Increasing demand for Armenian citizenship
“From January to September 2024, 16,060 applications for Armenian citizenship were submitted,” reported Armen Ghazaryan, Head of the Migration and Citizenship Service, at a press conference.
He noted that the service also receives applications for renouncing citizenship, with up to three thousand such requests annually. Overall, the service handles up to 30,000 cases related to citizenship each year. Ghazaryan explained that this represents a substantial workload, while the “current, imperfect tools do not allow for efficient processing of these requests.”
The government of Armenia plans to introduce changes to the procedures for obtaining and renouncing citizenship. Specifically, there are plans to digitize services and increase service fees. Armen Ghazaryan believes this will significantly improve the service’s efficiency.
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“Since 2018, the number of applications for Armenian citizenship has sharply increased”
Armen Ghazaryan told journalists that in the early 2000s, the service received 3-4 thousand applications for citizenship annually. Starting in 2010, this number rose to 5-6 thousand.
“And since 2018 [following Armenia’s ‘Velvet Revolution’], the number of citizenship applications has sharply increased. This figure peaked in 2022, exceeding 25,000,” reported the head of the Migration and Citizenship Service.
In 2023, he noted, the number slightly decreased to 19,000. However, this year the figure may rise again, as over 16,000 applications were submitted in the first nine months alone.
An Electronic System is Being Developed
Currently, the process of obtaining and renouncing citizenship is handled on paper. According to the head of the Migration Service, electronic tools are in place but are “weak, limited, and outdated.” However, an electronic management system is now being developed to enable more efficient operations.
“Some components of the system will be accessible to beneficiaries, while others will be available to agencies reviewing their cases,” explained Armen Ghazaryan.
He noted that the processes involve multiple government structures, and this change will allow people to avoid multiple visits to these agencies to complete their document packages.
“We are developing an electronic management system where individuals will upload all the required documents. The application will then be reviewed, and if the submitted package is complete, applicants can select a date to visit the administrative body just once,” he said.
Ghazaryan emphasized that each applicant will still need to make one in-person visit. This is necessary for identity verification and to mitigate the risk of document falsification.
At the same time, the electronic system will help avoid lengthy correspondence between government bodies. According to Ghazaryan, they will be able to work simultaneously on a unified platform, saving time and enabling the review of more cases within the same time frame.
50,000 Drams Instead of One Thousand for Citizenship
The Armenian government also plans to increase the state fee for obtaining and renouncing citizenship. Previously, applicants paid 1,000 drams ($5.20) for citizenship and 25,000 drams (about $65) to renounce it. Now, those seeking citizenship will pay 50,000 drams (just under $130), while those renouncing it will pay 150,000 drams ($390).
This change is explained by the fact that the current rates were set in 1997 and have never been adjusted, so they “do not reflect current realities.”
The Head of the Migration and Citizenship Service stated that, in setting the new fees, they took into account the experience of comparable countries, such as Georgia and Poland, as well as the impact of inflation:
“However, the fee increase will not affect refugees or forcibly displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh. All these changes will be discussed in the National Assembly and will take effect ten months after parliamentary approval.”
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Increasing demand for Armenian citizenship