Table of Contents
Which Document Do You Need?
Almost every problem on this subject comes from confusing three different documents. They are issued by different authorities, they permit different things, and picking the wrong one costs months.
| 🛂Schengen visa (C)Up to 90 days | 📘National visa (D)91 days to 12 months | 🪪Residence permitLiving here | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Issued by | A Lithuanian consulate, or another Schengen state | The Migration Department | The Migration Department |
| Maximum stay | 90 days in any 180 | 12 months | Renewable indefinitely |
| Lets you work | ✗ | Only for the specific purpose it was issued for | ✓ |
| Travel in the rest of Schengen | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Time counts against your 90 days | Yes | No | No |
| Insurance minimum | €30,000 | No fixed sum | No fixed sum |
| State fee | €90 | €140 | €160 |
The short version. Visiting for under three months? A Schengen visa, or nothing at all if your nationality is visa-exempt. Moving here to work or study? You need a residence permit — and since 1 July 2024 a Schengen visa will not let you work, whatever your employer tells you. The national (D) visa covers a narrow middle band of purposes, listed below.
Do You Need a Visa At All?
This is decided by EU law, not by Lithuania. Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 lists every nationality in one of two annexes: Annex I needs a visa, Annex II does not.
No visa needed
Up to 90 days in any 180. Passport only.
- United States, Canada, United Kingdom
- Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea
- Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Israel, UAE
- Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia, Albania — biometric passports only
Visa required
Apply before you travel. There is no visa on arrival.
- India, China, Turkey, Philippines, Indonesia
- Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam
- Russia and Belarus — and Lithuania is not accepting the applications at all
The full list runs to sixty-odd nationalities and changes. Check yours: visa requirements by nationality.
Russian and Belarusian citizens: applications are suspended
Lithuania has gone considerably further than the EU baseline. Under national sanctions extended by the Seimas on 23 April 2026 and running to 31 December 2027, Lithuanian missions do not accept Schengen visa applications from Russian or Belarusian citizens at all, except where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs mediates. Acceptance of residence permit applications from Russian citizens is separately suspended, with exceptions for those who already hold a Schengen visa, a national visa, or a Lithuanian or other EU residence permit.
A Schengen visa issued by another member state remains valid for entry to Lithuania. Russian citizens are subject to an individual additional check at the border.
The 90/180 Rule
Ninety days in any 180. The part people get wrong is any: it is a rolling window, not a calendar period that resets. Article 6 of the Schengen Borders Code puts it as "a duration of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period, which entails considering the 180-day period preceding each day of stay."
Pick any day you plan to be in the Schengen area
The test is applied to that specific day, not to your trip as a whole.
Count back 180 days from it
That is your window. It moves with you — tomorrow's window is a different 180 days.
Add up every day you were present inside that window
Across all Schengen states, not per country. Days in France and days in Lithuania go in the same total.
The total must not exceed 90
Your day of arrival and your day of departure both count as full days, even if you land at 23:00.
Time on a D visa or residence permit does not count
This is the single most valuable rule in this whole area, and almost nobody knows it. Article 6(2) of the Schengen Borders Code: "Periods of stay authorised under a residence permit or a long-stay visa shall not be taken into account in the calculation of the duration of stay."
So if you live in Lithuania on a residence permit, your years here consume none of your 90 days. You keep the full 90/180 allowance for travelling in the other Schengen states — a separate right, under Article 21 of the Schengen Implementing Convention. It is a right to travel, not to work or settle in those states.
Knowing where you stand used to mean adding up passport stamps by hand and hoping the border guard's arithmetic matched yours. It no longer does. The counting is now automatic: since the Entry/Exit System became fully operational on 10 April 2026, entries and exits are recorded digitally and overstays are detected by the system. Arithmetic that used to survive on an illegible stamp does not survive any more.
Fees
| Who | Schengen visa fee | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Adults | €90 | Visa Code art. 16(1), raised from €80 on 11 June 2024 |
| Children aged 6 to 11 | €45 | Visa Code art. 16(2) |
| Children under 6 | Free | Mandatory waiver |
| School pupils, students and accompanying teachers travelling to study | Free | Mandatory waiver, art. 16(4) |
| Researchers travelling for research or a scientific conference | Free | Mandatory waiver, art. 16(4) |
| Non-profit representatives aged 25 or under at an organised event | Free | Mandatory waiver, art. 16(4) |
| Nationals of certain visa-facilitation countries | €35 | Where a facilitation agreement applies |
The waivers in the table are the mandatory ones — a consulate must apply them. The Visa Code separately lets member states waive the fee for 6–17 year olds and for diplomatic and service passport holders, but that is discretionary, so do not count on it.
The service provider fee is capped by law
Most applications are lodged through an external service provider rather than at the consulate itself, and the provider charges its own fee on top. The Visa Code caps it: half the visa fee (so €45) as standard, rising to €80 where Lithuania has no consulate and is not represented by another member state, and €120 in exceptional cases. In practice Lithuanian Schengen applications in Turkey and Canada were both charged €17.90, well inside the cap.
