Lithuania pays three benefits around a birth — maternity, paternity and childcare — all from Sodra rather than the employer, with flat municipal payments alongside. None depends on nationality; the insured ones depend on an insurance record, which is the whole question for a foreigner who arrived recently.
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The Record That Decides Everything
The Law on Sickness and Maternity Social Insurance ties each benefit to a motinystės socialinio draudimo stažas, a maternity insurance record. For the maternity and childcare benefits it is 12 months in the last 24, counted to the day the leave begins; for the paternity benefit the Ministry of Social Security and Labour states a shorter 6 months in the last 24.
The record is built by the 1.81% maternity component inside the 19.5% an employee pays to Sodra, so it accrues from the first month of a Lithuanian contract, and from individuali veikla where contributions were actually paid. Sodra sets no nationality or permit condition: a third-country national on a temporary permit is insured like a citizen. What a newcomer lacks is not eligibility but months.
Periods from another EU or EEA state count. Regulation 883/2004 requires Sodra to add insurance completed in another member state to the Lithuanian months. The document trail is the employee's to produce, and easier to obtain before leaving that country than after.
Where the record is too short there is a floor. Since 1 June 2026 the municipality pays an išmoka vaiko priežiūrai of €444 a month until the child is 2 to a parent without the record; it stops the moment Sodra starts paying for the same child. Until June it was for students only.
One exception. A parent who lacks the record because they were on childcare leave with an earlier child is judged on the 12 months from the 24 preceding the previous child's second birthday.
Maternity Benefit: 126 Days at 77.58%
The motinystės išmoka covers the pregnancy and birth leave of article 132: 70 calendar days before the birth and 56 after, 126 in all, or 140 — 70 of them after — for a complicated or multiple birth. Days unused before the birth are added after it, and 14 days after it are mandatory in any case.
It pays 77.58% of compensatory earnings — kompensuojamasis uždarbis, insured income over 12 consecutive months ending the month before last before the right arises. Sodra's example: a right arising in July 2026 runs on income from 1 June 2025 to 31 May 2026.
The floor is 8 basic social benefits a month — €592 at the 2026 BSI of €74, €28.33 a day in Sodra's table — for a right arising from February 2026; a right from January is on the previous BSI, €560. The ceiling differs from the other two benefits: the Ministry caps compensatory earnings at the annual contribution ceiling, 43 average wages or €99,422.45 for 2026, not at the two-average-wage cap.
The application may be filed up to 12 months after the leave ends. The leave begins on the electronic certificate a doctor issues at the thirtieth week of pregnancy; a mother who keeps working past it shifts the days rather than losing them.
Paternity Benefit: 30 Days in Year One
The tėvystės išmoka covers the 30 calendar days of paternity leave under article 133, whatever the number of children born at once, at 77.58% of the father's compensatory earnings. The leave runs any time until the child turns 1, in at most 2 parts, as agreed with the employer. Floor €592 a month; ceiling 77.58% of two average wages — Sodra prints €3,945.41 a month, €188.78 a day, for a right arising in the third quarter of 2026.
The record test is the shorter one — 6 months in 24 — and a self-employed father must also have paid the maternity contributions for the month before the right arises. Sodra pays within 5 working days of the leave ending, on an application filed within 12 months.
The father's two childcare months are not this leave. The 2 non-transferable months under article 134 are a separate entitlement, paid at 78% rather than 77.58%.
Childcare Benefit: 18 or 24 Months
Childcare leave under article 134 runs until the child turns 3, may be taken by either parent, a grandparent or a guardian, at once, in parts or alternating, on 14 calendar days' written notice. The benefit stops well before the leave does: for a child born from 1 January 2023 the family chooses its length on the application — until the child is 18 or 24 months old — and the percentage follows from the choice.
| Period | Until 18 months | Until 24 months |
|---|---|---|
| Each parent's 2 non-transferable months | 78% | 78% |
| Until the child is 12 months | 60% | 45% |
| From 12 to 18 months | 60% | 30% |
| From 18 to 24 months | — | 30% |
The parent drawing the benefit is the one on childcare leave, and it is calculated on that parent's earnings, so a family with one high earner and one newcomer can put the shared months on the parent with the fuller record.
