Before you start

Personal code (asmens kodas), issued with your residence permit
Passport and residence permit card
Proof of address in Lithuania
Documented reason for the account — employment contract, study enrolment or business documents

Step-by-step

1
Get your personal code first
The asmens kodas is issued with your residence permit and is the identifier every bank, tax and health interaction runs on. Very little is possible before it exists.
In personWho: You
2
Book an appointment at Swedbank, SEB or Luminor
All three serve foreigners and all three want to see you in a branch for the first identification. Bring the passport, the residence card, the lease and the employment contract.
In personWho: You
3
Expect an anti-money-laundering conversation
Lithuania supervises a very large fintech sector and its banks are correspondingly careful about source of funds. Answer plainly and bring documents rather than explanations.
In personWho: You
4
Set up Smart-ID
Smart-ID is the app-based digital identity used across the Baltics for bank logins, signing documents and government e-services. Set it up at the branch while you are there — it is the single thing that makes everything else fast.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Add a fintech account for what the bank is slow at
Revolut's European entity is licensed in Lithuania and Paysera is a long-established local EMI. They are excellent for FX and day-to-day spending; keep the bank account for salary, rent and anything involving the tax office.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Residence permit card and personal code
Lease or other proof of Lithuanian address
Employment contract, enrolment certificate or company documents

Things most newcomers don’t know

Smart-ID is the key to the whole country, not just the bank.

The same app-based identity logs you into the tax office's EDS system, signs documents with legal effect, and authenticates you to municipal e-services. Setting it up at the bank counter takes ten minutes and removes weeks of in-person queuing later. It is the single highest-leverage thing you can do in your first fortnight.

Source: Smart-ID — Baltic digital identity

Living in the EU's biggest EMI hub does not mean the banks are easy.

Lithuania supervises well over eighty electronic money institutions, which has made its banks unusually alert to anti-money-laundering risk rather than unusually relaxed. Expect more source-of-funds questions than you would in a comparable Western European city, not fewer.

Source: Bank of Lithuania — electronic money institutions register

Your employer will almost certainly want a Lithuanian IBAN.

Salary into a foreign IBAN is legally possible under SEPA and practically awkward — payroll systems, Sodra reporting and tax refunds are all built around a domestic account. Open the bank account in your first weeks even if a fintech card is covering your day-to-day spending.

Source: Sodra and VMI payroll practice

Let your residence permit lapse on the bank's file and payments stop.

Banks hold a copy of your residence document and Lithuanian anti-money-laundering practice requires it to be current. When it expires the account is restricted, usually without much warning, and often at the worst possible moment. Send the renewed card to the bank the week you collect it.

Source: Lithuanian bank customer due diligence practice

Common mistakes to avoid

Trying to open an account before the personal code exists.
Arriving at the branch without a lease and an employment contract.
Relying on a fintech account alone and finding payroll cannot use it cleanly.
Leaving the branch without setting up Smart-ID.
Letting an expired residence permit sit on the bank's file until payments freeze.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.