VASPVT Lithuania: Licence, Exams and Fees

• Doctor (gydytojas): recognition and medical practice licence
• Dentist (gydytojas odontologas): recognition and dental practice licence
• General care nurse (bendrosios praktikos slaugytojas): recognition and general nursing practice licence
• Midwife (akušeris): recognition and midwifery practice licence
• Other regulated professions under the Ministry of Health, except pharmacist and pharmacy technician: recognition
• Oral care, personal health care, public health and complementary and alternative health care licences

• A formal qualification gained in a third country in a profession regulated under the Ministry of Health.
• Proof of citizenship and documents for any change of name.
• Documents showing the length and subjects of your training, with credits or hours for each subject where training can be expressed that way.
• Evidence of professional work experience and any other documents confirming your qualification, where you have them.
• Translations into Lithuanian certified by the translator's signature or a translation agency's stamp.
• For the licence: a medical certificate no more than 3 months old confirming you are fit to practise.
• For the licence: a state language certificate confirming the second category (B1).
• If you are a foreign national: documents giving you the right to live and work in Lithuania, which VASPVT's earlier licence service description listed.

Check your route with the route finder

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   1. Choose the right VASPVT service

   VASPVT lists a separate administrative service for recognition of qualifications gained in third countries, apart from the EU-based services for doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives. Using the wrong form is an avoidable delay, so match the service to where you trained, not to your nationality.
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   2. Assemble and translate your documents

   Collect your qualification certificate, transcript or course content with credits or hours, citizenship and name-change documents, work experience evidence and any power of attorney. Have them translated into Lithuanian with the translator's signature or agency stamp. VASPVT's licensing guidance also asks for legalisation or an apostille on foreign documents unless a treaty or EU law removes that need.
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   3. Check whether you need an SKVC certificate

   VASPVT's 2021 service description included a certificate from the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education (SKVC) on the evaluation or academic recognition of your higher education. Its 2023 information sheet no longer lists it. Ask VASPVT before applying to SKVC, because that evaluation is a separate procedure.
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   4. Submit the recognition application

   Submit the set application form with your documents. VASPVT's 2023 information sheet asks for applications to be emailed to [email protected]; its earlier description also allowed submission in person or by post at A. Juozapavičiaus g. 9, Vilnius.
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   5. Decision within 3 months

   VASPVT decides no later than 3 months after receiving all required documents. The decision, an order of its director, is handed over in person, emailed or posted. If it sets a professional aptitude test, you must pass it before recognition.
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   6. Register for LICREG

   Licence applications are made in LICREG, VASPVT's register of practice licences for health care and pharmacy specialists. People without Lithuanian online banking can register as a new user under the registered user login, and receive login codes by email.
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   7. Apply for the practice licence

   Upload your passport, any name-change documents, your qualification and recognition documents (not needed if VASPVT recognised your qualification), a medical certificate no older than 3 months and your state language certificate. Pay the state fee, which VASPVT's 2023 information sheet gives as €45 where a foreign recognition procedure applied, before the licence is issued.
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   8. Keep your licence in good standing

   Licence holders must keep to the licence conditions and develop their professional qualification. A new procedure for continuing professional development for health care and pharmacy specialists applies from 1 December 2023, and VASPVT publishes a reminder of the documents it accepts as proof.

• Professional aptitude test (profesinio tinkamumo testas)

  The compensatory measure VASPVT can set for third-country qualifications. The official pages we could access do not publish its format, frequency, location or fee; these should be set out when VASPVT decides to apply it.

• State language exam

  Run by the National Education Agency (NŠA), not VASPVT. Government Resolution No. 1688 matches the second category to CEFR B1. Registration for the exam through NŠA's online system requires a Lithuanian personal code.

• VASPVT does not use IELTS, OET or other English tests. The requirement is Lithuanian.
• Government Resolution No. 1688 applies the second state language category (B1) to health care workers who deal with people constantly, and VASPVT's licensing guidance asks for a certificate confirming the second category.
• VASPVT's 2023 information sheet for applicants from Ukraine allowed them to show they had started learning Lithuanian and to submit the certificate within one calendar year of the licence. That concession was described for Ukrainian applicants; do not assume it applies to you.
• People who completed secondary, post-secondary or higher education in Lithuanian are outside the category system.

Estimate your total cost

• Recognition: no later than 3 months after VASPVT receives all required documents.
• Aptitude test, if set: timing not published.
• Lithuanian to category II (B1): depends on your starting level; plan for it before you apply for the licence.
• Practice licence: issued after the documents are complete and the state fee is paid; VASPVT's pages we could access give no fixed deadline.
• Residence permit: a separate procedure with the Migration Department, whose fee for a temporary residence permit decision is €160 (€320 urgently).