How do you study in Lithuania from Pakistan? (2026)

Is Lithuania a realistic choice from Pakistan?

For a student with modest funds and decent grades, Lithuania is one of the more honest options in Europe. The permit is cheap, the decision period is short, the tuition at the technical universities is a fraction of what Western Europe charges, and the published rules are specific. What it asks in return is arithmetic: the funds figure is not printed, it is calculated.

What Lithuania does well

• A state fee of EUR 80 for a student permit under the general procedure, against EUR 160 for a standard permit.
• A published decision period of two months, or one month on the urgent procedure.
• A funds requirement well below most of Western Europe, at half the minimum monthly wage.
• Non-EU tuition at the technical universities starting around EUR 3,950 a year on published 2026 to 2027 figures.

What makes Lithuania tricky

Three things. The funds figure moves every time the minimum wage moves, so last year’s number is wrong this year. The process has two separate strands, a residence permit through MIGRIS and a national visa through an external provider, and students confuse them. And the official pages do not agree with each other on two points: the national visa fee and the work hours. I will show you both disagreements rather than pretend they are settled.

If you are comparing the region, the Poland guide covers the neighbour most Pakistani students look at first, the Czechia guide covers a route where degrees taught in the local language are free by law, and the Hungary guide covers a comparable fee and funds position.

Funds tied to the minimum wage

This is the single most important mechanism on this page. Lithuania does not publish a student funds amount. It publishes a formula.

The Migration Department states that the value of subsistence funds shall be 0.5 minimum wage per month, and that the funds must be sufficient for the entire period of validity of the temporary residence permit applied for, or at least for one year. Separately you need funds for the studies themselves and for return travel.

Why this catches people

Because it means the requirement rises on its own. The minimum monthly wage went from EUR 1,038 to EUR 1,153 for 2026, an increase of EUR 115, so the student figure rose by roughly EUR 57.50 a month, or about EUR 690 across a year, with nobody announcing a change to student rules. The Migration Department has said as much, publishing a notice that after the new minimum monthly salary and hourly remuneration were set, foreigners will also have to prove a larger amount of funds.

The government has already approved a further rise in the minimum monthly wage for 2027. If you are applying for an intake in 2027, assume the funds figure will be higher than the one on this page and check the wage before you place the money.

The point of principle

I write this on every guide and I will write it here. A published government figure without a date beside it is worth nothing. Lithuania is the clearest example I know of why: the number is derived from a wage that changes on the first of January. An agent quoting you a Lithuanian funds figure from a 2024 brochure is quoting a number that was correct once.

How you prove the funds

There are two routes, and the first one depends on your institution doing something for you.

The institution’s mediation letter

Lithuanian institutions issue a mediation letter for their admitted foreign students. Where that letter confirms sufficient funds, it does the work. The Migration Department’s own guidance makes the alternative explicit: if the university’s mediation letter does not confirm sufficient funds, you can provide a bank statement covering a period of six months, or a parental commitment where the account is newer.

Six months of statements, or a parental commitment

Read the six months carefully, because it is the clause that decides timing. A bank account opened a month before you apply, funded with a lump sum, is not six months of statements. If your family’s plan is to move money into a student account shortly before filing, you need the parental commitment route instead, and you need to know that before you move anything.

This is the same question officers ask everywhere, in different words: whose money is this, and how long has it been there. The guide on what to do after a student visa refusal covers how a thin funds history reads to a decision-maker, and why reapplying without fixing it rarely works.

The state fees

Lithuania is genuinely cheap here, and the student rate is a deliberate discount rather than an accident.

The fee page also records an unusual concession: no state fee is charged for a general-procedure permit issued to a foreigner who has completed studies in Lithuania, once, at their choice. That matters to a graduate changing status after the degree rather than to a new applicant, but it is worth knowing it exists.

Is the urgent procedure worth EUR 240 more?

