Lithuanian citizenship by descent: who qualifies, the law, and what it takes

Q: Can you claim Lithuanian citizenship through a parent?

Likely. Descendants of people who were Lithuanian citizens before 15 June 1940 can restore citizenship, up to great-grandchildren, and keep their other citizenship because the ancestor left before 1990. If your ancestor left Lithuania before 1918: unlikely. If your ancestor left Lithuania in 1990 or later: possible.

Q: Can you claim Lithuanian citizenship through a grandparent?

Likely. Descendants of people who were Lithuanian citizens before 15 June 1940 can restore citizenship, up to great-grandchildren, and keep their other citizenship because the ancestor left before 1990. If your ancestor left Lithuania before 1918: unlikely. If your ancestor left Lithuania in 1990 or later: possible.

Q: Can you claim Lithuanian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Likely. Descendants of people who were Lithuanian citizens before 15 June 1940 can restore citizenship, up to great-grandchildren, and keep their other citizenship because the ancestor left before 1990. If your ancestor left Lithuania before 1918: unlikely. If your ancestor left Lithuania in 1990 or later: possible.

Through a parentRestoration of citizenship Through a grandparentRestoration of citizenship Through a great-grandparentRestoration of citizenship

Routes: Restoration of citizenship (descendants of pre-1940 citizens)
Dual citizenship: Kept on every open route
Comes with: EU citizenship: the right to live and work in 27 countries

The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.

On this page

01Who qualifies
02Dates that matter
03Mothers’ lines
04Keeping your citizenship
05The routes and the law
06The documents
07What it takes
08Where the records live
09Former places
10Law changes
11Other doors
12Sources

01Who qualifies

Who qualifies, generation by generation

LIKELY

Can you claim Lithuanian citizenship through a parent?

Restoration of citizenship

Descendants of people who were Lithuanian citizens before 15 June 1940 can restore citizenship, up to great-grandchildren, and keep their other citizenship because the ancestor left before 1990.

What would settle itThe year your ancestor left. Before 1918 means no claim; 1918 to 1940 needs proof of citizenship; the archives usually have it.

Persons who held citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940, and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, have the right to restore citizenship. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 9
A person restoring citizenship whose ancestor left Lithuania before 11 March 1990 may be a citizen of Lithuania and of another state at the same time. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 7(2)–(4)
Proof of the ancestor's interwar citizenship is the whole case: passports, citizenship registers, military records, or documents from the Lithuanian Central State Archives. Migration Department: restoration of Lithuanian citizenship

What changes the answer

UNLIKELY
If your ancestor left Lithuania before 1918
An ancestor who left before 1918 left the Russian Empire, not the Republic of Lithuania, and was never a Lithuanian citizen in law. Restoration needs an ancestor who held citizenship between 1918 and 1940.
LIKELY
If your ancestor left Lithuania between 1918 and 1989
Restoration of citizenship
POSSIBLE
If your ancestor left Lithuania in 1990 or later
Descendants of pre-1940 citizens can restore citizenship, but an ancestor who left after 11 March 1990 does not open the dual-citizenship exception; you may have to choose. Referendums in 2019 and 2024 to allow dual citizenship generally failed on turnout, and official guidance in July 2026 still limited it to the listed exceptions.

LIKELY

Can you claim Lithuanian citizenship through a grandparent?

Restoration of citizenship

Descendants of people who were Lithuanian citizens before 15 June 1940 can restore citizenship, up to great-grandchildren, and keep their other citizenship because the ancestor left before 1990.

What would settle itThe year your ancestor left. Before 1918 means no claim; 1918 to 1940 needs proof of citizenship; the archives usually have it.

Persons who held citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940, and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, have the right to restore citizenship. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 9
A person restoring citizenship whose ancestor left Lithuania before 11 March 1990 may be a citizen of Lithuania and of another state at the same time. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 7(2)–(4)
Proof of the ancestor's interwar citizenship is the whole case: passports, citizenship registers, military records, or documents from the Lithuanian Central State Archives. Migration Department: restoration of Lithuanian citizenship

What changes the answer

UNLIKELY
If your ancestor left Lithuania before 1918
An ancestor who left before 1918 left the Russian Empire, not the Republic of Lithuania, and was never a Lithuanian citizen in law. Restoration needs an ancestor who held citizenship between 1918 and 1940.
LIKELY
If your ancestor left Lithuania between 1918 and 1989
Restoration of citizenship
POSSIBLE
If your ancestor left Lithuania in 1990 or later
Descendants of pre-1940 citizens can restore citizenship, but an ancestor who left after 11 March 1990 does not open the dual-citizenship exception; you may have to choose. Referendums in 2019 and 2024 to allow dual citizenship generally failed on turnout, and official guidance in July 2026 still limited it to the listed exceptions.

