For most descendants, the practical question is not whether Lithuania will accept them but whether they can keep the passport they already hold. The answer is yes only inside narrow exceptions, and those exceptions turn on when and why an ancestor left. This guide sets out the Lithuanian dual citizenship rules for descendants as the official pages describe them, shows how the two exceptions are proved, explains why a widening of the rules has stalled, and flags the points we could not confirm.
Legal note: this article is general information, not legal advice. Dual citizenship rules are set by the constitution and the Law on Citizenship and can change. Confirm what applies to you with the Migration Department, a Lithuanian consulate or a qualified lawyer.
The general rule and its exceptions
Under the current constitution, no one may hold citizenship of both Lithuania and another state except in narrowly defined cases, according to a report by the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT in April 2026. As a result, many who emigrated after independence was restored on 11 March 1990 are barred from holding both. Reinstatement of citizenship for descendants is different, because the consular pages say the requirement to renounce another citizenship does not apply to two groups.
- Persons who were exiled from the occupied Republic of Lithuania before 11 March 1990, and their descendants, meaning children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren.
- Persons who left Lithuania before 11 March 1990, and their descendants, meaning children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren.
Notice that both groups depend on the date 11 March 1990, the day independence was restored. A person who left in 1938, in 1947 or in 1985 falls on the right side of it, and a person who left in 1995 does not.
What the statute adds, in the firm’s words
A legal-services firm that summarizes the statute states that proving a person held citizenship before 15 June 1940 is not enough for dual citizenship, and that two further circumstances are available. The first is exile from occupied Lithuania before 11 March 1990, which the firm describes as exile or forcible expulsion between 15 June 1940 and 11 March 1990 by decision of occupation-regime institutions or courts for reasons of resistance, political or social reasons, or origin. The second is fleeing Lithuania before that date, which the firm describes as the person or an ancestor having fled and having their permanent residence outside Lithuania on 11 March 1990.
One carve-out matters for many families. The firm says that the concept of leaving does not include persons who left the territory of Lithuania after 15 June 1940 for the territory of the former Soviet Union. A grandfather who moved to Russia or Kazakhstan under Soviet rule is therefore not covered by the second exception on that basis, though other facts may apply. The firm is a private one and we read this as a statement of the statute’s wording, not as an official interpretation.
How the exceptions are proved
The Los Angeles consulate lists examples of documents showing that a person was exiled or left Lithuania before 11 March 1990. They include a U.S. naturalization certificate, documents from refugee camps, old passports of foreign countries and U.S. marriage certificates, all issued before 11 March 1990. For exile, it points to a certificate from the Lithuanian Special Archives about the fact of forcible removal, or court documents. An older embassy page adds that the status of a deportee or political prisoner is determined only by the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, so check the current rule if exile is your basis.
A displaced-persons family has some of these papers by default. Camp registration records and resettlement files can show a departure before 1990, and our guide to displaced persons explains where they are held. A family from the earlier emigration may rely on naturalization papers instead, as described in our guide to emigration to America and Canada.
Why the rules have not widened
Two referendums have tried to amend Article 12 of the constitution to broaden dual citizenship, and both failed on turnout. In 2019, about 74 percent of votes were in favor, but that was only about 38 percent of eligible voters, short of the half of all registered voters the amendment required. On 12 May 2024, 74.49 percent voted yes, with 1,043,265 votes in favor, which represented around 43 percent of the 2,401,807 registered voters, so that proposal also failed. The sponsor of the 2024 proposal said the result created a situation of legal impossibility for expanding dual citizenship by constitutional amendment, and she filed a bill to amend the Law on Citizenship instead.
That bill and later proposals concern Lithuanians who acquire another citizenship, not descendants reinstating citizenship, but they show where the debate stands. In October 2026, three amendments were registered in the Seimas, including one that would let people who acquire citizenship in NATO countries keep Lithuanian citizenship and another that would widen the definition of a person deported or persecuted. We cover the details in our guide to law changes and proposals. A proposal is not a law, and we cannot say whether any of them will pass.
A worked example, invented for illustration
Example (invented, for illustration only): A reader’s great-grandmother left Lithuania in 1949 for a refugee camp in Germany and then settled in Canada. Her Canadian naturalization papers date from 1955. Under the consular wording, a departure before 11 March 1990 supports the second exception, and the reader, a great-grandchild, is within the generation limit. She still has to prove that the great-grandmother held Lithuanian citizenship before 15 June 1940, which is a separate step. Without that proof, the departure date alone does not help.
Two proofs, not one
The most common misunderstanding is that leaving before 1990 is enough. It is not. A descendant who wants to keep another passport must prove both that someone in the line held citizenship before 15 June 1940 and that the exile or departure happened before 11 March 1990. The first proof is covered in our guide to the documents, and the whole process is in the complete guide.
What we could not confirm
- Whether a person who fled before 1990 but returned for a period before 11 March 1990 would qualify, since the permanent-residence test refers to that date.
- How the Migration Department treats an ancestor who left for another Soviet republic and later emigrated to a third country.
- Whether the pending amendments, if passed, would change the proof required of descendants.
Sources include the Los Angeles consulate’s page on citizenship, a private law firm’s summary of the statute, an older embassy page on citizenship, an LRT report of April 2026, a reference article on the 2024 referendum and one on the 2019 referendum.
More guides are in Restoring Lithuanian Citizenship.
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