VF Services (UK) Ltd. will also establish visa centers in countries with Lithuanian embassies, for example, the United Kingdom. All in all, Lithuanian visa centers will operate in 71 countries.
According to the ministry, it should considerably facilitate Schengen or national visa procedures for foreigners and encourage them to come to Lithuania for tourism, business and educational reasons.
Under the contract with the external service provider, it will provide general information on visa requirements various ways, inform applicants about necessary documents, collect information and accept visa applications.
Later on, VF Services (UK) Ltd. personnel will hand over documents to a Lithuanian diplomatic representation or consular institution and will return them to applicants after visa decisions are made.
Submitting documents at visa centers in countries where Lithuanian diplomatic representations or consular institutions operate, an applicant will pay an additional fee of 15.90 euros, and 30 euros in countries with no Lithuanian diplomatic representations or consular institutions.
Lithuania's state budget will not incur any additional costs because of the operation of visa centers, the ministry said.
All planned visa centers should be opened by 2022.
Lithuania previously cooperated with external service providers on the establishment of visa centers in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.