Many compatriots prefer to travel to Lithuania on their personal cars. However, the choice of this vehicle is fraught with the fact that motorists are likely to have to spend a lot of time in line at the checkpoint of the Russian-Lithuanian border. Let's see how you can minimize the duration of this unpleasant moment.
Selection of the Russia-Lithuania checkpoint
The queue on the border with Lithuania, especially on weekends and holidays, is quite common. It can not be avoided at any checkpoint. The choice of the latter for the Russian consists of four positions:
- Chernyshevsky - Qibartay.
- Marine - Nid.
- Sovetsk - Panemune.
- Border - Ramonishkiai.
The most popular among Russian car travelers is the Kurshirskaya Kosa (Morskoy - Nid) - it is recognized as the fastest one. You can monitor the queue on the border with Lithuania online - there are webcams installed at the checkpoint. 800 people are able to miss the point per day, working from 9:00 to 21:00 local time, with an hour-long lunch break (13: 00-14: 00). The line for entry and exit is common here.
Selection of Belarus-Lithuania checkpoint
As an alternative, the Russians choose to cross the border with Lithuania by car through the Republic of Belarus. In this case, a choice of four items also appears:
- Rigs - a small but quick access checkpoint.
- Kamenny Log is a large-scale item popular with Russian travelers, checking up to 2 thousand cars a day.
- Kotlovka is a favorite checkpoint of Russians (especially those returning from the EU), letting through up to 1 thousand cars in 24 hours.
- Benyakoni.
However, we must remember that on New Year's holidays these points are also overloaded.
Since 2012, electronic registration has been introduced at the Kamenny Log checkpoint, which significantly increases throughput. To enter the electronic queue on the border with Lithuania, each driver must fill out a special receipt, indicating the registration number and make of the car in it. At the points listed, you can also monitor the traffic jam online.
Duty Free Baggage
In accordance with the rules for crossing the border with Lithuania, the following items are not subject to duty (per person):
- the car itself;
- up to 10 l of gasoline in the tank of the car;
- personal second-hand things that do not exceed 510 litas in value (for people over 15 years old traveling by sea or air, the threshold rises to 1,480 litas);
- dowry, gifts up to 1000 euros;
- video, audio, information media, professional equipment;
- 40 pcs. cigarettes;
- 16 liters of beer, 4 liters of wine, 1 liter of strong drinks;
- no more than 500 g of seeds, up to 100 kg of grain, up to 20 kg of fruits and vegetables, up to 50 pcs. cut flowers.
If these volumes are exceeded, baggage is subject to a standard duty of 2.5% of the cost, if the latter is not more than 700 euros. In other cases, as well as for tobacco and alcohol, individual calculations are applied.
Medicines must be placed in the original packaging and a doctor’s prescription must be attached to them. The volume of imported medicines should not exceed the recommended one. It is not allowed to import meat and dairy products - the exception is baby food made for the final consumer, transported in undisturbed packaging.
Border crossing features
Check out the key points of moving across the Lithuanian border:
First you need to choose the right line on the border with Lithuania: the “green” or “red” corridor. On the first, cars are moving whose luggage does not belong to a written declaration and the import of which does not require a permit. In the second, the travelers who drive:
- pets;
- houseplants;
- weapons;
- amounts of currency and baggage in excess of the norms specified in the previous paragraph;
- other items subject to regulation.
In both cases, you will have to fill out the declaration proposed by the customs officer.
At some points, the queue is divided for owners of trucks and cars, Russian travelers and Latvian "gas trucks" (drivers transporting relatively cheap gasoline from the Russian Federation in cars).
If your position in the queue on the border with Lithuania is close to the barrier, you need to present to the customs officer the documents - yours and the passengers. After they lift it, you must walk to the checkpoint on foot, following the sign "For passenger cars". The first control is the driver, then the passengers. The customs officer can ask standard questions about imported things, ask to open the trunk.
Then you will find yourself in neutral territory. Here you can buy anything you need in Duty Free stores. Next, you will see another post where they can ask how to present documents, or just ask if everything is fine with them.
At this stage, you will again get stuck in traffic jams on the border with Lithuania. If there are a lot of Russian citizens in the queue, a lane for travelers from the EU is opened for them - a permit sign will be a signal to that. Without its appearance, it is forbidden to use it. You can also drive through only the green light - otherwise the car is turned back.
Here is the last point - here again you need to present all the documents. Also, prepare clear answers to standard questions in advance: purpose, direction of travel, date, place of stop.
Required documents
The driver and each passenger should have with them:
- international passport;
- Schengen / Lithuanian visa ;
- health insurance policy valid in Lithuania;
- for the child, a birth certificate and a notarized permission to enter from the parents are added if he travels with third parties.
For a car you need:
- Technical passport.
- Mark on the passage of MOT in the coupon.
- Sticker on the passage of MOT on the windshield.
- Green card.
- If necessary - a power of attorney to control the car.
The line at the border with Lithuania, especially on holidays, is an unpleasant but inevitable point on your route. But if you pay attention to observing all the mandatory rules and regulations, it will leave far fewer negative memories in your memory.