Banking

Steps

1. Choose your bank. Banks named by the IOM and Go Vilnius: Swedbank, SEB, Luminor, Artea (AB "Artea" bankas, formerly Šiaulių bankas, which no longer appears under that name in the guarantee fund's list), Citadele, URBO, Revolut, Paysera. Some online banks open an account free of charge; the IOM states that a foreigner generally has to go to the bank in person with their documents.
2. Prepare your file (see Documents) and explain why you need the account: work, studies, housing.
3. Answer the "know your customer" questions: source of your income, activity, country of tax residence. These are anti-money-laundering obligations; an incomplete answer can block the opening.
4. If you are refused, ask for the reason in writing (the bank must give it, unless the law forbids it to do so, according to the Bank of Lithuania) and ask for a basic payment account. You can then complain to the Bank of Lithuania: it is the Lithuanian body for out-of-court settlement of disputes between consumers and banks, credit unions, payment providers and some insurers (member of the European FIN-NET network); the complaint is filed in Lithuanian (European Commission, FIN-NET Lithuania page).
5. Activate your online banking: it often serves as electronic identification for public portals (sheet LT-ADMINISTRATIONS-TOUS-001).
6. For a mortgage, compare several banks and commit to nothing before their written agreement.

Documents

• Valid passport or identity card.
• Lithuanian residence permit or certificate, if you have one; your personal code (asmens kodas) makes everything easier (sheet LT-NIF-TOUS-001).
• Proof of your link with Lithuania: employment contract, certificate of enrolment in studies, title deed.
• For a loan: employment contract, payslips, bank statements, advertisement for the property.

Costs and timelines

• Opening an account: up to €200 for a foreigner at a traditional bank, free of charge at some online banks (IOM; Go Vilnius: from €0 to €200).
• Basic payment services: according to the Bank of Lithuania, banks and credit unions must offer the basic services package for no more than €1 per month (€0.50 for people on low incomes) since 1 January 2025 (Bank of Lithuania, "Pagrindinės mokėjimo sąskaitos krepšelis" page; price linked to the minimum wage and reviewed every three years; the package includes at least €800 of cash withdrawals per month). Before 2025, the package cost €1.47 (€0.73 for low incomes).
• Euro transfers within the EU: same price as a domestic transfer; an employer or supplier cannot refuse your foreign IBAN if it accepts domestic SEPA transfers (Your Europe).
• Deposit guarantee: €100,000 per person per bank. For Lithuanian banks (Swedbank, SEB, Artea, Urbo, UAB "Revolut Bank"), it is managed by the Indėlių ir investicijų draudimas; Lithuanian branches of foreign banks such as Luminor (Estonian fund) or Citadele (Latvian fund) come under the fund of their home country, according to the Lithuanian fund's list. On the Lithuanian side, above €100,000, certain temporarily high balances are protected if they were paid in during the 6 months before the bank failed: up to €300,000 for the proceeds of the sale of your home, up to €200,000 for an inheritance, a life insurance payout received as a beneficiary, compensation for the death of a person in the course of their work or compensation for a violent crime. This supplement applies only to individuals: you must apply for it with supporting documents, to the Lithuanian fund, within the month following the unavailability of the deposits (Indėlių ir investicijų draudimas, 2026). For a branch of a foreign bank, ask the fund of its home country.
• Mortgage (Bank of Lithuania rules, in force since 1 August 2026):
  • loan up to 85% of the value of the property (15% deposit), 90% for a first purchase if neither you nor your co-borrowers have owned property in the last 5 years;
  • 70% for a second and any further mortgage, unless more than half of the principal of each previous loan has been repaid (then less than 85%);
  • monthly repayments capped at 50% of your income, calculated with a rate of at least 6% (before August 2026: 40% at the actual rate and 50% at 5%);
  • maximum term of 30 years (IOM); the 2026 reform changes only the deposit and the debt-service ratio, not the term (Bank of Lithuania notification to the ESRB).
• Bank card: about 5 working days after the application is submitted (IOM).

Common pitfalls

• Arriving without proof of a link with Lithuania. Traditional banks often ask for it; an employment or study contract is the key.
• Thinking that Revolut, Wise or Paysera are all banks. Only a bank is covered by a deposit guarantee (for example UAB "Revolut Bank", a Lithuanian bank that is a member of the Lithuanian guarantee fund, according to its list of members consulted in 2026); a payment or electronic money institution must in principle protect your funds in another way (segregated funds), without a €100,000 guarantee: check the status of your provider.
• A loan with just a temporary residence permit. The IOM says this is rarely accepted; many banks also require 6 to 12 months of an employment contract in Lithuania.
• Paying the seller before the loan is approved. To be avoided at all costs (IOM).
• Scams involving a call "from the bank": a bank never asks you for your identification codes by phone.

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens: right to a basic payment account as long as you reside legally in the EU; your account in your home country remains usable for SEPA transfers.
• Swiss citizens: Switzerland is in the SEPA area; the right to a basic payment account applies to anyone who resides legally in an EU country, with no nationality condition (Your Europe): as a legal resident of Lithuania, you are entitled to it.
• British citizens (Scots included): the United Kingdom is in SEPA, but banks generally ask for the Lithuanian residence permit; checks are sometimes more thorough.
• Everyone: declare your foreign account if the tax authority of your home country requires it (in France, declaration of accounts held abroad).