Your child's citizenship and passports after separation

Usually yes. A child acquires Lithuanian citizenship by birth if at least one parent is a Lithuanian citizen, wherever the child is born. The citizenship is recorded when the birth is registered in Lithuania. If your child was born abroad, the birth can be registered through a Lithuanian embassy or consulate.

Registering the birth usually means presenting the foreign birth certificate, with an official translation and, depending on the country, an apostille, to a Lithuanian civil registry office or consulate. The Lithuanian parent normally makes the application. Once the birth is registered, the child can get a Lithuanian passport or ID card. See also our guide on documents from abroad.

Two citizenships

Many children of mixed couples also hold the citizenship of the other parent’s country. As a rule, Lithuania does not allow dual citizenship, but the law makes exceptions, and two of them cover most children of mixed couples:

• Both citizenships acquired at birth. A child who became Lithuanian and, for example, British or Irish at birth can keep both, for life. The old rule that such a person had to choose one citizenship by the age of 21 was repealed in 2018.
• The second citizenship acquired later, before 18. A child who is Lithuanian from birth and acquires another citizenship before turning 18, for example through the other parent’s naturalisation, can also keep both. This exception has applied since 2021.

Outside these exceptions, a Lithuanian citizen who acquires another citizenship as an adult generally loses Lithuanian citizenship.

Two more points matter in practice. First, while the child is in Lithuania, the Lithuanian state treats them only as a Lithuanian citizen. The foreign citizenship does not change how Lithuanian courts or authorities deal with them. Second, a child’s citizenship acquired at birth does not change if a parent later gives up or acquires a citizenship, so a separation or a parent’s move cannot take it away.

Older children are a special case. Some people born with two citizenships between 11 March 1990 and 22 July 2008 have to apply in writing to be treated as Lithuanian citizens. If your child was born in that period, check their status with the Migration Department.

A Lithuanian passport or ID card for a child under 16 is normally issued on the application of one parent or guardian. The other parent’s signature is not usually needed.

There is an exception, according to Lithuanian consular guidance: if the parents are divorced and the child’s residence has been set with one parent, the other parent can apply only with the written consent of the parent the child lives with, signed before a notary or an equivalent authority.

Children aged 2 to 16 must attend the appointment in person. For a first document for a child under 2, the child does not have to attend, but photographs are needed.

Applications can be made in Lithuania or at a Lithuanian embassy or consulate abroad.

What this means in practice: taking away the child’s Lithuanian passport will not reliably stop the other parent from getting a new one. If your real worry is the child being taken abroad, a court order is the effective tool, not the document.

A passport from the other parent’s country is issued under that country’s rules. Some countries require both parents to consent before a child’s passport is issued; others do not. Lithuanian law does not decide this. Check with the passport authority of that country.

No. A passport is a travel document. It does not give a parent the right to change where the child lives.

• Holidays. Lithuanian law does not require the other parent’s consent for a short trip with one parent. The trip must not override the agreed contact schedule, and the child must come back on time.
• Moving abroad. A child who lives in Lithuania can be taken abroad to live permanently only with the other parent’s written consent or a court decision. See moving abroad with a child from Lithuania.
• Moving to Lithuania. If the child lives in another country, the same logic applies there. See my Lithuanian partner wants to move back to Lithuania with our child.

If there is a real risk that the other parent will take the child abroad and not return:

• in Lithuania, a court can, in exceptional cases, prohibit taking the child out of the country without its permission while a case is pending;
• in another country, ask a local lawyer about the equivalent order there;
• keep evidence of the risk: messages about plans to leave, tickets, job offers abroad.

If the child has already been taken, see international child abduction.