ceturtdiena, 2015. gada 4. jūnijs

Bureaucracy in Lithuania - work, short version

As I finished my EVS in Lithuania, but I am not planning to move somewhere else for a while, I found a job in Vilnius. But to start to work, you have to make a plenty of documents.

Recommendations for the people who have to do the same things:

*If you have to go to the Immigration office to get an immigrant identification card for the work purposes (and if you are EU citizen):
1) go to Naugarduko g. 100, not L.Sapiegos 1;
2) be ready to spend there at least 1,5 h if you will get a number with "0 person(s) waiting";
3) before going there, make a copy of your contract, passport or ID - they will take everything. If you want to spend there a little bit less time, you can fill the application already home.
4) It is written that you will have to pay EUR 8, 60, but reserve EUR 9,20, because you must pay a commission (EUR 0,60)! If you will pay by a card, you will save 2 cents.
5) Even if you marked that they would send you the documents by a post, it is NOT possible, so don' t even hope.
6) You will receive the document in 10 days, but don't expect to receive any notification, just come after 10 days and it should be there.

After I will receive this ID card, I will have to declare myself in Vilnius to receive social insurance number, but that will be another story after more than 10 days.
As you see, it is very convenient to find a right address - the address on the right upper corner is showed in all pages, but to get an address of Vilnius immigration office, you have to make at least 4 additional clicks.

*If you have to open a new bank account (if you are a foreigner in Lithuania):
1) Most likely go to the Swedbank (User-friendly internet banking, nice phone app etc.);
2) Reserve around an hour of your time (it took me 45min);
3) Have your contract with you, or, even better, some paper from your working place, that says that you will receive your salary to your account. In general, they shouldn't ask for such a paper, but seems like it doesn' t happen so often (really?) that foreigner wants to open a bank account here, so they don't really know what to do and will ask colleagues. Arm with patience.
4) You will have to fill a declaration - all answers should be marked as you plan, but it doesn't matter that in real life it will be much different. Just be careful when you write your contact details and the monthly amount of money you plan to receive (this can change your daily/monthly limits). This declaration in my opinion is total non-sense.

*To work in Lithuania, you have to get a medical book, that you are enough healthy to work in some kind of environment (e.g. next to computers):
1) Normally those books are given out by doctors, but in my case I had to buy it myself - I didn' t get it at the post office as it was recommended, also not at the pharmacy as it would be logical, but just at stationery shop.
2) Then you should visit a doctor at any clinic. I chose a private clinic, because it is much nicer and more likely that they will speak English (even if I understand Lithuanian, I can't explain specific things, especially about some medical stuff).
3) This is quite fast procedure compared with those mentioned above. The only funny thing is that everywhere they are asking "Haven't you ever...(checked yourself at the doctor; registered in Lithuania... etc)"

Happily, I already have my account and internet bank, and I could order to receive the bank card to my post box, so I wouldn't have to spend one more hour in the bank.