Obligations of the Employer

The Employer or the first employer, if the foreigner is going to enter into an employment contract with several employers, submitting the mediation letter for the issue/change of a temporary residence permit or the change of the employer, filled in via the Lithuanian Migration Information System (MIGRIS), must:

• undertake to employ the foreigner under an employment contract for a minimum period of 6 months;
• set full-time working time rate;
• provide information either on the qualifications of the foreigner in relation to the job to be done and on his/her work experience of at least one year in the last 3 years in relation to the job to be done, or on the monthly salary to be paid to the foreigner, not less than the average gross monthly wage rate for the calendar year published by the State Data Agency, except in cases where the foreigner, having completed his/her studies or training under a formal vocational training programme in the Republic of Lithuania, intends to work within 10 years of completing his/her studies or training under a formal vocational training programme, or where he/she has been granted temporary protection, or where he/she has a temporary residence permit issued on the grounds that he/she is unable to return to the country of origin because he/she is persecuted by an undemocratic regime.

IMPORTANT! The Employer must:

• make sure the foreigner has documents proving his/her qualifications (diploma, certificate, etc.) and documents proving at least one year of work experience in the last three years related to the job to be done (work record book, statement from the current and (or) former workplace).

If the foreigner will be employed under a temporary employment contract, the temporary employment company:

• must be included in the list of temporary employment companies drawn up by the State Labour Inspectorate and published on its website;
• undertake to employ the foreigner under a temporary employment contract for a minimum period of 6 months;
• set full-time working time rate;
• undertake to pay the foreigner a monthly salary during the period of employment in the Republic of Lithuania which is at least equal to the last published average gross monthly salary for the calendar year by the State Agency of State Data, and at least equal to 1 Minimum Wage during the period of time between postings;
• provide information on the qualifications of the foreigner relevant to the job to be done and his/her work experience of at least 1 year in the last 3 years relevant to the job to be done.

The Employer submitting the mediation letter via MIGRIS for the issue/change of a temporary residence permit or for the change of employer, or all employers of the foreigner in the case where the foreigner is to be awarded an employment contract for several employers, must:

• must have been carrying out the activity for which the foreigner is invited at least for the last 6 months;
• have licences and (or) permits to carry out the licensed activity as provided for by the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania regulating the licensed activity, and comply with the conditions for carrying out the licensed activity, if the foreigner is to be employed for the licensed activity.

If the Employer or any one of the employers intending to employ the foreigner under several employment contracts does not meet the above requirements, the mediation letter for the issue/change of the temporary residence permit or for the change of the Employer shall not be accepted for a period of 6 months from the date of the discovery of these circumstances.

The wage of a foreigner may not be lower than the wage of a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, another EU Member State or an EFTA State or another foreigner permanently residing in the Republic of Lithuania employed by the same employer in the same job, and if there is no such employee, the wage of the foreigner may not be lower than the average monthly gross wage for the corresponding type of economic activity, published by the State Data Agency for the last calendar year.

The Employer must make sure that the foreigner has a document granting the right to reside in Lithuania.
Inform the Migration Department within 7 days at the latest about the following aspects related to a foreigner with a visa or temporary residence permit:

• failure to arrive or failure to recruit, if more than 10 days have passed since the date indicated by the Employer on which the foreigner was supposed to arrive in the Republic of Lithuania;
• a decrease in wages if the foreigner is employed in a highly skilled job and his/her wages become lower than those set out in item 1 of paragraph 1 of Article 441 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens of the Republic of Lithuania (1.5 of the last published average monthly gross wage for the calendar year);
• change in job function.

Every Lithuanian citizen has the right to be served in the Lithuanian language, and depending on the nature of their job, the Government has established categories of language proficiency for persons who have to communicate with customers in the working environment. This also applies to foreigners.

Level of Lithuanian language proficiency

A2 level: drivers, dressers, waiters, shop assistants and other commercial employees. This is the level of proficiency at which a person can understand short, clearly structured spoken and written texts on common topics in everyday life, can talk about specific familiar subjects, can fill in forms for standard documents, and can write short informal texts.

B1 level: education, culture, health, social security and other employees, civil servants and public officials, who must have at least post-secondary education.

The Government of the Republic of Lithuania has granted a 36-month grace period for Ukrainian war refugees. This means that a Ukrainian war refugee can be employed as a refugee if it does not pose a risk to health and life. The 36-month grace period starts from the date of granting temporary protection in Lithuania. After that, knowledge of the Lithuanian language becomes mandatory.

Click HERE for more information on the list of professions and language proficiency levels.