Open a Recruitment Company in Lithuania: Complete 2026 Guide

Opening a recruitment company in Lithuania can provide access to the Lithuanian labour market and to employers seeking talent across the European Union. A Lithuanian agency may recruit local specialists, source candidates internationally, provide executive search services, operate an online employment platform or build a temporary staffing business.

The legal requirements, however, depend on what the company will actually do. An agency that introduces candidates to employers operates under a different framework from a temporary employment company that hires workers itself and assigns them to clients. Registering a company with an employment-related activity code is therefore only the beginning.

Before launching, the founders should define the business model, choose the correct legal form and EVRK activity code, include employment intermediation in the company’s formation documents, establish candidate-data procedures and complete the required notifications. A temporary staffing company must also obtain approval from the State Labour Inspectorate before it can begin supplying workers.

This guide explains how to open a recruitment company in Lithuania in 2026, including company formation, activity codes, Employment Service reporting, temporary staffing authorisation, foreign-worker recruitment, GDPR, VAT and corporate income tax.

Recruitment Agency or Temporary Employment Company?

The most important decision is whether the company will provide ordinary recruitment services or temporary labour.

An ordinary recruitment or employment placement agency searches for candidates, evaluates applications and introduces suitable people to client companies. Once a candidate is selected, the client becomes the employer. The candidate is not employed by the recruitment agency.

A temporary employment company follows a different model. It signs employment contracts with workers and sends them to perform work under the supervision of a client, legally described as the temporary-work user. The agency remains responsible for employment, payroll and related employer obligations even though the client directs the worker’s daily activities.

This distinction cannot be solved by wording a contract differently. Authorities will consider the real relationship: who employs and pays the worker, who assigns the worker to a client and who supervises the work.

Can a Foreigner Open a Recruitment Company in Lithuania?

Yes. EU and non-EU founders may establish and own a Lithuanian recruitment company. A Lithuanian shareholder is not generally required, and a foreign individual or foreign legal entity may own a UAB. In many cases, the company registration process in Lithuania can be organised remotely.

Foreign ownership must be separated from immigration status. Owning a Lithuanian company does not automatically give the shareholder or director permission to live or work in Lithuania. A non-EU founder planning to relocate or work physically in the country should assess the appropriate residence and work basis separately.

Foreign-owned recruitment companies are subject to the same Employment Service, labour, tax, data-protection and temporary staffing requirements as locally owned businesses.

Does a Recruitment Company Need a Licence in Lithuania?

An ordinary recruitment agency that finds and places candidates is not required to obtain a general recruitment licence. It must nevertheless comply with specific legal and reporting rules. The company’s formation documents should state that providing employment intermediation services is one of its business purposes, and the agency must submit information about its status and activities to the Lithuanian Employment Service.

Temporary employment is different. A company cannot legally hire employees and supply them to clients as temporary workers until the State Labour Inspectorate has confirmed that the company meets the statutory criteria and has entered it in the official list of temporary employment companies.

The practical answer is therefore:

• ordinary candidate placement is subject to notification and reporting rather than prior temporary-agency approval;

• temporary staffing requires inclusion in the State Labour Inspectorate’s list before the activity begins.

Calling a temporary staffing arrangement “recruitment”, “outsourcing” or “consulting” does not remove these obligations when the agency is, in substance, the workers’ employer and supplies their labour to a client.

Choosing Between a UAB and an MB

The two legal forms most frequently considered are a UAB, or private limited liability company, and an MB, or small partnership. Both provide limited liability, but they are designed for different ownership and growth plans.

UAB for a Recruitment or Staffing Business

A Lithuanian UAB is normally the stronger choice for a recruitment company planning to employ a team, work with international clients, add shareholders or operate temporary staffing at scale. It has a conventional share-based structure, must appoint a director and requires minimum share capital of €1,000.

A UAB may be owned by individuals or legal entities. This is particularly useful when the Lithuanian agency will be owned by a foreign recruitment group, an existing HR company or several investors. The structure is also familiar to banks, corporate clients and international partners.

