JAMnews

“There has been a sharp increase in the number of applications for Armenian citizenship. In 2025, the number exceeded 32,000, a historic high for the entire history of the Republic of Armenia,” said Armen Kazaryan, acting deputy interior minister.

According to him, the number of citizenship applications exceeded 20,000 in each of the previous two years, compared with 7,000-8,000 in earlier years.

Kazaryan believes the main goal of applicants is to obtain a document that allows them to travel:

“We have seen certain developments, in particular the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine and restrictions on travel for Russian citizens. After that, we saw an increase in applications for Armenian citizenship. By the way, most Russian citizens applying for Armenian citizenship are ethnic Armenians.”

He rejected claims that obtaining Armenian citizenship is a complicated process:

“The requirements for ethnic Armenians are ‘zero’. People may face administrative difficulties. For example, some may lack the necessary documents proving their ethnicity, or their records may contain errors. In such cases, we need to compare the information with other records and verify it. Essentially, Armenia imposes no requirements on ethnic Armenians.”

Kazaryan himself considers the lack of requirements for ethnic Armenians problematic. In his view, this devalues the institution of citizenship itself.

“We will soon present a draft of the relevant legislative amendments addressing these issues,” he said, without specifying what changes the amendments would introduce.

Border crossings: more people entered than left

Nelli Davtyan, acting head of the Migration and Citizenship Service, also spoke to journalists. She recalled that last year Armenia recorded a “significant positive figure” in the difference between the number of citizens entering and leaving the country. The figure stood at 8,660.

In the first half of this year, the difference between entries and exits stood at 1,347.

“There were 871,409 entries and 870,062 exits. If we compare this with figures for the first half of previous years, last year’s figure was -20,065, while in 2024 it was -22,893,” Davtyan noted.

She stressed that the figure usually rises in the second half of the year. This happens because seasonal migrant workers return home after leaving the country for temporary work. They usually leave in early spring and return in autumn. Davtyan therefore described a positive figure already in the first half of the year as “exceptional”.

Armen Kazaryan said Armenia had transformed from a country that “sends” migrants abroad into a country that receives migrants. “The second major trend is the growing interest in Armenia among foreign nationals,” he noted.

Nelli Davtyan said the Migration and Citizenship Service had received 9,534 applications for one-year temporary residence permits: “Of these, 6,059 were approved. Compared with previous years, the number of applications has almost tripled. The proportion of approved applications has also nearly tripled.”

According to Davtyan, the number of applications for three-year residence permits has also increased, although more modestly: “In previous years, the figure stood at 1,500-1,700, while in the first half of this year it had already reached 2,085.”

Armenia implementing 53 EU recommendations on visa liberalization

Armen Kazaryan said Armenia was actively cooperating with the European Union on visa liberalization. He recalled that Armenia received its first report on the implementation of the action plan in May 2026. The report gave a fairly positive assessment of the steps taken by the Armenian government.

“The EU presented us with 53 recommendations. To complete our work, we divided them into specific actions. We broke down the recommendations so that we could clearly identify the steps we need to take to implement them,” Kazaryan explained.

Based on the 53 recommendations, an Armenian working group drew up a list of 117 actions. More than half of them have already been completed.

The recommendations form part of the first stage of the visa liberalization action plan. This stage covers legislation and policy development only. The authorities expect to assess how effectively Armenia has implemented the first stage by early 2027 or during the first half of the year. If the results prove positive, work on the second stage will begin.