Lithuania's EU Blue Card: the 1.5 BDU threshold and the employer change rule

The EU Blue Card in Lithuania is issued by the Migration Department under the Ministry of the Interior. Article 44-1(1)(1) of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens requires an employment contract of at least 6 months and pay of at least 1.5 times the last published annual average monthly gross wage, known as the BDU. The card runs for 3 years.

The salary threshold, and when it drops

The threshold is a multiplier, not a fixed euro figure. Article 44-1(1)(1) ties it to the last published annual average monthly gross wage in the national economy, so the contract line moves every time Lithuanian statistics publish a new figure. An employer planning an arrival for next year should budget against the figure that will apply on the day the application is examined, not the one known today.

The same provision carries a lower multiplier. If the profession sits on the list of high added value professions in shortage, the threshold drops to 1.2 BDU. The list is approved by the Minister of the Economy and Innovation under article 48(1)(7) of the Law on Employment, which means it changes by ministerial order rather than by amendment to the law. Check the current edition before agreeing pay with a candidate: across three years, the gap between 1.5 and 1.2 for a single engineer is larger than the whole administrative cost of the file.

A third threshold applies to company directors. Article 44-1(1)(3) sets a criterion of 1,000,000 euros in annual revenue where the worker is employed as head of the company. This is a separate route rather than a discount on the 1.5 BDU rule, so a director post in a small company rarely fits the Blue Card and the file usually runs as an ordinary temporary residence permit, described in the employer path to a temporary residence permit for work.

Validity, the start date and the fee

Article 44-1(4) sets the card at 3 years. Where the employment contract is shorter, the card is issued for the contract period plus 3 months. Those extra 3 months are not a formality: they are the window in which the worker can find another employer without losing the right to stay.

The second practical change is the start date. Following the amendments introduced by law No. XV-945 of 14 May 2026, in force from 22 May 2026, article 44-1(2) allows a foreign national who is already lawfully in Lithuania to begin work from the day the application is filed. For an employer moving a person from another Lithuanian permit, or hiring a graduate, the start date no longer depends on the full examination period at the Migration Department. It does not help a candidate still sitting in a third country, because the rule rests on lawful presence in Lithuania.

The state fee for examining a residence permit application follows the schedule approved by the Government, and the urgent procedure costs roughly double the standard rate. Budget it alongside translation and legalisation costs, which for most third countries exceed the fee itself.

Changing employer in the first 12 months

This is where receiving companies most often get caught. Article 44-1(5) provides that a change of employer in the first 12 months requires permission from the Migration Department. The decision is taken within 14 calendar days and the permission is valid for 1 month. Two things follow at once: the new employer cannot sign on the day the candidate accepts, and cannot sit on the permission indefinitely, because it expires after a month.

The typical failure looks like this. A company agrees a start date three weeks out, files nothing because it assumes a new contract is enough, and on day one has a worker employed by a company that does not appear on his card. The Migration Department treats this as a breach of the employment procedure, and the consequences for the employer are set out in article 63 of the same law. The correct order is the reverse: application first, 14 calendar days for the decision, then a contract date inside the one month window.

After 12 months the permission requirement falls away, but the general notification duties remain, and both the State Labour Inspectorate and the Employment Service rely on them. For how Lithuanian timelines sit next to other EU corridors, see EU work permit timelines by country, and for the underlying framework see the EU Blue Card Directive 2021/1883.

The Blue Card is the right route in Lithuania only when pay stands above 1.5 BDU from day one, or the profession appears on the minister's shortage list. When neither holds, the ordinary temporary residence permit for work is the faster file. The choice is decided by the number in the contract and by the edition of the list on the day of filing.