MB for a Smaller Recruitment Agency

An MB, or small partnership, may be suitable for a smaller owner-operated recruitment or headhunting business. An MB has no statutory minimum share-capital requirement and may have up to ten members, but every member must be a natural person.

The MB structure can work well for one or several recruiters providing candidate search and selection services. It becomes less flexible when the business needs corporate shareholders, external investment or a conventional management structure. For a staffing company expected to employ a large workforce and finance payroll, a UAB will usually be more practical.

The legal form does not replace sector compliance. Both an MB and a UAB must follow the applicable Employment Service rules, and any company carrying out temporary employment must obtain the required State Labour Inspectorate approval.

Correct EVRK Codes for Recruitment Activities

Lithuania uses EVRK, its national version of the European NACE classification. New businesses should use EVRK Revision 2.1. Older websites may still display codes and descriptions from the previous classification, so founders should verify that their documents use the current version.

According to the official EVRK 2.1 classification, the main recruitment codes are:

78.10.00 – Activities of employment placement agencies. This code covers vacancy listings, candidate search, selection, referral and placement where the people being placed are not employees of the recruitment agency. It includes executive search, headhunting, online employment agencies, casting services and talent-search activities.

78.20.00 – Temporary employment agency activities and other human-resource provision. This code applies where the agency supplies workers to clients for a period of time and remains the workers’ employer while the client supervises their work.

Under EVRK 2.1, temporary employment and other workforce provision are combined under 78.20.00. Older sources may still refer separately to code 78.30 for other human-resources provision. That older description should not be copied into new formation documents without checking the current classification.

If the company will also provide independent HR consulting, payroll administration, training or immigration coordination, additional activity codes may be appropriate. The principal activity should reflect the service expected to generate the largest part of the company’s business.

An EVRK code describes economic activity. It does not replace notification to the Employment Service or approval from the State Labour Inspectorate where temporary staffing is involved.

How to Register a Recruitment Company in Lithuania

The company formation itself follows the ordinary Lithuanian incorporation process, but the employment-services requirements should be built into the structure from the beginning.

1. Define the Business Model

Decide whether the company will provide permanent placement, executive search, an online job platform, international recruitment, temporary staffing or a combination of these services. This decision determines the EVRK codes, contracts, reporting and working-capital requirements.

2. Select the Legal Form

Choose an MB for a smaller owner-managed agency or a UAB for a more structured business, corporate ownership or staffing operations. If a UAB is selected, arrange the €1,000 minimum share capital and appoint a director.

3. Prepare the Formation Documents

The company name, registered office, ownership, management and business purposes must be documented. Because the Employment Service requires a Lithuanian legal entity providing employment intermediation to have that purpose stated in its formation documents, generic wording should not be used without checking that it covers the intended recruitment activity.

4. Register the Company and Beneficial Owners

The company is entered in the Lithuanian Register of Legal Entities. Its members or shareholders and ultimate beneficial owners must then be reported through the applicable Lithuanian registers. The business will also need a registered legal address and appropriate access to Lithuanian electronic systems.

5. Open the Operational Bank Account

A UAB needs an account for its share-capital contribution and later an operational account for business payments. International founders may consider Lithuanian banks or suitable EEA payment institutions, depending on the ownership structure and planned countries of operation. BalticIncorp can assist with business bank-account opening.

6. Arrange Accounting and Tax Registration

The company must maintain accounting records from the start, even before it earns revenue. VAT obligations should be checked before issuing the first domestic or cross-border recruitment invoice. Recruitment companies with employees will also need payroll and social-insurance reporting.

7. Notify the Employment Service

An ordinary recruitment provider must submit the required status notification after starting its employment-intermediation activity and file the annual activity report. A separate prior notification is required before providing placement services to third-country nationals intending to work in Lithuania.

8. Obtain Temporary Staffing Approval Where Required

If the company will employ workers and assign them to clients, it must apply to the State Labour Inspectorate and wait until it is included in the official temporary employment company list before launching that activity.