You always retain the right to apply directly at a consulate instead.
The national visa fee is misquoted on Lithuania's own websites. The Migration Department lists the national (D) visa fee as €140. Several Lithuanian embassy pages still show €120, and so do some external service providers. The Migration Department is the authoritative source and the more recently updated one — budget €140 and query anything lower.
Required Documents
Passport
Valid at least three months beyond your intended departure, issued within the last ten years, with two blank pages.
Application form
Completed in the EPM online system and printed, or presented by reference number.
Photograph
A recent biometric photo meeting the Schengen specification.
Travel medical insurance
Minimum €30,000, valid across all member states for the whole stay, covering emergency treatment and repatriation.
Proof of accommodation
Hotel booking, or an invitation from your host in Lithuania.
Travel itinerary
Return or onward booking covering the intended trip.
Proof of means
Bank statements showing you can support yourself for the visit.
Purpose of travel
Business invitation, event registration, conference confirmation — whatever fits your reason for coming.
The insurance requirement is smaller than it looks — and bigger
Smaller: if you are applying for a multiple-entry visa, the policy only has to cover your first intended visit. You sign a declaration confirming you understand you must be insured for later trips. Holders of diplomatic passports are exempt entirely.
Bigger: the €30,000 minimum is a Schengen short-stay rule and it does not carry over to a residence permit. Lithuania's own test for a permit has no minimum sum at all — it asks that the policy actually cover necessary medical assistance and repatriation. Buying a €30,000 policy because a permit guide told you to is a misreading. See the insurance guide.
How to Apply
Complete the form in EPM
Lithuania's online Schengen application system. You fill it in online, then either print it or bring the reference number — the form is submitted in person, not online.
Work out which mission is competent
It is determined by your place of habitual residence, not your nationality. Where Lithuania has no mission, another Schengen state may represent it — Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Norway all do so in parts of Africa, for example.
Book, and mind the two deadlines
You may apply from six months before travel — nine if you are a seafarer — and, as a rule, no later than 15 calendar days before you go.
Attend in person and give biometrics
Fingerprints and a photograph, unless yours were taken for a previous Schengen visa within the last 59 months.
Wait
The decision is due within 15 calendar days, extendable to 45 where the application needs further scrutiny. The 45-day case is not rare — treat 15 days as a best case, not a plan.
Two portals, and they are not interchangeable. Schengen (C) visa applications go through EPM, at visa.vrm.lt. National (D) visa and residence permit applications go through MIGRIS, at migracija.lt. Starting in the wrong one is a common and entirely avoidable waste of an afternoon.
The National (D) Visa
A Lithuanian document rather than a Schengen one, for stays between 91 days and 12 months. The state fee is €140 and the decision period matches the Schengen visa — 15 calendar days, extendable to 45.
It covers a deliberately narrow set of purposes:
- Exchange-programme students
- Researchers and lecturers arriving under institutional agreements
- High-level athletes and coaches
- Seafarers on Lithuanian-flagged vessels
- Accredited journalists
- People unable to leave because of illness or force majeure
- Business owners whose company meets the investment conditions
- Seasonal workers whose permit runs beyond 90 days
- Employees posted from a non-EU or non-EFTA company
- People entering under an international agreement
Two routes that moved off the D visa in 2023
Full-time students and most skilled workers now need a temporary residence permit, not a D visa. The rule changed on 1 July 2023, and a great deal of advice online — including some still sitting on official-looking sites — has not caught up. If you are searching for a "Lithuania student visa", what you almost certainly need is a student residence permit.
The D visa's real advantage is the one covered above: time spent on it does not consume your 90 days, and it carries the right to travel in the other Schengen states for up to 90 days in any 180.
EES and ETIAS
Two EU systems, constantly confused with each other. One is running; one is not.
| EES | ETIAS | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Biometric border registration | A pre-travel authorisation |
| Status | Fully operational since 10 April 2026 | Not yet in operation |
| Who it applies to | All non-EU nationals on short stays — visa holders and visa-exempt alike | Visa-exempt travellers only |
| What you do | Nothing in advance. You are registered at the border | Apply online before travelling |
| Cost | Free | €20 |
| Validity | Records held per entry | Three years, or until your passport expires |
EES has replaced passport stamping. On your first entry you give four fingerprints and a facial image; later entries reuse them and move faster. Budget extra time at Vilnius airport or the land border the first time. The system detects overstays automatically.
ETIAS has not launched. In April 2026 the Commission said it was scheduled for the last quarter of 2026, but no start date has been confirmed and the launch has been postponed repeatedly. When it does start it will apply to visa-exempt travellers — Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians and so on — at €20, free for under-18s and over-70s. If a website is currently selling you an ETIAS authorisation, it is not selling you anything real.
