A1 postings: questionnaire reusable, D-visa copy dropped for posted staff

Employers posting staff to another EU state face lighter A1-certificate paperwork at Sodra. The completed employer questionnaire no longer has to be attached to every requestSodra: it may be omitted where a questionnaire covering the period relevant to the request — the 12 months before the posting starts — was already filed, provided that is flagged in the new requestSodra. Previously the questionnaire was filed once a year or whenever the Sodra Vilnius branch asked for it.

The change also simplifies filings for posted third-country nationals who arrived in and live in Lithuania for work purposes on a D visa. For posted employees, the only additional item is the person's residential address in Lithuania, entered in section 1 "Asmens duomenys", subsection "Kontaktiniai duomenys", of the posted-person questionnaire. The previously required certified copy of the residence permit or D visa no longer appears for this category. That relaxation is limited to posted employees: self-employed applicants, people working in two or more Member States, and international transport drivers who are third-country nationals on a D visa still attach a certified copy of the D visa alongside the residence addressSodra.

The rest of the posted-employee file is unchanged. Only the employer may apply, through its insurer account with Sodra. Each request covers one destination state no matter how many employees are posted, with one posted-person questionnaire per employee stating the exact period for which the A1 certificate is requested. Non-Lithuanian nationals attach a certified copy of their identity document, and every copy must be duly certified and legible. Requests go only through the employer's personal Sodra account to the Vilnius branch, which decides within 20 working days of receiving the request and all necessary additional documents or dataSodra. On request, it issues a confirmation that an A1 procedure already started but not yet finished is under way.

Employers must also keep the posting conditions current: the employee's insurer must notify the Vilnius branch within 5 working days where the posting applied for never happened, was discontinued — unless the interruption abroad is short-term and does not exceed one fifth of the whole posting period — where the posted person was sent on to another company not named in the request, where the host company forwarded the worker to yet another company, or where a posted third-country national on a D visa loses that visa or loses their Lithuanian residence. In those cases the paper A1 original may be returned to the Vilnius branch or any other Sodra territorial branch.

Legal basis: Europos Parlamento ir Tarybos reglamentas (ES) Nr. 465/2012, Article 12(1), implemented for Lithuania by Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo valdybos direktoriaus 2010 m. birželio 8 d. įsakymas Nr. V-253, and the Sodra A1-issuance pages for posted employees.