Lithuanian citizenship and the dual citizenship question, explained
How Lithuanian law treated dual citizenship in late 2016: the Article 12 limit, the 2010 Law on Citizenship, its exceptions, and why the debate went on.
Few questions come up more often among Lithuanians abroad than this one: can I be a Lithuanian citizen and keep my other passport? The short answer under Lithuanian law has long been "only in particular cases". The longer answer depends on when you or your ancestors left Lithuania, how you acquired your other citizenship, and how old you were at the time. This page explains the rules as they stood in late 2016 and why they caused so much argument.
This is general information; for your own case ask a Lithuanian embassy or a lawyer. Rules on citizenship are amended from time to time, and only the Migration Department can decide an individual application.
The starting point: Article 12 of the Constitution
The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, adopted by referendum in 1992, deals with citizenship in Article 12. In plain terms it says three things: citizenship is acquired by birth or on other grounds set by law; apart from individual cases provided for by law, nobody may be a citizen of Lithuania and another state at the same time; and the details are left to a separate law.
Two features of this article matter for the debate. The first is the phrase about individual cases. The Constitutional Court ruled on 13 November 2006 that dual citizenship under Lithuanian law has to remain a rare exception and may not become widespread, which ruled out simply listing ever more exceptions in ordinary legislation. The second is where the article sits. Article 12 is in the first chapter of the Constitution, and under Article 148 that chapter can be changed only by referendum. Any general move to allow dual citizenship therefore needs a vote of the people, not just a vote in the Seimas.
The 2010 Law on Citizenship
After the 2006 ruling and several years of temporary arrangements, the Seimas adopted a new Law on Citizenship on 2 December 2010. Most of it came into force on 1 April 2011. Its Article 7 lists the cases in which a Lithuanian citizen may also hold another citizenship. As amended up to the end of 2016, the main ones are:
| Situation | Can keep both? |
|---|---|
| Acquired Lithuanian and another citizenship at birth (for example, born in Canada to a Lithuanian parent) | Yes |
| Left Lithuania before 11 March 1990, or a descendant of such a person, and acquired another citizenship | Yes, subject to the conditions in the law |
| Deported or exiled from occupied Lithuania before 11 March 1990, or a descendant, and acquired another citizenship | Yes |
| Acquired another citizenship automatically through marriage | Yes |
| Adopted as a child across the two countries | Yes, within age limits set in the law |
| Granted Lithuanian citizenship by way of exception, or while a recognised refugee in Lithuania | Yes |
| Left Lithuania after 11 March 1990 and later chose to naturalise elsewhere | No; Lithuanian citizenship is normally lost |
Two adjustments followed in 2015 and 2016. In late 2015 the Seimas removed the requirement that people born with both citizenships choose one of them at the age of 21. In the summer of 2016 it changed the wording of the pre-1990 exception: the law had spoken of people who "fled" Lithuania, and the amendment replaced this with people who "left", tied to an ancestor who held Lithuanian citizenship before 15 June 1940 and did not move to another part of the Soviet Union. The change ended the practice of asking applicants to prove that a forebear had been personally in danger.
A further rule is easy to miss. Under the law, a person who holds Lithuanian and another citizenship is treated in Lithuania only as a Lithuanian citizen, with the same duties as any other.
Restoring citizenship
Separate from dual citizenship is the right to restore citizenship. People who were citizens of Lithuania before 15 June 1940, and their descendants, have an open-ended right to restore it, wherever they live. Restoration normally requires giving up any other citizenship, except for those who fall under the exile or pre-1990 exceptions above, who may keep both. Citizenship can be restored only once.
People of Lithuanian descent whose families never held Lithuanian citizenship may acquire it through a simplified procedure, but again only as their sole citizenship.
A worked example
Say a woman born in Cleveland in 1975 has a grandfather who held a Lithuanian passport in the 1930s and left as a refugee in 1944. She can apply to restore citizenship as a descendant, and because her grandfather left before 11 March 1990 she can normally keep her American citizenship. Her cousin, who was born in Kaunas in 1985, moved to Dublin in 2005 and became an Irish citizen in 2014, is in a different position: under the 2010 law he lost Lithuanian citizenship when he naturalised.
What the debate was about
The second case is the heart of the argument. After independence, and especially after Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004, several hundred thousand people moved abroad for work. Many settled for good, and some took the citizenship of their new country to vote, work in the public sector or travel more easily. Each time, they lost their Lithuanian citizenship, while descendants of earlier emigrants could hold two passports.
Diaspora organisations, including the World Lithuanian Community, argued that this split the nation along an arbitrary line and pushed people away. Proposals followed, most often to allow dual citizenship with member states of the European Union and NATO. Opponents pointed to the Constitution and the 2006 ruling, warned that loyalty to the state should not be divided, and noted that any broad change needed a referendum with a high threshold. By the end of 2016 the question remained open: the exceptions had been adjusted at the edges, but Article 12 itself was unchanged.
Practical steps
- Gather documents first: birth, marriage and death records, and any proof of an ancestor's Lithuanian citizenship before 1940, such as an old passport or a registration record from the Lithuanian archives.
- Check which exception, if any, fits your situation, and note the date your family left.
- Contact the nearest Lithuanian embassy or consulate, which accepts applications from abroad and forwards them to the Migration Department.
- Check current requirements and fees on the Migration Department site before you apply.
More guides on documents and paperwork are collected in the citizenship circle.
Mantas Kelmelis
Mantas moved from Kaunas to Dublin in his twenties and has since helped friends and relatives through more passport, birth record and residence paperwork than he would like. He writes about citizenship, documents and moving between countries.