LIKELY

Can you claim Lithuanian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Restoration of citizenship

Descendants of people who were Lithuanian citizens before 15 June 1940 can restore citizenship, up to great-grandchildren, and keep their other citizenship because the ancestor left before 1990.

What would settle itThe year your ancestor left. Before 1918 means no claim; 1918 to 1940 needs proof of citizenship; the archives usually have it.

Persons who held citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940, and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, have the right to restore citizenship. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 9
A person restoring citizenship whose ancestor left Lithuania before 11 March 1990 may be a citizen of Lithuania and of another state at the same time. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 7(2)–(4)
Proof of the ancestor's interwar citizenship is the whole case: passports, citizenship registers, military records, or documents from the Lithuanian Central State Archives. Migration Department: restoration of Lithuanian citizenship

What changes the answer

UNLIKELY
If your ancestor left Lithuania before 1918
An ancestor who left before 1918 left the Russian Empire, not the Republic of Lithuania, and was never a Lithuanian citizen in law. Restoration needs an ancestor who held citizenship between 1918 and 1940.
LIKELY
If your ancestor left Lithuania between 1918 and 1989
Restoration of citizenship
POSSIBLE
If your ancestor left Lithuania in 1990 or later
Descendants of pre-1940 citizens can restore citizenship, but an ancestor who left after 11 March 1990 does not open the dual-citizenship exception; you may have to choose. Referendums in 2019 and 2024 to allow dual citizenship generally failed on turnout, and official guidance in July 2026 still limited it to the listed exceptions.

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

1940
15 June 1940
Persons who held citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940, and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, have the right to restore citizenship. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 9
1940
15 June 1940
Restoration is available to persons who held citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940 and to their descendants. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 9
1990
11 March 1990
A person restoring citizenship whose ancestor left Lithuania before 11 March 1990 may be a citizen of Lithuania and of another state at the same time. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 7(2)–(4)
1990
Citizens who restored citizenship as descendants of those who left before 1990 may hold another citizenship. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 7(2)–(4)

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

Lithuania’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.

04Keeping your citizenship

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

Citizens who restored citizenship as descendants of those who left before 1990 may hold another citizenship. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 7(2)–(4)

05The routes

Every route, and the law behind it

Restoration of citizenship

Open through a parent, a grandparent or a great-grandparent

LIKELY
Through a parent
POSSIBLE
Through a parent, if your ancestor left Lithuania in 1990 or later

The law

Persons who held citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940, and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, have the right to restore citizenship. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 9
A person restoring citizenship whose ancestor left Lithuania before 11 March 1990 may be a citizen of Lithuania and of another state at the same time. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 7(2)–(4)
Proof of the ancestor's interwar citizenship is the whole case: passports, citizenship registers, military records, or documents from the Lithuanian Central State Archives. Migration Department: restoration of Lithuanian citizenship
Restoration is available to persons who held citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940 and to their descendants. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship), Art. 9

What would settle an unsure case

The year your ancestor left. Before 1918 means no claim; 1918 to 1940 needs proof of citizenship; the archives usually have it.
Whether any relative stayed in Lithuania into the 1920s or 1930s and held an interwar passport or was listed in a citizenship register; that person, not the emigrant, may be your qualifying ancestor.

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Restoration of citizenship

Through a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent

Proof your ancestor was a Lithuanian citizen between 1918 and 1940 (interwar passport, register entry, archive certificate)
Proof they left Lithuania before 1990 (emigration record, ship manifest, naturalization record)
Birth and marriage records for each generation to you

Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.

07What it takes

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Restoration of citizenship

Time: 6–12 months for the Migration Department decision, then a passport.
Cost: About $400–900: there is no separate state fee for the restoration decision itself; the money goes to certified copies, apostilles and sworn translations into Lithuanian.
The hard part: Proving your ancestor was a citizen of Lithuania between 1918 and 1940 and left before 1990: a pre-war passport, a 1920s–30s residence record, or a Lithuanian archive certificate.
Who decides: The Migration Department, via the Lithuanian consulate.
The first record: Proof your ancestor held Lithuanian citizenship before 1940, from The Lithuanian Central State Archives. Send a request with the name, birthplace and dates; they search passport and residence records and issue a certificate. Expect 1–3 months and a small fee. archyvai.lt

How it’s filed

Where: Online in MIGRIS, then originals in person at the Lithuanian Embassy in Washington or the Consulates General in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles (by the post's consular district), within four months of the Migration Department's go-ahead office list
How: Online; you appear in person
Form: Prašymas dėl Lietuvos Respublikos pilietybės atkūrimo (application to restore citizenship), filled and uploaded in MIGRIS
Appointments: MFA electronic registration for consular services (keliauk.urm.lt), opened only after the Migration Department's MIGRIS message that the preliminary check passed. Reservations must be confirmed within 15 minutes through an emailed link or they are cancelled, so the agent needs the member's inbox or the member clicks. Everyone over two appears in person for passports; for restoration the applicant brings the originals.
Fee: About $227
Decision: 4–15 months