Usually not. Paying EUR 320 instead of EUR 80 buys one month rather than two. That is real if you are filing late in an intake and the term start is fixed, and it is money wasted if you simply applied in good time. The better purchase is starting earlier, which costs nothing.

Two months, and the four-month trap

The published decision periods are two months under the general procedure and one month under the urgent procedure. An older Migration Department page quoted three months on a general basis, and that figure still circulates on consultancy sites, so you will see both.

The deadline that is yours, not theirs

There is a second clock in this process, and it runs against you. After submitting the request through MIGRIS, you must personally address the Migration Department within four months to submit biometric data and the original documents. Your stay in Lithuania must also be lawful at the point you attend.

So the online filing is not the application finishing. It is the application starting, with a four-month window to complete it in person. A student who files in MIGRIS, waits for something to arrive, and lets the four months run out has to begin again. Put the date in a calendar on the day you submit.

The newer option worth asking about

The Migration Department has also published a change under which foreigners will be able to obtain a temporary residence permit before coming to Lithuania. If that applies to your case, it changes the order of the steps considerably, so ask the Department or your institution whether you fall inside it rather than assuming the sequence on an older page.

The national visa, and two official figures

Here is a disagreement I am not going to resolve for you, because I cannot.

The Migration Department’s visa fee page lists EUR 140 for examining a national visa application and deciding whether to issue or refuse it. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry’s visa page gives EUR 120 for a long-term national visa. Both are official Lithuanian government pages. They do not match.

What to do about it

Confirm the figure in MIGRIS or with the external service provider at the point you apply, and ask for the fee receipt in the state’s name rather than the agent’s. The practical use of knowing about the conflict is this: if an agent bills you EUR 200 for the state visa fee, you now know that no official page supports that number.

How the visa is issued

Since 1 July 2023 national visas are issued only through the external service provider chosen by the Migration Department, with applications filed through MIGRIS. The provider charges its own service fee on top of the state fee, which is a legitimate charge and should still appear as a separate line on anything you are asked to pay.

And remember what the visa is for. The Lithuanian law states that a visa shall not entitle an alien to study, work or engage in other income-generating activities in Lithuania. The visa gets you in. The permit lets you study.

Tuition and refunds

Lithuanian institutions set their own fees, so there is no national rate to quote. What I can give you is one institution’s published figures for the current year, which show the shape of the market.

The invoice comes before the permit

One practical point that surprises families. Vilnius Tech states that all non-EU first-year students are sent an invoice for tuition payment before starting the temporary residence permit application procedure. So the tuition money may have to leave Pakistan before you know whether you have a permit.

So read the refund rule first

Vilnius University’s published payment and refund procedure says that for citizens of countries other than the EU and EEA the paid annual tuition fee is not refunded regardless of the reason, except where the student terminates studies because they did not receive a visa or residence permit in Lithuania, in which case 100 per cent is refunded.

That carve-out is the one to confirm in writing with your own institution, in its own words, before the first transfer. It is the difference between a refused permit costing you a fee and a refused permit costing you a year’s tuition. Different institutions write it differently, and an agent’s assurance is not the institution’s policy.

Insurance

Lithuania describes what the insurance must do rather than how much cover it must carry, which is unusual and slightly awkward to shop for.

The policy must guarantee the payment of emergency medical care services and the cost of returning home for health reasons, and it must be valid for the whole validity period of the permit or at least one year. The Migration Department notes that the amount of health insurance is not defined, and that it is usually EUR 6,000. You do not need it if compulsory health insurance contributions will be paid for you.

Buy against the two risks named, and read the repatriation clause properly. A cheap travel policy that covers emergency treatment but not the cost of returning home for health reasons does not meet the rule, and a document that does not meet the rule delays a decision.

Working while you study

I would rather tell you that I could not settle this than give you a number that might cost you your permit.

