Lithuanian citizenship by descent · reinstatement

Claim your Lithuanian citizenship, and your EU passport.

A Lithuanian passport is an EU passport: the right to live, work, study, and retire across all 27 EU countries. If a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent was a Lithuanian citizen before 1940 and the family left before Lithuania regained independence, the law gives you the right to have that citizenship reinstated. You keep your US citizenship. There is no language test, no oath, no move to Lithuania. We tell you straight if you qualify, then run the whole case.

Check my eligibility→Your EU passport perks
  • ✓Free assessment
  • ✓Honest even if the answer is no
  • ✓We run the whole case, start to passport
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June 17, 2026 · 6 min read
Read the article →
Why it matters

One application. A lifetime of EU rights.

This is reinstatement of a right you inherited, not a new application from scratch. The law reaches the descendants of people who held Lithuanian citizenship and left before independence, all the way down to the great-grandchild.

A real EU passport

Full free movement, work, and residence rights across all 27 EU states, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

Keep your US citizenship

This route is one of the specific categories Lithuanian law lets hold dual citizenship. No renunciation, nothing to give up.

No exam, no oath, no residency

Reinstatement is recognition of a right you inherited, not naturalization. No Lithuanian language test, no constitution test, no oath, no time living in Lithuania.

Handled remotely

The file is built and submitted online through Lithuania's MIGRIS system. You appear once at a Lithuanian consulate in the US, or the Embassy in Washington, DC. No trip to Lithuania.

Not sure if your line qualifies?

That's exactly what we're here for.

Tell us who left Lithuania, roughly when, and how the line runs down to you. We'll read it against the reinstatement rules and reply within two business days, with the route that applies, or an honest “no” if none does.

Check my eligibility→

Free · 2-business-day reply · No credit card

Who qualifies

If a Lithuanian ancestor left before 1990, the door is likely open.

The law reaches three generations of descendants, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, of a person who was a Lithuanian citizen before 1940. You don't have to figure out where your case fits. That's our job.

★ The reinstatement route · keep your US citizenship

Through a Lithuanian ancestor who left before 1990

Reinstatement · administrative, no court, no naturalization

If a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent was a Lithuanian citizen before 1940 and the family left, or was exiled or deported, before Lithuania regained independence in 1990, you have a standing right to have citizenship reinstated.

  • Citizen of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940
  • Family left, or was exiled or deported, before 11 March 1990
  • Reaches children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren
  • No language test, no oath, no residency, no trip to Lithuania
  • You keep your US citizenship
Check my eligibility →
Where the route stops

When reinstatement doesn't reach you

We tell you this up front, before you spend anything

A few patterns fall outside the law. If yours is one of them we say so plainly, and check whether anything else is open before we go further.

  • The Lithuanian ancestor is a great-great-grandparent or further back
  • Ancestry only to the region under the Russian Empire, never a citizen of the Republic
  • The departure was into the former USSR after 1940 (this breaks dual citizenship)
Read the law →
How it works

Three steps. We carry the load.

The first contact is free. The eligibility read is candid. If a path exists for you, we'll name it clearly, then we run it.

01
Share your family line
A few facts answer most of the question: which ancestor was Lithuanian, roughly when they held citizenship, and when and where the family left. Whether that's a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent is the detail that matters most.
02
We confirm your eligibility
We confirm the generation count and the departure facts, then map the records needed to prove your ancestor's pre-1940 citizenship. We give you a clear, honest read on whether you qualify.
03
We run the whole case
We order and chase the Lithuanian archive records, build your document chain, file the reinstatement application in MIGRIS, and see it through to your Lithuanian passport. You don't chase paperwork.
Start with your family story →
The rules, plainly

Recognition, not
naturalization.

Under the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania, citizenship interrupted by occupation and exile can be reinstated. It recognizes a right that already existed in your family, so none of the naturalization requirements apply: no language test, no exam, no oath, no residency.

The route reaches three generations, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, of a person who was a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania before 15 June 1940. The great-grandchild is the limit.

Because the family left, or was exiled or deported, before independence in 1990, this is one of the categories that may hold dual citizenship. You keep your US passport. The one path the law excludes is leaving for the territory of the former Soviet Union after 1940.