What goes in the file (7)

MIGRIS application (electronic)
Valid passport
Proof the ancestor held Lithuanian citizenship before 15 June 1940 (interwar passport, LCVA archival certificate, army or voter record)
Birth certificates for every generation from the ancestor to the applicant, apostilled, with certified Lithuanian translations
Marriage certificates explaining every name change in the chain, apostilled and translated
Proof the ancestor left Lithuania before 11 March 1990 (arrival manifest, naturalization record), for keeping U.S. citizenship
Consular fee receipt

What goes wrong (6)

Since applications filed after 11 October (Government resolution on citizenship procedures), restoration has a 12-month clock: 11 months for checks and 1 month for the Interior Minister's decision; it was 6 months before. Missing documents stop the clock.
Fees: filing the originals at the Migration Department in Lithuania costs the €50 state fee; at a consular post only the consular fee is paid (€200 per application for handing citizenship documents to the Migration Department, as published by the Embassy in Israel; U.S. posts publish the same fees in dollars at 1 EUR = 1.172 USD from 1 July 2025, amount not visible live).
No language test and no oath for restoration. Dual citizenship holds only if the ancestor left before 11 March 1990; the 2024 referendum to widen dual citizenship failed and no statutory change had passed by September 2026.
The route reaches children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of pre-1940 citizens (Law XI-1196, Art. 9).
From GB, CA: the embassies in London and Ottawa run the same MIGRIS-plus-originals process and consular fee.
From AU, NZ, ZA, BR, AR: where no career Lithuanian post is nearby, originals are handed in at the Migration Department in Lithuania (€50 state fee) or at the nearest embassy; check which post covers the country before booking travel.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.

08Where the records live

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

citizenship1919–1940
Lithuanian Central State Archives (Lietuvos centrinis valstybės archyvas, LCVA): internal-passport application files, foreign passports, Seimas voter lists, army and civil-service records of the interwar Republic
One archive for the whole interwar Republic. The Vilnius region was under Polish rule 1920–1939 and Klaipėda joined in 1923; ancestors from those areas need records showing Lithuanian (not Polish or German) citizenship before 15 June 1940.
Ask
By email, in Lithuanian
Search
EAIS digital reading room (Skaitmeninė skaitykla) of the state archives
Takes
1–8 months
Good to know (5)
- LCVA publishes an 'application for proof of citizenship' form (Word/PDF) on its application-forms page; attach a copy of the requester's passport and the kinship documents.
- Archive services are paid under the state archives' price list (Order VE-23 of 9 Dec 2025); the per-certificate amount was not visible live, so the fee is left open and quoted by the archive before work starts.
- Urgent searches are not accepted because of workload. Expect weeks to months; a request can also go through a Lithuanian consulate for an extra consular fee.
- The eais.archyvai.lt and archyvai.lrv.lt sites refuse automated access; the EAIS reading room needs an account and is not practical for an agent.
- An ancestor who left before 16 February 1918 left the Russian Empire and never held Lithuanian citizenship; no archive can fix that. Where no direct proof survives, the Migration Department's methodology accepts proof of residence in Lithuania before 9 January 1919 and before 15 June 1940 as substitute evidence.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
birth1795–1940
Lithuanian State Historical Archives (Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas, LVIA): Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Orthodox and Jewish metrical books up to the Soviet takeover; some Kaunas-region books sit with Kaunas Regional State Archives
LVIA in Vilnius for most parishes; the archive's index of Roman Catholic metrical books by church (2025 edition) says where each parish's books are. Many books are digitised on the state heritage portal and on FamilySearch, which LVIA links to.
Ask
By email, in Lithuanian
Search
epaveldas.lt digitised heritage portal (metrical books), with the EAIS reading room and FamilySearch mirrors
Takes
1–9 months
Good to know (3)
- Two different services: a certificate of a known birth/marriage/death fact (administrative service, requested by email or post with a copy of ID) and a genealogical search, which needs a €300 prepayment (about 10 working hours, one family in one parish's books) and had a queue of about six months.
- Contact reported as istorijos.archyvas@archyvai.lt and Mindaugo g. 8, LT-03107 Vilnius (from search results on the archive's domain; the site refuses automated fetch). Check the application-forms page before sending.
- Records are in Latin, Polish or Russian depending on era and faith; Jewish records are Russian/Hebrew. Pull the scan from epaveldas or FamilySearch first so the request names parish, year and entry number.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
marriage1795–1940
Lithuanian State Historical Archives (LVIA) metrical books, as for births
The parish or synagogue where the marriage took place; same index as births.
Ask
By email, in Lithuanian
Search
epaveldas.lt digitised heritage portal
Takes
1–9 months
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
birth1940–2026
Lithuanian civil registry (civilinė metrikacija), kept by municipal civil registry offices and now in the national Population Register; older civil acts are in the LCVA and regional archives
Only needed when a link in the chain was born or married in Lithuania after 1940. Ask the civil registry office of the municipality of the event, or the LCVA for Soviet-era acts that have been transferred.
Ask
Through an agent, in Lithuanian
Takes
2–17 weeks
Good to know (1)
- Unverified: which office holds a given post-1940 act depends on the year and municipality; a Lithuanian lawyer or relative usually handles it.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
emigration
Proof the ancestor left Lithuania before 11 March 1990: usually home-country records (U.S. arrival manifests, alien registration, naturalization file), not a Lithuanian archive
U.S. side: National Archives passenger lists and USCIS Genealogy Program naturalization files. Lithuanian side: interwar foreign-passport files in the LCVA sometimes record the departure.
Ask
Online, in English · request page ↗
Takes
2–12 months
Good to know (2)
- Departure date matters only for keeping U.S. citizenship: a line whose ancestor left before 11 March 1990 may hold both. Ancestors who moved to the USSR after 15 June 1940 fall outside that exception.
- A naturalization before the next birth does not break a Lithuanian restoration claim; what counts is interwar citizenship plus the kinship chain.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into: Lithuanian
Who may translate: Any certified translator
About: $25–$60 a page

