Lithuania is a realistic move from Ukraine if you match a residence route to your situation early. The short version: a one-bedroom rents for about €700 a month in the bigger cities, typical net salaries run around €1,300, personal taxes sit at 20/32%, and permanent residence usually takes about 5 years of legal stay. Here is how the move actually works for Ukrainian citizens.
Getting in: your route options
As Ukrainian citizens you can enter visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180, which makes scouting trips easy. Living in Lithuania is a separate matter: you need a residence permit tied to a reason.
- Remote work: Lithuania has no dedicated digital nomad visa. No nomad visa; e-resident tools exist but residence needs a standard permit.
- Work: a job offer plus a work permit; for higher-paid qualified roles ask employers about the EU Blue Card, which speeds up residence across most of the bloc.
- Study: university admission converts into a student permit, usually with part-time work rights and a post-graduation job-seeker option.
- Family and ancestry: joining an EU spouse or partner, or claiming citizenship by descent if you have an EU-citizen parent or grandparent.
What life in Lithuania costs
Budget roughly €700 for a one-bed plus about €800 for essentials and transport, per person. English friendliness scores 70/100 here.
Healthcare here rates 68/100 in this model and everyday safety 80/100, while public transport comes in at 65/100.
Administration is middling by EU standards at 50/100, which usually means a few slow appointments rather than a saga.
The rental market is relatively relaxed (50/100), so finding a place is rarely the bottleneck.
The local language (LT) is one of the harder ones to pick up, rated 30/100, which is worth knowing if residence later requires a language test.
Coming from Ukraine, one thing worth knowing early: Lithuania has a large, long-established Russian and Ukrainian speaking community, so shops, schooling advice and paperwork help are easy to find in your own language.
What you would pay in tax
If you keep earning from abroad and register as self-employed, Lithuania charges individual-activity income effectively 5-15% (a tax credit tapers as profit grows), plus ~19.5-28.3% on a reduced base.
Small freelance incomes are taxed remarkably lightly through the credit mechanism.
Lithuania is among the more welcoming countries in the bloc for remote workers and freelancers, rated 75/100. The full picture, including the company route and the special regimes, is on the taxes in Lithuania page, and the take-home index ranks all 27 countries on what actually reaches your account.
The long game
Permanent residence in Lithuania takes about 5 years of legal residence, and citizenship about 10 years from arrival, subject to language and integration requirements. If an EU passport is part of your plan, weigh this timeline against neighbouring countries before you commit.