What a Schengen Visa Does Not Allow
Working
Since 1 July 2024 you cannot work in Lithuania on a Schengen visa, a national visa from another country, another country's residence permit, or visa-free entry. Work requires a Lithuanian residence permit, with narrow exceptions. Employers who tell you otherwise are describing the rules as they were two years ago.
Applying for a work or study permit from inside Lithuania, after 1 November 2026
From that date, lodging a work- or study-based residence permit application with the Migration Department while in Lithuania requires a Lithuanian residence permit, a Lithuanian national visa, another Schengen or EU state's residence permit, or legal visa-free presence. A Schengen visa is not on the list. Visa-free nationals are unaffected.
Staying longer by leaving and coming back
The 180-day window is rolling. A weekend in London does not reset it.
Living in another Schengen state
The visa permits travel, not residence. Ninety days is a visit.
Overstaying
An entry ban under Article 133 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens is not a Lithuanian problem — it is a Schengen one. The Migration Department enters ban data into the Schengen Information System, so a ban issued in Lithuania blocks entry to every member state.
Grounds reach well beyond overstaying: refusal of entry, an order to leave, unpaid fines, unfiled mandatory tax declarations, a finding that a marriage or partnership was fictitious, expulsion, and convictions for serious offences.
Article 133 sets the grounds clearly. The durations attached to each ground are not published in readable form anywhere, so if you have a ban or think you might have one, get the duration confirmed in writing by the Migration Department.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Lithuanian Schengen visa cost?
€90 for adults, €45 for children aged 6 to 11, and free for under-6s. It is also free for pupils, students and accompanying teachers travelling to study, for researchers attending a scientific conference, and for non-profit representatives aged 25 or under at an organised event. A €35 rate applies to nationals of certain visa-facilitation countries. An external service provider may add its own fee on top, capped by law at half the visa fee in most countries.
How long does it take?
The decision is due within 15 calendar days of an admissible application, extendable to 45 calendar days where further scrutiny is needed. Apply no more than six months before travel and, as a rule, no later than 15 calendar days before you go.
How does the 90/180 rule actually work?
It is a rolling window. For any given day, count back 180 days and add up your days of presence across all Schengen states in that window — the total must not exceed 90. Arrival and departure days both count as full days. The window never resets; it moves.
Does living in Lithuania use up my 90 days?
No. Article 6(2) of the Schengen Borders Code excludes time spent under a residence permit or a long-stay visa from the calculation. You keep the full 90 days for travel in the other Schengen states, as a separate right.
Can I work on a Schengen visa in Lithuania?
No. Since 1 July 2024, work requires a Lithuanian residence permit. Visa-free entry, a Schengen visa, another country's national visa and another country's residence permit all fail to give work rights in Lithuania, with narrow exceptions.
Do Americans need a visa for Lithuania?
Not for a short stay. US citizens are visa-exempt under Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 and may stay 90 days in any 180 on a passport alone. ETIAS will add a pre-travel authorisation when it launches, but it is not yet in operation.
Is ETIAS required now?
No. ETIAS is not in operation. The Commission said in April 2026 that it was scheduled for the last quarter of 2026, but no date has been confirmed and the launch has been postponed repeatedly. Any site currently charging you for an ETIAS authorisation is selling you nothing.
What is the difference between a Schengen visa and a national visa?
The Schengen (C) visa is an EU-wide document for stays up to 90 days, issued by a consulate and costing €90. The national (D) visa is a Lithuanian document for 91 days to 12 months, issued by the Migration Department and costing €140, covering a narrow list of purposes. Time on a D visa does not count against your 90/180 allowance; time on a C visa does.
Can Russian citizens get a Lithuanian visa?
In the ordinary course, no. Lithuania has suspended acceptance of Schengen visa applications from Russian and Belarusian citizens under national sanctions running to 31 December 2027, except where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs mediates. A Schengen visa issued by another member state remains valid for entry, though Russian citizens face an individual additional check at the border.
Do I still get a passport stamp?
No. The Entry/Exit System replaced stamping when it became fully operational on 10 April 2026. Your entries and exits are recorded digitally, along with fingerprints and a facial image taken at your first crossing.
How much travel insurance do I need?
€30,000 minimum for a Schengen visa, valid across all member states for the whole stay, covering emergency treatment and repatriation. For a multiple-entry visa the policy need only cover your first visit. The €30,000 figure does not apply to a Lithuanian residence permit, which has no minimum sum.
Related Guides
Full-time study and most skilled work moved off the D visa in 2023, and no visa of any kind gives you the right to work here. Getting the grounds right at the start is the cheapest hour in the process.
Make the insurance certificate say what the consulate needs
The cover has to include repatriation and be valid across the whole zone, and a policy that misses either does not satisfy the Visa Code. See what a compliant certificate looks like before you pay for one.
Disclaimer
General guidance, not legal advice. Visa rules are set at EU level and applied nationally, and both layers change. Confirm current requirements with the Lithuanian mission responsible for your place of residence, or with the Migration Department, before booking anything.