9. Prepare Recruitment Contracts and GDPR Documents

Before collecting CVs, publishing vacancies or introducing candidates, the agency should have client terms, candidate privacy information, retention rules, data-security procedures and compliant systems in place.

Reporting Duties for Ordinary Recruitment Agencies

The Lithuanian Employment Service requires providers of employment intermediation services to submit information about their status and activity.

The principal deadlines are:

• within one month after starting employment-intermediation services, the provider submits a notice about its status;

• before starting to provide employment-intermediation services to third-country nationals intending to work in Lithuania, the provider submits a specific advance notice;

• once a year, no later than 15 January, the provider reports on its activity and the services supplied to individuals;

• when the activity is discontinued, the Employment Service must be informed within ten working days.

The Employment Service publishes the relevant forms and submission instructions. Whether a cross-border or online business falls within these rules should be assessed from the services it actually provides, not merely from where its website or clients are located.

Recruitment Must Be Free for Jobseekers

One of the most important rules is that an employment-intermediation provider may not directly or indirectly require a jobseeker to pay a fee or cover the costs of placement services.

A compliant recruitment agency should therefore build its main revenue model around fees paid by employers: fixed recruitment fees, success fees, retained search, subscriptions or other B2B arrangements. Charging candidates for access to vacancies, mandatory registration, interviews or successful placement can create serious compliance risk.

State charges or independent immigration expenses should not be disguised as recruitment fees. Contracts and marketing material should clearly explain which party pays for each service and what the agency is actually providing.

Requirements for a Temporary Employment Agency

A company planning to supply temporary workers must submit a written application to the Lithuanian State Labour Inspectorate. The application may be filed through the Inspectorate’s electronic system or by the other methods described on its official website.

The State Labour Inspectorate’s temporary employment guidance explains that the company must satisfy criteria established by the Labour Code. Among other matters, the Inspectorate checks that the company:

• is active and is not subject to suspended or restricted operations;

• is not bankrupt, being liquidated or undergoing an out-of-court bankruptcy procedure;

• does not exceed the permitted record of recent illegal-work, undeclared-work, foreign-employment, labour-law or occupational-safety violations;

• has no disqualifying convictions involving forced labour, human trafficking or serious worker-safety offences;

• has no overdue debts to the state budget, social-insurance funds or its employees.

The Inspectorate generally decides whether to include the company in the list within ten working days after receiving the application. The right to perform temporary employment activity arises only after the company has been included.

Approval creates continuing obligations. Temporary employment companies must report the number of temporary workers and their working hours to the Inspectorate every month, by the fifteenth day of the following month, through the EPDS electronic system.

A company can be removed from the list if it stops meeting the criteria or fails to report. It may also be removed when it reports that it has had no temporary workers for more than three consecutive calendar months. A removed company generally cannot reapply until six months have passed.

Temporary staffing also requires properly drafted temporary employment contracts, assignment procedures and agreements with users of temporary work. Equal-treatment, remuneration, working-time and occupational-safety rules must be observed. The agency remains the legal employer; the client’s supervision of daily work does not transfer all employer responsibility to the client.

Recruiting Third-Country Nationals

Recruiting EU and EEA citizens is relatively straightforward because they generally do not need a Lithuanian work permit to work under an employment contract. Third-country nationals are subject to immigration and employment requirements that depend on nationality, occupation, salary, qualifications and the planned basis of residence.

Before a recruitment agency begins providing placement services to third-country nationals who intend to work in Lithuania, it must submit the specific advance notification required by the Employment Service.

The agency should also distinguish its own role from that of the hiring employer. A recruitment company can source candidates, verify documents and coordinate the process, but it cannot issue a visa, residence permit or work authorisation. The Employment Service expressly notes that work permits can only be issued to foreigners who already have an employer in Lithuania, while residence procedures are administered through the Lithuanian Migration Information System.

