Law office Stašaitis & Partners is happy for their client, foreign citizen, who was granted a permanent residence permit in Lithuania, despite the fact that there was a 31 day break between his temporary residence permits . It should be noted that such breaks between temporary residence permits usually occur due to a changes in the legal basis for receipt of the temporary residence permit. Part 6 of Directive 2003/109 / EC states that the main criterion for granting long term resident status must be the length of residence in the territory of a Member State. The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania has ruled that the mere fact that there is a gap of 32 days between temporary residence permits in the Republic of Lithuania, but at that time the applicant had a national visa (D) and actually and legally resided in Lithuania, is not sufficient grounds to conclude that the applicant hadn’t acquire the right to a permanent residence permit. While assessing the right to acquire the status of a permanent resident, the actual duration of legal and permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania as well as other related circumstances must be taken into account.
