Lithuania is the trucking nation of the EU and its hauliers have recruited abroad for a decade. In September 2026 one Lithuanian transport company recruited 117 Filipino drivers in a single five-day round in Makati. The route works when licensing and Code 95 are planned into the timeline, not discovered on arrival.
One Lithuanian transport company, one brief, five recruitment days in Makati: 117 drivers selected after driving tests, document checks and interviews. The lesson was not the number but the sequence — the licence conversion and Code 95 phase had been planned into the start date, housing was arranged by depot, and the first months' net pay had been explained to every driver before signing. Rounds like that are repeatable; the quota decides when.
A Philippine professional licence is not exchanged for a Lithuanian one; drivers obtain the Lithuanian category C or CE through the Lithuanian testing system after arrival, and complete the Code 95 initial qualification before driving commercially in the EU. Employers budget the training weeks and the costs, and we select drivers whose experience — articulated vehicles, long-haul, manual gearboxes — makes the Lithuanian test a formality. Drivers who already hold an EU-recognised licence from earlier European work are presented first.
International C/CE drivers have featured on the Employment Service shortage list, so the labour-market decision is usually waived. Pay follows the collective agreement or market rate within the quota; the per-diem structure of Lithuanian haulage is explained to candidates in gross and net terms before they sign.
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.
Depot-based housing for the licensing phase, a clear per-diem and rest-time policy, and a named dispatcher who speaks English in the first months are what keep a Filipino driver with the company.
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.
Arrival plus the licensing and Code 95 phase — typically six to ten weeks in Lithuania, depending on test slots. We plan it into the start date.
Family reunification follows the worker's permit under Lithuanian rules; most drivers in the first year do not, and the question is answered honestly at interview.
Yes — a practical drive with articulated and rigid vehicles, reversing and coupling, plus a document and medical check, before the employer's interview.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.