In an ordinary placement model, the client that hires the candidate will normally assume the employer obligations connected with the employment contract and immigration process. In a temporary staffing model, the agency itself is the employer and must meet both temporary-employment and foreign-worker requirements.

International recruitment marketing should never promise a guaranteed visa or guaranteed residence permit. The agency should verify the job, employer, salary, qualifications and immigration route before making representations to a candidate.

Job Advertisements and Non-Discrimination

Recruitment companies often prepare and publish vacancies for their clients. Those advertisements must comply with Lithuanian employment and equal-opportunities rules.

Lithuanian employers must state the proposed basic salary or a genuine salary range in a job advertisement. The State Labour Inspectorate explains that an interval should include both a minimum and maximum amount and should identify whether the figure is gross or net. Bonuses, allowances and other additional payments should be presented separately from basic remuneration.

Job advertisements and selection criteria must also avoid unlawful discrimination. Requirements giving preference on grounds such as sex, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, religion, belief, age, sexual orientation, disability or ethnicity should not be used unless a specific lawful exception genuinely applies.

The same standards should continue throughout screening, interviews, shortlisting and candidate presentation. A client’s request does not protect the recruitment agency if the agency knowingly applies discriminatory instructions.

GDPR Requirements for Recruitment Companies

Candidate information is personal data. CVs, contact details, interview notes, employment history, salary expectations, reference checks and right-to-work documents must therefore be processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and Lithuanian data-protection law.

A recruitment company should determine whether it acts as an independent data controller, a joint controller with the client or, for particular processing, a processor. The answer depends on who decides why and how candidate information is used. The relationship should be reflected in the client contract rather than assumed.

Before collecting or sharing information, candidates should receive a clear privacy notice explaining:

• who controls their data;

• why the data is collected and the legal basis for processing;

• which clients or categories of recipients may receive it;

• how long the information will be kept;

• whether data is transferred outside the EEA;

• how candidates can exercise their rights.

Consent is not automatically the correct basis for every recruitment activity. Depending on the stage and purpose, processing may be necessary to take steps requested by a candidate before a contract or may rely on a properly assessed legitimate interest. Consent can still be relevant for optional talent-pool retention or particular disclosures, but it must be specific, informed and capable of being withdrawn.

There is no universal rule allowing every CV to be retained indefinitely. European Commission data-protection guidancerequires personal data to be stored for the shortest period necessary, with documented deletion or review deadlines. An agency that wants to keep an unsuccessful candidate in a future-opportunities database should clearly explain that separate purpose and establish an appropriate legal basis.

Access to candidate databases should be restricted. The company should use secure recruitment software, control downloads and exports, record disclosures, manage requests for access or deletion and sign appropriate agreements with cloud, assessment and applicant-tracking providers. Automated profiling and AI-assisted recruitment may create additional transparency, fairness and risk-assessment obligations.

Client Agreements and Candidate Documentation

A recruitment agency should not begin work based only on email instructions. Its client agreement should define the role to be filled, recruitment fee, payment trigger, replacement or rebate terms, exclusivity, candidate-ownership period, confidentiality, data-protection responsibilities and what happens when the client had already contacted a candidate.

For international recruitment, the contract should also identify who is responsible for verifying the immigration route, preparing the employment offer, submitting employer documents, paying official fees, arranging travel or accommodation and communicating with the candidate.

A temporary staffing agreement requires significantly more detail. It should allocate responsibilities for the workplace, supervision, occupational safety, time records, remuneration information, equipment, accidents, confidentiality and termination of assignments. These contractual arrangements must remain consistent with mandatory labour law; the parties cannot transfer statutory responsibility merely by inserting a clause.

Candidate-facing documents should be equally clear. The agency should explain that recruitment services are free to the jobseeker, identify the real prospective employer and avoid collecting unnecessary identity, health, family or criminal-record information before it is legally justified.

Corporate Income Tax in Lithuania

From 2026, the standard Lithuanian corporate income tax rate is 17% of taxable profit. Qualifying small companies with annual income not exceeding €300,000 may apply a 0% rate during their first and second tax periods and a 7% rate in later periods, provided all statutory conditions are satisfied. Our 2026 corporate income tax guide explains these rates in more detail.

