exam guide · Lithuanian

Lithuanian language exam A1–A2: the state language exam for work, permanent residence and citizenship

The Lithuanian language exam A1–A2 is the state language exam for foreigners in Lithuania — Valstybinės kalbos mokėjimo egzaminas, officially the Bazinės–I kategorijų (A1–A2 lygio) valstybinės kalbos mokėjimo egzaminas — run by the National Education Agency (NŠA), Nacionalinė švietimo agentūra. One sitting grades you to the basic category (A1) or Category I (A2); Category I is what a permanent residence permit and citizenship require, and since 2026 the exam also covers foreigners working in the service sector.

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The exam and its name belong to the Republic of Lithuania, which runs it through the National Education Agency (NŠA). wspell is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any exam provider.

at a glance

Provider: Nacionalinė švietimo agentūra (NŠA) — the National Education Agency, nsa.smsm.lt. Oversight of the language requirements: Valstybinė kalbos inspekcija (VKI), the State Language Inspectorate
Official name: Bazinės–I kategorijų (A1–A2 lygio) valstybinės kalbos mokėjimo egzaminas. NŠA's own page calls it Lietuvių kalbos egzaminas užsieniečiams — the Lithuanian language exam for foreigners
Categories and levels: Basic category (bazinė) = A1 · Category I = A2 · Category II = B1 · Category III = B2. Categories I–III have matched A2–B2 since 2022 (government resolution No. 1688); the basic category was added by the government decision of 26 November 2025, in force from 2026
Who needs A2: A permanent residence permit and citizenship require Category I (A2) — the exam NŠA's schedule names for applicants under the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens (Art. 53(6)) and the Citizenship Law; the Migration Department decides your case. Service-sector workers: the basic category (A1) for two years from their first residence document (from 1 January 2026 if it is older), then A2 (VKI)
Parts and points: Three parts: Skaitymas ir rašymas (reading and writing) 50 points · Klausymas (listening) 20 · Kalbėjimas (speaking) 10. Reading, writing and listening are one electronic test; speaking is live with two examiners
Pass floors: A1 blocks: 13 of 22 points in reading and writing (tasks 1–4), 6 of 10 in listening (tasks 1–2), speaking at least 5 of 10 with the distribution rule. A2 blocks: 17 of 28 (tasks 5–9), 6 of 10 (tasks 3–4), speaking at least 6 of 10 with the distribution rule. All of these are stated in NŠA's results-evaluation document (version of 27 February 2026); check its current version before your date
How the result is decided: By the weakest part. All three parts at A2 → A2 (Category I); any part at A1 only → A1; any part failed → not passed. For candidates sitting it for a permanent residence permit, an A1-only result yields no certificate at all
Remaining 2026 dates: Category exam (eksternams): 22 October, 11 November and 19 November 2026; the MIGRIS exam for permanent residence and citizenship: 11 November 2026 — the sittings left when we checked (11 October 2026). NŠA 2026 schedule, order VK-1246 as amended by VK-1040: electronic test at 10:00, speaking at 13:00
Fee: €52 for the category exam on eksternams in 2026; through MIGRIS, €57 for the language exam and €21 for the Constitution exam (NŠA)
Where to register: Permanent residence or citizenship: your MIGRIS account on migracija.lt (a Lithuanian personal code is required). Category exam: an e-mail-and-password account on eksternams.nsa.smm.lt, open from 30 to 7 days before the exam (NŠA FAQ); NŠA lets permanent-residence applicants sit this one too, with A2 needed in every part
Results: Within 15 working days of the exam (NŠA FAQ and memos); NŠA issues the certificate within 7 working days after that, and the exam centre hands it over within 3 working days of receiving it
Constitution exam: Separate. Permanent residence and citizenship also require the exam on the basics of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, with its own dates on the same NŠA schedule

Who needs the Lithuanian language exam: permanent residence, citizenship, service-sector jobs

Three groups sit this exam. Foreigners applying for a permanent residence permit under Article 53(6) of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, and applicants for Lithuanian citizenship under the Citizenship Law, need Category I (A2); NŠA's 2026 schedule lists their sitting as the state language exam, registered through MIGRIS. Since 2026, foreigners working in the service sector need a state-language category too: the basic category (A1) for two years from the first document giving them the right to live in Lithuania — counted from 1 January 2026 if that document is older — then Category I (A2). That is the government decision of 26 November 2025, as the State Language Inspectorate (VKI) explains it.

