From the Klaipėda ship-repair yards to the trailer, structure and equipment fabricators inland, Lithuanian metal companies weld more than they can staff. Filipino welders are the deepest pool we have — shipyard, pipeline and structural — and welders have featured on the Employment Service shortage list.
The Philippines builds and repairs ships at Subic, Cebu and Batangas and exports welders to every Gulf fabrication yard and to Korean and Japanese shipbuilders. Lithuanian employers get the same profile: shipyard-trained MAG welders who work in all positions, TIG welders for stainless and pipe, fitters who read assembly drawings. What differs is the coding: ISO 9606-1 qualification is taken in Lithuania on arrival, on parameters the welder has already passed in Makati.
You watch live or review the recording; the pre-test is designed to match the Lithuanian coding so the arrival test is a formality.
Welders 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; roles paid at or above €2,893.68 — senior welders, welding inspectors, foremen — can be filed now above the exhausted quota, the crew in 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.
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.
We select to your WPS and pre-test to the ISO 9606-1 ranges you need; the formal coding and your welding coordinator's approval happen in Lithuania. Documentation from Makati — coupon results, NDT — goes into your quality file.
The permit names the employer, not the site; work at several sites of the same employer is possible, moving to another employer is not without a new permit.
Two to four weeks from brief to tested shortlist; the quota, not the testing, sets the arrival date.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.