Bringing family on a student permit in Lithuania

Whether you can bring family to Lithuania on a student visa depends almost entirely on your citizenship and your level of study. EU/EEA students can bring family freely; most non-EU degree students cannot, while doctoral candidates (treated as researchers) usually can.

This is a status-and-rights topic, so treat every figure below as a starting point and confirm the current rule before you book flights or pay fees.

The short answer by situation

Your situation	Can you bring family?	Route
EU/EEA student	Yes	EU free-movement (family-member residence card)
Non-EU bachelor's / master's student	Usually no (see warning)	Standard family reunification conditions rarely met
Non-EU PhD / doctoral candidate	Usually yes	Researcher rules — apply together
Erasmus / exchange (short stay)	Effectively no	Stay is too short; family come as visitors

EU and EEA students: the easy path

If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen studying in Lithuania, you are exercising free movement. Your spouse, registered partner and children can join you and apply for a residence card for a family member of a Union citizen. This applies even if those family members are non-EU nationals.

• No two-year waiting period.
• Family members can work and study without extra permits.
• You declare your place of residence (deklaruoti gyvenamąją vietą) once settled.

See the Your Europe guide for the EU-wide procedure.

Non-EU degree students: the hard truth

For non-EU bachelor's and master's students, ordinary family reunification is usually out of reach. The general rule is that the sponsor must have:

• legally resided in Lithuania for at least two years;
• a residence permit valid for at least one year; and
• reasonable prospects of acquiring permanent residence (as of 2026 — confirm on the EU Immigration Portal).

A typical study permit does not give "prospects of permanent residence," which is why student-based family reunification so often fails. Your family can still visit on a Schengen visa, but that is not residence.

PhD and doctoral candidates: treated as researchers

The clear exception is doctoral study. Doctoral candidates are generally admitted as researchers under EU Directive 2016/801. For researchers, the migration authority processes the family's applications at the same time as the researcher's, with no two-year wait, and family members are exempt from needing a work permit (see Researcher in Lithuania).

If you are starting a PhD, ask your faculty whether your admission is processed on the researcher track — it changes everything for your family.

Who counts as family

• Your spouse or registered partner (both usually must be at least 21).
• Your unmarried minor children (and your partner's, if dependent).
• Dependent parents only in limited circumstances.

What you need to show

If you do qualify, expect to provide for each applicant:

1. A valid passport and proof of the family relationship (marriage/birth certificates, legalised and translated).
2. Health insurance — the portal notes a minimum coverage of €6,000 (as of 2026 — confirm on the EU Immigration Portal).
3. Proof of adequate accommodation (a minimum floor area per resident applies).
4. Sufficient financial means to support each family member — see €1,153unverified for the minimum monthly wage that the adult-family-member threshold is usually tied to, and €576.50unverified for the student subsistence figure.

Bringing your pets

If family relocation includes a dog, cat or ferret, the EU rules are strict but workable. The key is to start months in advance, because the rabies steps have built-in waiting periods.

Coming from another EU/EEA country:

• Your pet needs an ISO-standard microchip, a valid rabies vaccination, and an EU pet passport issued by an authorised vet.
• No titre test and no health certificate are needed for movement between EU countries.

Coming from a non-EU country:

1. Microchip first. The pet must be microchipped (ISO 11784/11785) before the rabies vaccination — a vaccination given before the chip does not count.
2. Rabies vaccination. Given by an authorised vet, with the pet at least 12 weeks old; it becomes valid only 21 days after the primary jab.
3. Rabies antibody titre test — required if you come from a non-listed country. The blood sample must be taken at least 30 days after vaccination and at least 3 months (90 days) before entry, at an EU-approved laboratory, showing antibodies ≥ 0.5 IU/ml. Pets from listed (lower-risk) territories are exempt from the titre test.
4. Animal health certificate, issued shortly before travel (valid 10 days to the EU point of entry), or a valid pet passport from a listed non-EU country.

Schooling for your children

If your children come with you, school is not optional — and the state system is open to them.

• Compulsory education runs from age 6 to 16 (primary through lower-secondary).
• Municipal (state) schools are free of charge and welcome foreign children. You enrol through the municipality's electronic admissions system or by contacting the local Education Department directly.
• Children who do not speak Lithuanian can join a levelling (adaptation) class to learn the language before, or alongside, mainstream lessons, and the school draws up an individual study plan with extra support.
• Schools receive an additional 30% of the per-pupil state funding for a foreign child, which pays for the extra Lithuanian-language and integration help — so this support is built into the system, not an out-of-pocket cost for you.

International and private schools are an alternative if you want English- or French-medium teaching or an international curriculum — for example Vilnius International School, the British School of Vilnius or the French International Lyceum, plus ethnic-minority schools teaching in Polish, Russian or Belarusian. These charge tuition fees (often several thousand euros a year and up); fees are not standardised, so request a current price list from the specific school. For free help understanding admissions, see the Migration Information Centre schools page.

Fees and timing

State fees and processing times change often and differ between the general and urgent (faster, dearer) procedures. The EU portal indicates a decision within four months under the general procedure. For the current state fee and the urgent-procedure timeline, check the official figure — see ≈€120 (€240 urgent)unverified and confirm on migracija.lt. Service-provider centres abroad (e.g. VFS) may add their own fee.