The Migration Department’s FAQ states that there are no limitations or restrictions for work if you have a temporary residence permit on the basis of studies. A Migration Department news item from 2021 said that master’s and doctoral students would have the right to work without the limit of twenty hours a week, which implies that a twenty-hour cap applied to others at that point. An older consolidated version of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens set the limit at twenty hours a week and allowed first-cycle students to work only from the second year of studies.

What to do with that

Ask the Migration Department directly, in writing, for the rule that applies to your permit, and keep the answer. Two things are clear enough to act on in the meantime. The right to work attaches to the residence permit and not to the visa, because the law says a visa does not entitle you to work. And no plan should depend on a particular number of hours until you have the current rule in front of you.

If an agent quotes you forty hours a week in Lithuania as a selling point, ask them to show you the page. That is a fair question and the answer tells you a great deal about them.

English-taught programmes

Lithuanian institutions teach a substantial number of programmes in English, which is why the country appears on Pakistani shortlists at all. The language requirement is set by the institution rather than by the migration rules, so it is a question for the programme page.

Two things worth checking before you apply. First, whether the programme is taught in English for its whole duration, or only in the first year. Second, what English evidence the institution accepts, because the cheapest online test is accepted in fewer places than its marketing suggests. The section on English requirements in the UK guide explains how the test types differ.

After the degree

One useful detail from the Migration Department’s own pages. During the last year of studying, a student may apply for a temporary residence permit renewal for three additional months from the day studies finish. Separately, the fee page says no state fee is charged once for a general-procedure permit issued to a foreigner who has completed studies in Lithuania.

I am not writing about work routes here, because this site does not cover them. The point for a student choosing a country is narrower: Lithuania publishes a short, defined grace period after the degree rather than leaving it vague, and three months is not long. If what happens after graduation matters to your family’s decision, read that rule before you choose, not afterwards.

How do you apply, step by step?

The order below puts the funds arithmetic first, because in Lithuania the figure is calculated rather than published, and everything else follows from getting it right.

1. 1

   Work out the funds figure from this year’s minimum wage

   Lithuania does not publish a fixed student amount. The Migration Department sets the value of subsistence funds at 0.5 of the minimum monthly wage per month. Government resolution No 700 of 16 October 2025 set the minimum monthly wage at EUR 1,153 from 1 January 2026, so take half of the current figure rather than copying a number from an older page.

2. 2

   Get admitted and ask for the mediation letter

   Apply to the Lithuanian institution and obtain the admission documents. Ask specifically whether the institution’s mediation letter confirms your funds, because if it does not, you have to prove them yourself with a bank statement covering six months, or a parental commitment where the account is newer.

3. 3

   Expect the tuition invoice before the permit application

   Lithuanian institutions set their own fees and some ask for payment up front. Vilnius Tech states that all non-EU first-year students are sent an invoice for tuition payment before starting the temporary residence permit application. Ask your institution when payment falls due and what happens to it if the permit is refused.

4. 4

   File the application in MIGRIS

   Applications for a temporary residence permit are made through the Migration Department’s MIGRIS system. The state fee for a student is EUR 80 under the general procedure and EUR 320 under the urgent procedure, and the published decision times are within two months and within one month respectively.

5. 5

   Buy insurance that covers emergency care and repatriation

   The insurance must guarantee payment of emergency medical care services and the cost of returning home for health reasons, and it must be valid for the whole permit period or at least one year. The Migration Department notes the amount is not defined and that it is usually EUR 6,000, so read the policy against the two risks named rather than against a figure.

6. 6

   Attend in person inside the four-month window

   After submitting the request through MIGRIS you must personally address the Migration Department within four months to submit biometric data and the original documents. Your stay in Lithuania must also be lawful at the point you attend, so plan the visa and the appointment together rather than separately.

7. 7

   Apply for the national visa through the external provider

   Since 1 July 2023 national visas are issued only through the external service provider chosen by the Migration Department, with applications filed through MIGRIS. Confirm the state fee before paying, because the Migration Department fee page and the Foreign Ministry page publish different figures, and the provider adds its own service charge.

