‘To strengthen our competitiveness, attract more international investment and talent, we need to offer them attractive conditions, which include a comfortable transfer of staff and their family members to Lithuania. I hope that this opportunity will also be enjoyed by our Belarusian neighbours to safely continue their activities in Lithuania. Currently, more than 100 Belarusian companies are interested in the possibility to invest and move to Lithuania,’ says Minister of the Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė.
Amendments to the Law on Investment, the Law on Employment and the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens provide that both highly qualified employees and also all transferred employees could apply for a residence permit in Lithuania. The Employment Service will not assess the qualifications or work experience of such employees; their competences will be judged by the investor. Also, family members will not be subject to assessment of whether they meet the needs of the labour market; they will have the right to work in Lithuania and receive a residence permit of a similar duration.
This provision would apply to enterprises from third countries investing in Lithuania, which have investment commitments for at least EUR 1.45 million and intend to create at least 20 jobs. To prevent abuse, an investor will be obliged to pay his employees no less than 1,5 average wage depending on the municipality in which the investment is made.
Amendments to the laws are planned to be considered by the Seimas in the spring session. In case of the Seimas approval, the amendments to the laws will enter into force on 1 June 2021.
Since the beginning of mass protests against the authoritarian regime in Belarus in August last year, a number of companies established in Belarus by its businessmen have moved to Lithuania, including US IT giant Epam Systems, founded by Belarusians, a popular ‘World of Tanks’ game creator Wargaming, Flo Health, working on a women’s health app and software companies Coherent Solutions and Godel Technologies.
According to the data of the FDI development agency Invest Lithuania, at present almost 80 companies from Belarus have already started relocation processes or are already actively considering moving their activities to Lithuania.
