Lithuania restores citizenship to people who held it before the Soviet occupation of 15 June 1940, and to their descendants. The application goes to the Migration Department, and like most citizenship cases it is decided on documents.
Our work happens in the archives. We find the interwar records that prove your ancestor was a Lithuanian citizen, and the civil records that connect you to them.
The key date: 15 June 1940
Your ancestor must have been a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania before that date. Being born in what is now Lithuania is not the same thing. A pre-independence birthplace or emigration date does not settle whether citizenship was later acquired. An interwar passport or citizenship file may provide stronger evidence, subject to the Migration Department’s assessment.
The Vilnius region is a special case. Between the wars it belonged to Poland, so families from Vilnius itself often have a Polish rather than a Lithuanian claim. We check which state your ancestor's town belonged to at the time.
Dual citizenship
Lithuania usually requires you to give up your other citizenship. The best-known exception covers people who left Lithuania before 11 March 1990 and their descendants, which includes most families who emigrated between the wars or fled in 1944. The exceptions have statutory limits, including the circumstances and destination of departure. The Migration Department must assess whether retaining another citizenship is permitted; the departure date alone is insufficient.
The documents a file usually needs
- Proof of the ancestor's Lithuanian citizenship: an interwar passport, an internal passport application, a citizenship certificate, military records, or a passport issued by a Lithuanian consulate abroad.
- The ancestor's birth and marriage records.
- Birth and marriage certificates of each generation down to you, with apostille.
- Proof of departure from Lithuania, such as an emigration record, passenger list, or displaced persons file.
Where the records are
Lithuanian Central State Archives (Vilnius). The interwar passport applications are the single most useful source. Many include a photo, the date and place of birth, the address and the names of parents.
Lithuanian State Historical Archives. Parish registers up to 1940 for Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox and Jewish communities, plus earlier revision lists.
Kaunas Regional State Archives. Records of the interwar capital, including municipal and court files.
Registry offices. More recent civil records, released to relatives who prove kinship.
Archives abroad. Displaced persons files at the Arolsen Archives, and naturalisation records in the country where the family settled.
How we work
Send us the ancestor's name, the town and when they left. We usually start with a search for an interwar passport application, because if it exists it answers the citizenship question quickly.
Then we order the civil records for each generation, find the emigration and naturalisation dates, and put everything together for the Migration Department.
Common questions
My grandmother was born in Lithuania in 1930 and left as a child in 1944.
That is a common and often strong case. A child born to Lithuanian citizen parents was a citizen, and she left before 1990. Her parents' interwar documents are usually the key.
The family name looks Polish, not Lithuanian.
Many families in interwar Lithuania used Polish or Russian spellings in some documents and Lithuanian in others. We search under every version.
Is Lithuanian needed to apply?
There is no language requirement for restoration. Foreign documents need Lithuanian translations, which we can arrange.
Have a Lithuanian ancestor who left before the war? Tell us about them and we will check what the archives hold.
Read more about research in Lithuania and the citizenship documents we prepare.
Official sources and scope
Editorial review: 14 October 2026. This is a guide to document research, not a determination of eligibility. Confirm the current procedure and checklist with the competent authority before committing to an application.