What goes wrong most often?

Using last year’s funds figure

The requirement is half the minimum monthly wage, and the wage changed on 1 January 2026. A student who prepares on the EUR 1,038 wage is short against the EUR 1,153 one by roughly EUR 690 across a year. Take the current wage and halve it yourself.

A bank account opened a month before filing

Where the institution’s mediation letter does not confirm your funds, the alternative is a bank statement covering six months. A freshly opened account funded with a lump sum cannot produce that, and the fix is a parental commitment, which has to be planned rather than improvised.

Letting the four-month MIGRIS window lapse

Filing online is the start. You must attend the Migration Department in person within four months with biometrics and originals. Students who treat the online submission as the finish line lose the application entirely.

Confusing the visa with the permit

They are two processes with two fees and two purposes. The law says a visa does not entitle you to study or work. If someone tells you the visa is enough to start a course or a job, they are wrong in a way that can end your stay.

Paying tuition without reading the refund rule

Some institutions invoice non-EU first-year tuition before the permit application begins. Vilnius University’s rule returns 100 per cent where studies end because a visa or permit was not granted, and otherwise returns nothing. Get your own institution’s rule in writing first.

Accepting a work-hours promise without a source

The official pages do not agree on the hours. Any agent who states a number as settled fact is either better informed than the Migration Department’s own published pages or is guessing. Ask for the page.

A realistic example

This is a hypothetical illustration, not a real client. Zain is 21, with an intermediate from Multan and a place offered on an English-taught engineering bachelor at a Lithuanian technical university. His father is a salaried engineer in Lahore.

• Eleven months out. He does the arithmetic himself. The minimum monthly wage from 1 January 2026 is EUR 1,153, half of that is EUR 576.50 a month, and the funds have to cover at least a year, so about EUR 6,918. He does not use the figure an agent showed him from a 2024 printout.
• Ten months out. He asks the university one question in writing: does the mediation letter confirm subsistence funds? The answer is no, so he knows he needs six months of bank statements, and he opens and funds the account immediately rather than in the summer.
• Eight months out. He budgets tuition at the published non-EU engineering rate of EUR 4,950 a year rather than a figure from a forum, and asks the university for its refund policy in writing before paying, because the invoice comes before the permit application.
• Five months out. Six months of statements now exist. He files in MIGRIS, pays the EUR 80 state fee under the general procedure rather than EUR 320 urgent, and writes the four-month in-person deadline in his calendar on the same day.
• Four months out. He buys insurance that names both emergency medical care and the cost of returning home for health reasons, valid for at least a year, rather than the cheapest travel policy on offer.
• Three months out. He applies for the national visa through the external service provider, asks for the state fee and the provider’s service fee as separate lines, and keeps both receipts.
• Inside two months. The permit decision arrives in the published period, because nothing had to be requested from him. He attends in person well inside the four months with his biometrics and originals.
• After arrival. He asks the Migration Department in writing what work hours apply to his permit, and keeps the reply, rather than relying on what a senior student told him.

Nothing here was clever. Zain calculated the funds instead of copying them, and he asked the university one question that moved his whole timeline six months earlier.

The version that goes wrong

His friend Shahzaib takes a package from a local agent for PKR 350,000 with no breakdown. The agent prepares the file on a 2024 funds figure and a bank account opened six weeks before filing, so there are no six months of statements and no parental commitment either. The agent bills EUR 200 for the national visa fee, which matches neither the EUR 140 on the Migration Department page nor the EUR 120 on the Foreign Ministry page. Shahzaib pays a year’s tuition without reading the refund rule. He files in MIGRIS and waits, assuming the Department will call him, and the four-month window to attend in person closes. The state fee is small, so it is not the EUR 80 that hurts. It is the tuition, the agent’s fee and the intake.

Key takeaways

Frequently asked questions