 and over, work capacity rated 0–55%, pensionable age with special needs, serious chronic mental disorders.
I work in a shop or a café. Does the new Lithuanian requirement apply to me, and when does my clock start?
If your role is customer-facing service or retail, yes — since 1 January 2026. The part worth getting right is the transition period: two years, running from 1 January 2026 or from when you first received residence documentation, whichever was earlier. Someone who has been here for years is further into that clock than someone who arrived this January.
What happens if I fail the language exam?
You cannot sit the Constitution exam in the same round — the language exam gates it, so a fail costs you both — and results take up to 12 working days. The consolation is frequency: 15 sessions across 2026 at 58 designated schools, so a missed round costs weeks rather than a year.
Do I qualify for the free Vilnius courses, and can I realistically get a place?
You qualify as a non-EU resident with a declared Vilnius address; a temporary residence permit is enough and you need not be registered unemployed. Getting a place is the hard part, and registration was suspended as of mid-August 2026 — join the email list rather than planning to check back.
I do not live in Vilnius. Is there anything free for me?
Yes. A nationwide programme funded from the EU's Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund runs courses at A1 to B2 across the country, targeting at least 6,300 completions by 2028, but its registration platform had no published address as of mid-August 2026. So the highest-value step is one call: MiCenter's free helpline on 0 800 22922 will say what is running in your municipality. Two routes you will be recommended are not open — the Užimtumo tarnyba adult-education measure stopped recruiting in March 2025, so call 1883 before counting on it, and the €500 Kursuok voucher opens no new call before late autumn 2026, with training starting in 2027.
What does a paid Lithuanian course actually cost?
From €180 to €1,792, and the spread is mostly hours rather than quality: Vilnius University's semester course is 256 hours for €1,792 and its evening course €350, while the cheapest published price is the House of National Communities at €180 for A1 or A2 — often wrongly described as free. The section above lists every school's current price.
Is there a scholarship for a summer language course?
There is, and it pays rather than discounts: the state covers tuition and adds a €962 scholarship for its Lithuanian Language and Culture Summer Courses, open to foreign students, lecturers and researchers who are neither native speakers nor already C1, up to three times in a lifetime. Travel and accommodation are not covered. The 2026 round closed in mid-March, so diarise March 2027.
Can an app get me to A2?
Not on its own. Apps are good at vocabulary and useless at the case system, where the difficulty lives. Lithuanian is on neither Duolingo nor Babbel — Latvian and Estonian are on Duolingo, which is why people assume it must be. What exists is thin: Ling at $16.99 a month or $89.99 a year, Pimsleur with a single level of ten half-hour lessons, uTalk at roughly 2,500 words and phrases for A1–A2, and LinGo Play, with a free tier and a place on the education agency's recommended list. Better and free: the National Agency for Education's curated list by CEFR level, and Vilnius University's textbooks online as PDFs — Pažiūrėk! Paklausyk! Pasakyk! for A1–A2, the Žingsnis and Žodis žodį veja workbooks for B1–B2, and Skaitome ir klausome lietuviškai. Then add a tutor for the endings.
What to Read Next
- Citizenship by descent — the route that skips the exam
- Moving to Lithuania — the full first-year checklist
- Studying in Lithuania — where courses are often included
Disclosure
No link on this page earns us a commission, and nothing here is paid placement. The section above says plainly that apps are a poor route for this language — including the ones linked to here.
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.