The non-transferable months are the part that catches families out. Each parent has 2 months — 62 calendar days, the limit however they are split — paid at the higher 78%, belonging to that parent alone and not available to both at once; grandparents and guardians taking the leave get the ordinary rate. They cannot be given away. Sodra's May 2026 explanation: unused by the end of the benefit period, they are simply not paid, so on the 18-month option with a father who takes nothing, payments stop at 16 months. A parent raising the child alone may draw those last two months, regardless of earnings.
Two months at zero, not two months at sixty percent
A father who takes no leave at all costs the family the final 2 months of the benefit — at the 18-month ceiling, €3,051.36 a month, twice. Taken, the same months are paid at 78% of his own earnings, in parts if he wants. There is no scenario in which leaving them unused pays.
Floors, Ceilings and Tax in 2026
Two numbers bracket every benefit. The floor is 8 times the basic social benefit, bazinė socialinė išmoka — €74 in 2026, so €592 a month, or €560 for a right that arose in January. The ceiling on paternity and childcare benefits is 2 times the average wage, VDU, of the quarter before last — article 6(5) of the insurance law — so rights from January–March 2026 sit on the third-quarter 2025 wage of €2,415.70 and rights from 1 July 2026 on the first-quarter 2026 wage of €2,542.80, capping earnings at €5,085.60 a month.
| Maximum a month, by quarter the right arose | January–March 2026 | From 1 July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Compensatory earnings cap (2 x VDU) | €4,831.40 | €5,085.60 |
| Paternity benefit, 77.58% | — | €3,945.41 |
| Childcare, non-transferable months, 78% | €3,768.49 | €3,966.77 |
| Childcare to 18 months, 60% | €2,898.84 | €3,051.36 |
| Childcare to 24 months, first year, 45% | €2,174.13 | €2,288.52 |
| Childcare to 24 months, second year, 30% | €1,449.42 | €1,525.68 |
The ceiling is fixed at the quarter the right arose and stays with the benefit for its whole run: two parents whose rights arose in March and July 2026 are on different caps for the same child.
All three benefits are taxed. On the day of payment Sodra withholds 15% income tax and a 6% compulsory health insurance contribution from each of them. The figures above are gross; the child money and birth grant below are not taxed.
Child Money and the Birth Grant
The flat family payments come from the municipality under the Law on Benefits to Children, Išmokų vaikams įstatymas. Each is a multiple of the basic social benefit, so all of them moved on 1 January 2026 when the BSI rose to €74.
Child money — išmoka vaikui, or vaiko pinigai — is €129.50 a month (1.75 x BSI) per child until 18, or 23 while the child is in general education. A family with 3 or more children gets a further €76.22 (1.03 x BSI) per child with no income test; a smaller family gets it where income is below €466 a person a month, twice the state-supported income, and a disabled child gets it regardless. Supplemented total: €205.72 a child.
The birth grant — vienkartinė išmoka vaikui — rose on 1 June 2026 from 11 to 14 basic social benefits, €1,036; a child born earlier is on the €814 rate. It is claimed within 12 months of the birth. A pregnancy grant of €475.82 (6.43 x BSI), paid 70 days before the due date, exists for a woman with no right to the maternity benefit.
Who qualifies, as a foreigner. Article 1 covers long-term residents; holders of a temporary residence permit who are permitted to work and are working here, or worked here at least 6 months and are registered with the Employment Service; EU and EEA citizens and their family members with a document confirming their right to reside; and people granted asylum. A student on a study permit cannot claim child money, and the birth grant requires the child's residence to be declared in Lithuania. Every payment is claimed at the municipality of the declared address or at spis.lt, and none is taxed.
Three authorities, three applications
Sodra pays the insured benefits, through its own self-service. The municipality pays child money, the birth grant and the uninsured parent's payment, through spis.lt. The employer grants the leave. Nothing follows automatically from anything else, and the birth grant has a twelve-month limit.
Applying Through Sodra
The leave comes from the employer, the benefit from Sodra
The pregnancy certificate goes to the employer, who records the leave; childcare leave needs the 14-day written notice, and paternity leave is agreed with the employer inside the child's first year.
