The Republic of Lithuania permits dual citizenship in exceptional cases. An ancestral Lithuanian citizenship is one of the exceptional cases in which the reinstatement of one’s Lithuanian citizenship is possible without losing existing citizenship status.
3 generations: children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, are eligible for Lithuanian citizenship if at least one of their parents, grandparents or great grandparents lived and were citizens of the Republic of Lithuania during the period of 2 November 1918 and 15 June 1940. If your ancestor left Lithuania some time before Lithuania restored its independence on March 11, 1990.
Spouses, unfortunately, are not entitled, unless their own Lithuanian ancestry does exist.
The reinstatement procedure has two – or sometimes even three – stages.
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Stage one
Preparation for application
Stage one involves preparation for application, i.e. collecting all the legal documents required to justify the application. The most important part of this stage is to collect evidence confirming that the applicant’s ancestor was actually a citizen of Lithuania (i.e. not only that she/he emigrated from Lithuania, but that she/he had citizen status). Here, we are meeting the legal requirement of “citizen” as it is determined by Lithuanian legislation and judicial practice.
Said evidences gathering isn’t limited to consulting Lithuanian or broader archives. In the majority of cases, it requires legal procedures such as court applications. Therefore, if you attempt to do this without professional assistance, stage one can take as long as several years or even encounter irremediable stumbling blocks, instead of the normal six to eight weeks if done with professional legal assistance.
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Stage two
Examination of the application
Stage two involves examination of the application by the Migration Department of the Republic of Lithuania. This is the longest and most patience-testing stage. The migration department is legally obliged to examine applications for reinstatement within six months from the date of submission, however, it takes 12 months on average.
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Stage three
Collection of additional evidence
In cases where there is a lack of documents (evidence) submitted to the Migration Department, the third stage – the collection of additional documents (evidence) – occurs.
In case application is not approved and rejected, there will be NO PAYMENT. All expenses on Lithuanian side such as archive investigatory, application governmental fees, documents translations, are all covered by IN JURE Law Firm with no obligation to compensate.
Total duration: the procedure normally takes from 10 to 14 months, in some specific complicated cases – longer.
To learn about application process step-by-step including timelines and costs contact us directly WhatsApp +370 600 68454