Read the full statutory explainer →

Information current as of June 2026. Updated when the rules change.

What decides a reinstatement case

1
A pre-1940 Lithuanian citizen in your direct line
Parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent who held Republic citizenship before 15 June 1940
2
An unbroken, documented chain
Civil birth and marriage records linking each generation between you and that ancestor
3
A qualifying departure before 1990
Left or was exiled to the US or anywhere outside the former USSR, before 11 March 1990

An administrative process, no court, no oath, no trip to Lithuania. We run it end to end.

Why Gabija Citizenship

The hard part is proving the pre-1940 line. That's what we do.

We run the archive hunt

The one real bottleneck is proving your ancestor was a Lithuanian citizen before 1940. Interwar records are scattered across Lithuanian state archives. We order and chase them. Many families come to us with nothing more than a name and a town, and we build the file from there.

We reconcile Litvak name spellings

For Litvak (Lithuanian Jewish) families, names shift across Yiddish, Hebrew, Cyrillic, and Latin spellings. Reconciling those spellings to the official citizenship record is routine work for us, not a wall.

We say no when it's no

If you qualify, we'll say so. If the line is past the great-grandchild cap or the records can't be built, we'll tell you that plainly and explain what, if anything, is still possible. No false hope.

Free · no credit card

Ready to find out where you stand?

Answer six quick questions about your Lithuanian line. We read every submission ourselves and reply within two business days, with a straight answer, even if that answer is “no.”

✓Free assessment, no payment required
✓Reply within 2 business days
✓Honest answer, even if the answer is no
✓Your information stays private, never sold
Common questions

Straight answers

Is a Lithuanian passport really an EU passport?+

Yes. Lithuania is a full member of the European Union. A Lithuanian passport gives you the right to live, work, study, and retire in any of the 27 EU countries, plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

Do I have to give up my US citizenship?+

No. This route is one of the specific categories Lithuanian law lets you keep your existing citizenship. If your family left or was exiled from Lithuania before 11 March 1990, you and your descendants can hold both. You renounce nothing.

How many generations back can I go?+

Three. The law reaches children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of a person who was a Lithuanian citizen before 1940. If your Lithuanian ancestor is a great-great-grandparent or further back, this route does not reach you.

Do I need to take a Lithuanian language exam?+

No. There is no language test, no constitution test, and no oath. This is reinstatement of a right you inherited, not naturalization, so the naturalization requirements do not apply.

Do I have to travel to Lithuania?+

No. The whole file is built and submitted online through Lithuania's MIGRIS system. You appear in person once, at a Lithuanian consulate in the US, or the Embassy in Washington, DC, to present your original documents and give biometrics.

What if our family records were lost or destroyed?+

This is common, and it is the part we handle. Most of the proof lives in Lithuanian state archives: pre-war passports, internal passports, military and census records. We order and chase those records for you. Many families come to us with nothing more than a name and a town, and we build the file from there.

Read all 15 questions →

From the journal

Lithuanian citizenship, explained honestly.

Plain-English guides to the law as it actually stands: reinstatement, the pre-1940 citizenship test, the dual-citizenship rule, and the archive work that decides a case.

All articles →
EU passport

Is a Lithuania passport an EU passport? What it actually gets you

Yes, a Lithuanian passport is a full EU passport. Here is the concrete value it unlocks: free movement, work, and residence across all 27 EU countries, healthcare and university access, and what it means for your US-citizen children.

June 17, 2026 · 6 min readDocuments

How to prove your ancestor was a Lithuanian citizen before 1940

Proving your ancestor held Lithuanian citizenship before 1940 is the single hardest step in reinstatement. Here are the records that actually count, where they live in the Lithuanian archives, and what to do when your family has only a name and a town.

June 16, 2026 · 7 min readThe route

The exile and émigré route, explained: why leaving before 1990 is the key

Reinstatement of Lithuanian citizenship turns on one condition people often miss: the family must have left, or been exiled, before 11 March 1990. Here is why that date is the dividing line, and the one trap that breaks the dual-citizenship category.

June 15, 2026 · 7 min read

Find out where you stand,
for free.

Share your family story. We'll reply within two business days with a straight answer, whichever way it goes.

Check my eligibility →

Free · 2-business-day reply · No credit card