The third group registers for a category for work, through NŠA's eksternams portal, for the sitting listed as the basic-to-Category I state language exam. The IOM Migration Information Centre puts the usual split simply: permanent residence goes through MIGRIS, work goes through your NŠA account. The split is not a wall: NŠA's news of 30 September 2026 says people seeking permanent residence may sit the category exam too, and must then reach A2 in all three parts. Holders of temporary protection (Ukrainians) are exempt from the service-sector language requirement, per the VKI FAQ. Whether your own status needs a certificate is a question for the Migration Department, not for the exam provider.

Basic category (A1) vs Category I (A2): which certificate you get

Categories I, II and III have matched CEFR A2, B1 and B2 since 2022 (government resolution No. 1688); the government decision of 26 November 2025 added a basic category below them, equal to A1. The first A1–A2 sittings ran in January 2026. Both levels are graded from the same paper in the same sitting — you do not choose a level; you get the highest one you clear in every part.

Which certificate you receive depends on why you sit it. For a category — the route for work — an A1-only result earns the basic-category certificate. For permanent residence it earns nothing: NŠA's results-evaluation document states that a person sitting the exam for a permanent residence permit is not issued the basic (A1) certificate even if they reached A1. If you need A2, an A1 result is a failed attempt, not half a certificate.

Exam structure: reading and writing, listening, speaking

The exam has three parts (NŠA FAQ). Reading and writing is worth 50 points; listening 20; speaking 10. Reading, writing and listening are one continuous electronic test, taken at a designated school in your municipality; speaking is a live conversation with two examiners.

On exam day the electronic test runs from 10:00 to 11:55: 90 minutes for reading and writing, then 25 minutes for listening — and once you submit reading and writing, you cannot go back to it. A candidate up to 20 minutes late may still start, with no extra time. Speaking starts at 13:00 and takes 12–14 minutes per candidate. All of this is in NŠA's 2026 execution instructions (order VK-1088 of 2 October 2026).

Reading and writing (50 points): tasks 1–4 form the A1 block (22 points), tasks 5–9 the A2 block (28 points). NŠA has published no sample of the 2026 paper, so its task list is not official. Its writing is more than filling in missing words: the 2026 paper includes a form to fill in and a short written message — the writing the official A1–A2 level descriptors name (personal details in a form; a short informal note or message). The older sample paper, task by task, is further down.
Listening (20 points): four tasks; tasks 1–2 are the A1 block (10 points), tasks 3–4 the A2 block (10 points). NŠA does not describe the listening task types, and its published sample has no listening part.
Speaking (10 points): three situations with two examiners, 12–14 minutes in all — personal questions (2–3 minutes), a task with a minute to prepare (4–5 minutes), and a part of two two-minute tasks, each with a minute to prepare. The assessing examiner gives 0–3 points per situation, the interviewing examiner 0–1 for the whole part.

Pass marks: how the A2 result is decided

Nothing is added up into one score. Each part is graded on its own, each has an A1 block and an A2 block, and A2 in a part counts only once you have cleared A1 in that same part. The floor in each block is 60 % of its points. NŠA's results-evaluation document states the floors outright: 13 of 22 points in reading and writing and 6 of 10 in listening for the A1 blocks, 17 of 28 and 6 of 10 for the A2 blocks. Thresholds are set per paper by the evaluation instructions, not by law, so check the current version of that document before your date.

