Lithuania job seeker permit for graduates

The permit is open to foreigners who completed a study programme, a formal vocational training programme or research and experimental development work in Lithuania. You need a confirmation from the university, school or research institution that less than one year has passed since you obtained the qualification or finished the research. The permit is issued for at most one year.

This is a separate ground from the study permit. In the final year of studies you can alternatively ask for your study permit to be extended by up to six months from the last day of studies.

The general conditions apply: health insurance, means of subsistence benchmarked at one minimum monthly wage per month (EUR 1,153 in 2026) and a home with at least 7 square metres per adult where you declare residence. Graduates pay no state fee once, for a permit of their choice, and can use that waiver here; otherwise the fee is EUR 160 or EUR 320 urgent.

The window is one year from the date you obtained the qualification or completed the research, and the institution’s confirmation must show that less than a year has passed. Apply while your study or research permit is still valid: a pending application does not give you the right to stay in Lithuania once the old permit has expired. The legal time limit for the decision on this ground is one month. The state fee waiver for graduates can be used once, for a permit of your choice, so decide whether to use it now or keep it for a later permit.

The application is filled in in MIGRIS and lodged with biometrics at a Migration Department customer service unit, for example International House Vilnius at Konstitucijos pr. 3. The finished card can be collected there or delivered by courier to an address in Lithuania for EUR 9.99.

Foreigners who completed master’s or doctoral studies, or research and experimental development work, in Lithuania can be joined by family members without the general requirement that the sponsor has lived in Lithuania for two years. For other graduates the general family reunification rules apply.

Holders may look for a job and start working, or start activities as self-employed. No work permit is needed. When you find a job, the move to a work-based permit is easier for graduates: for ten years after completing studies or vocational training in Lithuania, the employer does not need the Employment Service decision on labour-market needs and the qualification checks that apply to other workers, and the legal time limit for deciding on that work-based residence permit is two months.

The permit is useful as a bridge, but it does not renew into itself; plan to switch to a work, Blue Card, business or start-up permit before it ends.