Every foreign-language document goes in with a Lithuanian translation certified by a person or institution entitled to certify translations. Lithuania has no sworn-translator register; the safe choice is a Lithuanian translation bureau whose stamped translation the Migration Department sees daily. U.S. documents are apostilled before translation; the translation itself is not apostilled when done by a Lithuanian bureau. A U.S. translator's version is at risk unless the translator's signature is notarised. Rates are estimates.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where: The same U.S. consular post, by appointment through keliauk.urm.lt, only after the restoration decision; the applicant appears in person
Fee: About $159
Time: 3–9 weeks

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Former places

Places on old papers that lead to Lithuania

If your family’s records name one of these, Lithuania’s law may be the one that applies. The town decides.

Prussia · also Preussen, Preußen
Most of Prussia is Germany or Poland today. The town decides which law applies.
Today: Germany, Poland, Lithuania, RU
Soviet Union · also USSR, Russia (before 1991)
Pick the republic the town is in today.
Today: Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Armenia
East Prussia · also Ostpreußen, Königsberg
Now Poland, Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad.
Today: Poland, Lithuania, RU

10Law changes

Recent and pending changes

The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Lithuania.

The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.

11Other doors

If descent doesn’t reach you

3 residence programs lead to Lithuania without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

12Sources

Every source on this page

2 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing. Records and filing checked 25 September 2026.

LawLaw on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania (2010, as amended), Art. 9 (restoration) and Art. 7 (dual citizenship) · Art. 9; Art. 7(2)–(4)
LawMigration Department: restoration of Lithuanian citizenship
RecordsThe Lithuanian Central State Archives: Proof your ancestor held Lithuanian citizenship before 1940
RecordsHow to file: Restoration of citizenship · checked 25 September 2026
RecordsPrašymas dėl Lietuvos Respublikos pilietybės atkūrimo (application to restore citizenship), filled and uploaded in MIGRIS · checked 25 September 2026
RecordsMFA electronic registration for consular services (keliauk.urm.lt), opened only after the Migration Department's MIGRIS message that the preliminary check passed · checked 25 September 2026
RecordsCitizenship records, 1919–1940: Lithuanian Central State Archives · checked 25 September 2026
RecordsEAIS digital reading room (Skaitmeninė skaitykla) of the state archives · checked 25 September 2026
RecordsBirth records, 1795–1940: Lithuanian State Historical Archives · checked 25 September 2026
Recordsepaveldas.lt digitised heritage portal (metrical books), with the EAIS reading room and FamilySearch mirrors · checked 25 September 2026
RecordsEmigration records: Proof the ancestor left Lithuania before 11 March 1990 · checked 25 September 2026
RecordsTranslations into Lithuanian · checked 25 September 2026
RecordsThe passport: where, the fee and the wait · checked 25 September 2026

Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.

Who qualifies, generation by generation

Can you claim Lithuanian citizenship through a parent?

What changes the answer

Can you claim Lithuanian citizenship through a grandparent?

What changes the answer

Can you claim Lithuanian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

What changes the answer

The dates that matter

How mothers’ lines were treated

Dual citizenship with your home country

Every route, and the law behind it

The law

What would settle an unsure case

The documents, as the rule lists them

Restoration of citizenship

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Restoration of citizenship

How it’s filed

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

Translations

The passport

Places on old papers that lead to Lithuania

Recent and pending changes

If descent doesn’t reach you

Every source on this page

Check your family for Lithuania.