The final verdict is the weakest part. All three at A2 → level A2, Category I. Any part at A1 only → level A1. Any part below A1 → not passed: a strong listening score cannot rescue a failed reading paper.

Speaking has its own distribution rule, and the total alone does not settle it — NŠA's document says outright that 5 points do not guarantee A1 and 6 do not guarantee A2. A1 needs at least 5 points and at least 2 points in at least two situations; A2 needs at least 6 points with the best two situations summing to at least 5. NŠA's own examples, with the interviewing examiner's point counted in each:

2 + 1 + 1 (+1) = 5 — no level
2 + 2 + 0 (+1) = 5 — A1
2 + 2 + 1 (+1) = 6 — A1
3 + 2 + 0 (+1) = 6 — A2

Lithuanian language exam dates 2026, registration (MIGRIS or NŠA eksternams) and fees

NŠA's 2026 schedule (director's order VK-1246 of 18 December 2025, amended by order VK-1040 of 21 September 2026) lists seventeen dates for the category exam — the amendment added 22 October and 19 November — and six for the permanent-residence and citizenship exam registered through MIGRIS (16 January, 24 March, 4 June, 20 August, 7 October and 11 November). When we checked (11 October 2026), three category dates were left — 22 October, 11 November and 19 November — and one MIGRIS date, 11 November. Every sitting follows the same pattern: electronic test at 10:00, speaking at 13:00. NŠA's news of 30 September 2026 adds that people seeking permanent residence may sit the category exam too, and must then reach A2 in all three parts. The schedule PDF in the sources is the authority.

Where you register depends on why you need the certificate. For permanent residence or citizenship you register through your MIGRIS account on migracija.lt, which requires a Lithuanian personal code (NŠA registration page). For a category — the route for work, and one NŠA opens to permanent-residence applicants too — you register at eksternams.nsa.smm.lt, with an account you open with an e-mail address and a password; registration there opens 30 days before the exam and closes 7 days before (NŠA FAQ).

The fee depends on the route. On eksternams the category exam costs €52 in 2026 (NŠA FAQ and eksternams), and NŠA's memo says you are told how to pay once you are registered. Through MIGRIS, NŠA's memo for that route puts the state language exam at €57 and the Constitution exam at €21, paid on migracija.lt when you book. Results come within 15 working days of the exam (NŠA FAQ and its memos); NŠA issues the certificate within 7 working days after that, and the exam centre hands it over within 3 working days of receiving it.

Sample test: what the tasks look like

NŠA has not published a sample of the 2026 A1–A2 paper. The sample it does publish is the older Category I reading and writing paper — its letters are dated 2001 and its prices are in litas — and every answer in it is chosen, none typed. Its task shapes are still worth knowing, so here it is task by task, with item counts from that sample. Which tasks fall in the A1 block and which in the A2 block is not published, so the block labels below are our reconstruction — the sample's counts do not add up to the official 22/28 split. The 2026 paper differs — its writing includes a form and a short message — but the 22- and 28-point blocks and the 50 total are fixed.

Signs and notices (two tasks, 5 items each, A1 block): say where a short sign would appear, from three places, and match five sentences to the eight public notices that mean the same.
Vocabulary (5 items, A1 block): match five short descriptions of clothes to their names, from a list of eight.
Dialogues (two tasks, 5 items each; the first in the A1 block, the second in the A2 block): choose, from three, the reply that completes a short exchange, then rebuild a dialogue by picking each missing turn from eight.
Reading text, true / false / not mentioned (7 items, A2 block): the third option is the trap — a plausible statement that is not in the text is not mentioned, not false.
Gap-fill (8 items, A2 block): choose the right word for each gap in a short article from three — mostly forms of one word that differ in person, case, number or agreement.
Letter completion (10 items, A2 block): complete two short letters by choosing each missing short word — a preposition, a pronoun, a conjunction — from one list of sixteen.
Writing in the 2026 paper: a form to fill in and a short message to write. The older sample has neither and NŠA has published no example; it is the writing the official level descriptors set — a short informal note and personal details in a form at A1, standard forms and short informal texts such as notices and short letters at A2.
Listening (four tasks, not in the sample): read the questions before the audio and note numbers, times and names as fragments.
Speaking (three situations, not in the sample): personal questions, a task with a minute to prepare, then two short tasks — the structure above.