File in the self-service
Sodra's asmeninė paskyra takes each application as an electronic form, signed in with a bank login, an e-signature, Smart-ID or Mobile-ID — or on paper by post with a certified copy of the identity document. The childcare application records the 18- or 24-month choice, and each parent claims their own non-transferable months through their own account.
Watch the twelve-month limit
File within 12 months of the end of the leave, or of the period the benefit is due for. Late means lost. A self-employed applicant must actually have paid the maternity contributions for the months that count.
Claim the municipal payments separately
Child money, the birth grant and the €444 uninsured parent's payment go through the municipality or spis.lt once the birth is registered and the child has an asmens kodas.
What the employer may not do. Article 61 bars dismissal at the employer's initiative from the day a pregnant employee tells the employer until the baby is 4 months old, and protects an employee on childcare leave or with a child under 3 the same way, except for their own fault. Article 131 gives an employee returning from these leaves the same or an equivalent post on no less favourable conditions. Article 138 adds the mamadienis or tėvadienis: an extra paid day off every 3 months for a parent of one child under 12, 1 a month for two and 2 for three or more.
Frequently Asked Questions
I am a foreigner on a temporary residence permit and work in Lithuania. Do I get the maternity benefit?
Yes, on the same terms as a citizen: the conditions are the record — 12 months in the last 24 — and the leave, neither of which depends on nationality or permit type. Insurance from another EU or EEA state counts under Regulation 883/2004, once that state certifies it.
How much is the maternity benefit and for how long?
77.58% of compensatory earnings — insured income over 12 months ending the month before last before the right arose — for 126 days, or 140 after a complicated or multiple birth. The floor is €592 a month (8 x BSI) from February 2026, less 15% income tax and 6% health insurance on payment.
What are the 18-month and 24-month options?
Either until the child is 18 months old at 60% of compensatory earnings, or until 24 months at 45% then 30%. On either option each parent's 2 non-transferable months are paid at 78%. The choice is made on the application.
What happens if the father does not take his two months?
The family loses them. Each parent's 2 months — 62 calendar days — cannot be transferred, and Sodra pays that much less if they go unused: on the 18-month option payments stop at 16 months, a loss of over €6,103 at the ceiling. A parent raising the child alone may draw those months instead.
What are the maximum benefits in 2026?
For a right arising from 1 July 2026 earnings are capped at €5,085.60: €3,945.41 of paternity benefit a month, €3,051.36 on the 18-month childcare option, the rest in the ceilings table above. The cap is fixed at the quarter the right arose. The maternity benefit is capped by the annual contribution ceiling instead, €99,422.45 for 2026.
Can I work while receiving the benefit?
During the maternity benefit, the paternity benefit and the non-transferable childcare months Sodra pays only the difference between the benefit and employment income in the same month, and the offset runs by calendar month — a block started mid-month is set against the whole month's pay. In the other childcare months it is paid in full while benefit plus income stay under 100% of your previous average pay, and a parent on the minimum benefit may earn up to the minimum monthly wage without reduction. Income from individuali veikla does not reduce the maternity benefit, though another Sodra benefit in the same month does.
What is the child money in 2026, and can a foreigner claim it?
€129.50 a month per child until 18, or 23 while in general education, plus €76.22 for a family with 3 or more children, one below €466 a person a month, or a disabled child. Foreigners qualify on the terms above, including a temporary-permit holder working here or who worked at least 6 months; a study permit does not.
How much is the birth grant?
€1,036 — 14 basic social benefits — for a child born from 1 June 2026, up from €814 before that date. One-off per child, claimed within 12 months of the birth at the municipality or spis.lt, with the child's residence declared in Lithuania.
I have no Sodra record at all. Is there anything?
Since 1 June 2026, yes: €444 a month from the municipality until the child turns 2, to a parent, grandparent or guardian without the record. It stops if Sodra starts paying for the same child, and is not increased for twins. A woman with no Sodra maternity right also gets the €475.82 pregnancy grant, and child money and the birth grant are paid regardless of the record.
How and where do I apply?
The three insured benefits are claimed in Sodra's self-service with a bank login, e-signature, Smart-ID or Mobile-ID, or on paper, each within 12 months of the end of the leave. Child money, the birth grant and the uninsured parent's payment are claimed separately at the municipality or spis.lt, once the birth is registered.