Proposed amendments stipulate that a person who acquired Lithuanian citizenship by birth and acquired the citizenship of another state before the age of 18 without being born there, will be able to choose which citizenship to retain until they turn 20 years old.
If a person does not renounce the citizenship of another country until he or she reaches the age of 20, they will lose Lithuanian citizenship.
Amendments to the Law on Citizenship were approved this week after submission and will be further considered by committees of the Lithuanian parliament.
At the moment children lose their Lithuanian citizenship automatically if their parents acquire citizenship of another country for them. If amendments to the citizenship law are accepted children would have two years to decide which citizenship they want to keep after they reach the age of majority.
According to the data of the Ministry of the Interior, every year about 300 persons under the age of 18 who acquire the citizenship of another state lose their Lithuanian citizenship.
The amendment also wants to establish that all procedures related to Lithuanian citizenship should be carried out through one institution – the Migration Department. At the moment the Migration Department and the Ministry of Interior both participate in the Lithuanian citizenship restoration process. This change might speed up the process of restoring Lithuanian citizenship by descent.
We at De Civitate offer dual citizenship assistance to people with Lithuanian ancestry. Our clients do not have to be in Lithuania during the application process. We will handle all the application process from document acquisition, translation, application submission, and making follow-ups with the Lithuanian authorities until citizenship is granted.
Email us at [email protected] for more information.
