AZE.US
Ethnic Armenians, particularly Russian citizens, are increasingly obtaining Armenian citizenship not to relocate to the country but to use an Armenian passport as a more convenient travel document, a senior Interior Ministry official has said.
According to AZE.US, acting Deputy Interior Minister Armen Ghazaryan said Armenia currently imposes virtually no substantive requirements on ethnic Armenians seeking citizenship.
“If we look at the requirements that the Republic of Armenia sets for ethnic Armenians to obtain citizenship, those requirements are effectively zero,” Ghazaryan said.
He noted that Armenia’s migration profile has changed significantly in recent years, with the country increasingly shifting from being primarily a source of emigration to becoming both a destination and a transit country.
That shift has been accompanied by a sharp rise in citizenship applications.
In 2025, Armenia received more than 32,000 citizenship applications, the highest number recorded in the country’s history.
In each of the previous two years, applications exceeded 20,000, while in earlier years the annual average stood at roughly 7,000 to 8,000.
According to Ghazaryan, a large share of applicants are Russian citizens of Armenian origin.
He indicated that many applicants view Armenian citizenship primarily as a way to obtain an additional passport for international travel rather than as a step toward permanent residence in Armenia.
An Armenian passport provides visa-free access, visa-on-arrival or electronic entry authorization to dozens of countries.
The surge in applications is now raising a broader policy question in Yerevan over whether the current simplified citizenship rules for ethnic Armenians should remain unchanged.
AZE.US