How to prepare for the Lithuanian A2 exam

The paper is short and mostly selection, so it rewards a small, solidly known vocabulary and correct endings more than range. Work in this order:

Learn frequency vocabulary first. A few dozen words — greetings, numbers, days, the verbs of routine, connectors like bet, nes, todėl, tačiau — do most of the work in every reading and listening text. Learn them to production, not recognition.
Learn cases through prepositions. Most of the endings you need at A2 are demanded by a preposition — iš + genitive, su + instrumental, pas + accusative — and the locative needs no preposition at all (Vilniuje). Drill them mixed, not in blocks.
Type, do not flip. The test is taken on a computer with a Lithuanian keyboard, and its writing — the form, the message — is typed: ą, č, ę, ė, į, š, ų, ū, ž are letters, not decoration. Write words from their meaning until the diacritics come out right without thinking.
Shadow the listening. Play a sentence, pause, repeat it at the same speed. Numbers, times and names are the most trainable marks on the paper and the most often skipped.
Rehearse three-way reading. NŠA's published sample asks true / false / not mentioned, a different skill from true / false: practise refusing to infer.
Two weeks out, sit full timed mocks at 10:00, the real hour. Keep one list of your mistakes and work that list, not the syllabus.
For speaking, prepare flexible material about your work, your town, your day and why you are in Lithuania, and record yourself. Two examiners, three situations: under the distribution rule one blank situation can cost you the level, so say something in all three.

How wspell's Lithuanian A2 course maps to the paper

wspell's Lithuanian A2 course is built around this exam — its three parts, its A1 and A2 blocks and its weakest-part verdict. Vocabulary and grammar drills are adaptive and drawn from a Lithuanian lexicon of more than 65,000 words and 167 curated grammar rules. Words and sentences carry synthesised Lithuanian voice audio where a clip is available — a text-to-speech voice, not native-speaker recordings — and many drills ask you to type the answer, so diacritics and endings are graded exactly, with no fuzzy tolerance.

The timed mock follows the three parts — reading and writing, listening, speaking — with the nested A1/A2 gates and the weakest-part verdict applied the way NŠA's document describes, for the parts that have content. It runs on one 115-minute clock, the official 90 + 25, but unlike the real test it lets you move back and forth between reading and listening. Our reading true/false items are two-way today (true or false), not the three-way true / false / not mentioned of NŠA's published sample, so rehearse the third option there.

What the mock does not cover yet, plainly. Writing: the 2026 form and short message are not in it, and the one writing task it does declare — a letter completion typed one word per gap — has no Lithuanian content yet, so its ten A2-block points are listed as a gap, never scored. That leaves the reading and writing part short, and in many sittings it cannot reach A2 however well you answer. Speaking, marked by two examiners in the real exam, is not assessed, and wspell has no speaking drill — rehearse the three situations with a person before the day. So the mock reports the level the measured parts reached and marks the result incomplete; it never reports a pass. The drills are free; timed mock exams count as sittings — during the free public beta they are unlimited, afterwards how many you get each month depends on your plan.

Not the VBE, and not the Latvian exam

Searching for the Lithuanian language exam brings up two other things. The VBE — the state matura exam, here the one in Lithuanian language and literature — is the school-leaving exam that pupils sit in spring; it has its own NŠA page and schedule, and it has nothing to do with residence. Latvia runs its own A2 state-language exam for residence permits; its rules, fees and dates are not these. This page is only about the NŠA exam for foreigners in Lithuania.

