Lithuanian engineering — Kaunas, Vilnius, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, the free economic zones — runs on CNC machines and press lines and has run out of people to operate them. Filipino machinists come from Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese plants, Gulf job shops and the Philippine export zones; machine-tool operators are on the Employment Service shortage list, which removes one step. The quota sets the calendar.
Filipino CNC machinists have been trained by the export economy: Japanese and Korean electronics and automotive-parts plants in Laguna, Cavite and Batangas, Taiwanese tooling shops, and Gulf fabrication and job shops where Filipinos run turning, milling and press departments. Press-brake and stamping operators come from sheet-metal and enclosure manufacturers; maintenance technicians from the same plants. TESDA machining certificates are common; what we test is what the certificate cannot show — speed, tolerance discipline and the ability to set up alone.
You watch live from Lithuania or review the recording; nobody reaches your interview who has not passed.
Machine-tool operators are on the Employment Service shortage list, so no labour-market decision is needed. Within the quota, pay follows your collective agreement or market rate (minimum €1,153 gross in 2026). Above the exhausted quota — until 1 January 2027 — a role must pay at least €2,893.68 gross; setter-programmers, maintenance and automation technicians often do, operators usually do not. That split is the plan: file the higher-paid roles now, the operators in the first days of January.
The constraint is the annual quota. All 24,706 permits for 2026 were used by early September; until the 2027 quota opens on 1 January a work-based permit is issued only at €2,893.68 gross a month or more (1.2 × the average wage of €2,411.40), or at €2,411.40 for professions on the national list of high-value-added shortage professions. In 2026 the quota lasted until September; employers whose files are ready in the first days of January get their permits, the rest wait.
Pay must be at least the statutory minimum — €1,153 gross a month in 2026 — or the collective-agreement or market rate for the role, and the employer registers the employment with Sodra before the first working day; above the exhausted quota the €2,893.68 / €2,411.40 lines apply instead.
Shift pattern, overtime rules and the housing arrangement go into the offer before the interview; Filipino machinists stay where the net pay and the first month match what they were told.
Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024): your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office in Prague, which has jurisdiction for Lithuania, the job order is registered with the DMW, and every worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate. The Philippine ban on direct hiring applies; the employer is always your company, directly — the Lithuanian permit is issued to the worker for employment with you, not with an agency.
Everything here is subject to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens as amended, the annual quota resolution, the Employment Service shortage list and the Migration Department's practice in force.
Yes, though the pool is smaller than for Fanuc and Siemens; we say so and test on your control before presenting anyone.
No formal recognition is required for the permit; TESDA certificates and employer references are attached to the file and the trade test is the real filter.
One round in Makati comfortably tests 20–40 candidates for 6–20 positions across turning, milling and press roles; larger plans run in waves.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.