Corporate income tax is charged on taxable profit, not total client billings. Properly documented expenses such as recruiters’ salaries, job-board subscriptions, advertising, applicant-tracking software, office costs, professional services and eligible travel may generally be deducted when they are incurred for the company’s taxable activity.

Temporary staffing companies must pay particular attention to cash flow. Client invoices may be paid several weeks after the agency has already become liable for salaries, payroll taxes and other employment costs. A staffing business therefore needs substantially more working capital than an ordinary recruitment agency paid by success fee.

Professional accounting support should be arranged before activity begins, especially where the company has temporary workers, foreign employees or clients in several countries.

How Much Does It Cost to Start a Recruitment Company?

There is no single required investment. The starting budget depends mainly on the legal form and whether the company provides placement or temporary staffing.

An MB does not have a statutory minimum share-capital requirement. A UAB requires at least €1,000 in share capital, which remains company money after registration and may be used for legitimate business expenses once the company is operational.

An ordinary recruitment agency should budget for incorporation, a registered office, accounting, contracts, GDPR documentation, a website, job advertising, applicant-tracking software and initial marketing. A remote headhunting business can start relatively lean if it does not employ a large internal team.

A temporary employment company requires a much larger reserve. In addition to incorporation and compliance costs, it must finance salaries, payroll taxes, recruitment, travel, accommodation or equipment where applicable, often before clients settle their invoices. The business plan should model delayed client payments, employee sick leave, gaps between assignments and the risk of a client default.

Can a Lithuanian Recruitment Company Work Across the EU?

Yes. A Lithuanian company may recruit candidates for employers in other EU countries or source workers internationally. EU incorporation, however, does not create one recruitment licence that automatically covers every country.

For ordinary permanent placement, the agency should check the rules applying in the country where the employer and job are located. Local restrictions may govern agency registration, candidate fees, job advertisements, regulated professions and data processing.

Cross-border temporary staffing is more complex. The agency may need to comply with Lithuanian temporary-employment rules, posted-worker notifications, A1 social-insurance documentation, pay and working conditions in the destination country, local temporary-agency authorisation, tax registration and sector-specific collective agreements.

The country where the work is physically performed may impose requirements even when the employment contract is Lithuanian. Every target market should therefore be reviewed before workers are assigned there.

Common Mistakes When Opening a Recruitment Agency

The most serious mistake is failing to distinguish candidate placement from temporary staffing. A company that employs workers and assigns them to clients cannot rely only on an ordinary recruitment code and Employment Service notification.

Another common error is copying outdated EVRK information. Under EVRK 2.1, ordinary placement uses 78.10.00, while temporary employment and other workforce provision are grouped under 78.20.00.

Some agencies overlook Employment Service reporting after registration. Incorporating the company does not automatically complete the status notification, annual report or advance notice for third-country recruitment.

Candidate charging is another major risk. The agency should not collect placement fees from jobseekers directly or disguise them as mandatory registration, document-processing or vacancy-access charges.

Data protection is often addressed too late. Collecting thousands of CVs without a privacy notice, lawful basis, access controls or deletion schedule creates unnecessary exposure. GDPR procedures should be operational before the first campaign begins.

Finally, temporary staffing founders frequently underestimate payroll financing. A profitable staffing contract can still create a cash-flow crisis when salaries and taxes fall due before the client pays.

How BalticIncorp Can Help

BalticIncorp assists foreign and local founders with company formation in Lithuania, including the selection of an MB or UAB, preparation of formation documents, a registered legal address and the incorporation process.

We can also assist with VAT registration, business banking and ongoing accounting, helping ensure that the company structure reflects the intended recruitment or staffing model from the beginning.

If you are planning to open a recruitment company in Lithuania, contact BalticIncorp for an initial consultation. Before the company is registered, we will clarify whether you intend to provide ordinary candidate placement, international recruitment or regulated temporary staffing.