Grammar charts and cheat sheets

The grammar as tables you can take in at a glance — verb tenses, case endings, declensions, prepositions — each on one page to read, print and share.

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frequently asked questions

Is A1 (the basic category) enough for permanent residence in Lithuania?

No. A permanent residence permit, like citizenship, requires Category I, which is A2. For candidates sitting it for permanent residence NŠA does not even issue the A1 certificate — its results-evaluation document says so for that case — so an A1-only result means no certificate, and you sit the exam again.

Is this the same as the VBE Lithuanian exam?

No. The VBE is the school-leaving matura that pupils sit in spring, on its own NŠA schedule. The exam for foreigners is the state language exam, run by NŠA on a separate schedule, and it is the one this page describes.

When do the Lithuanian exam results come?

Within 15 working days of the exam: NŠA's FAQ and its memos for candidates all say so. On the category route the result appears in your eksternams account; on the MIGRIS route NŠA's memo says to call the exam centre where you sat it. NŠA issues the certificate within 7 working days after the results, and the exam centre hands it over within 3 working days of receiving it.

Can I retake the Lithuanian language exam, and how soon?

The official pages we checked state neither a waiting period nor a limit on attempts. The 2026 schedule, as amended in September, lists seventeen dates for the category exam and six for the MIGRIS (permanent-residence and citizenship) exam: register for a later date the same way you registered the first time and check NŠA's current FAQ.

Can I register without a Lithuanian personal code?

On the permanent-residence and citizenship route, no: registration is through MIGRIS, and NŠA's registration page says a Lithuanian personal code is required. On the category route you register on eksternams with an account you open with an e-mail address and a password; the official pages we checked do not say whether it takes a candidate with no personal code, so if you have none, write to NŠA (info@nsa.smsm.lt) before the registration window opens.

Do I also need the Constitution exam for permanent residence or citizenship?

Yes. It is a separate exam on the basics of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, with its own dates on the same NŠA schedule; the language exam does not include it, and the language certificate does not replace it.

Is the Lithuanian language exam only in Lithuanian?

Yes: it tests Lithuanian, and the sample paper and the eksternams portal are in Lithuanian only. Most of NŠA's information for foreigners is in Lithuanian too, as its FAQ says; the FAQ itself and NŠA's memos for candidates are also in English, but the paper is not.

Does a Lithuanian course certificate replace the exam?

No. A course certificate does not count as proof of the language: NŠA's FAQ says so — after a course, you sit the exam — and so does the IOM Migration Information Centre.

Do I need the Lithuanian exam to renew a temporary residence permit?

A2 is required for permanent residence and citizenship. Separately, since 2026 foreigners working in the service sector must hold the basic category (A1) and, once two years have passed since their first Lithuanian residence document (counted from 1 January 2026 if that document is older), Category I (A2) — the government decision of 26 November 2025, per VKI. Whether your particular temporary permit renewal requires a certificate depends on your job and status: confirm with the Migration Department.

How long does it take to prepare for Lithuanian A2 from zero?

There is no official figure. A2 means everyday texts and short exchanges; the paper is short and mostly selection, so what you need is a few hundred words to production, the case endings prepositions demand, and enough listening hours to keep up at natural speed. Sit a timed mock at the start to measure yourself, then again every few weeks; when you clear every part with room to spare twice in a row, book.

sources

about this guide

The exam follows rules set by the Lithuanian government and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the State Language Inspectorate (VKI) oversees the language requirements, and residence and citizenship decisions are the Migration Department's; wspell has no connection to any of them. The reading and listening passages in wspell's Lithuanian course are original — written for wspell, not taken from any real or sample paper. The authoritative information is at nsa.smsm.lt and vki.lrv.lt; whether you need the certificate is answered at migracija.lt.

The information here summarises official sources at the date shown and can change — confirm dates, fees and rules on the provider's official pages before you register.

facts verified on October 11, 2026 against the sources above