If your spouse is an RA citizen, you will also become one
In the first semester of 2011, 5,800 people have appealed for RA citizenship. Last year, 9,588 foreigners received RA citizenship, while only 1,735 people have received citizenship in 1997-2007.
Head of the Department of Passports and Visas of the RA Police Norayr Muradkhanyan told "A1+" that that is linked to the legislative reform.
Before 2007, a citizen of a foreign country was not allowed to acquire RA citizenship by the RA law "On Citizenship, but that ban was lifted by a legislative reform in 2007.
Before, a citizen of a foreign country was given three months to reject his or her citizenship after the RA President's positive conclusion.
"Now, if a citizen is of Armenian origin, or has a spouse or child with RA citizenship, he or she should simply submit a passport and birth certificate translated by a notary, as well as the copies of marriage and birth certificates," said Norayr Muradkhanyan. Muradkhanyan adds that in this case, by the prescribed order, the citizen should have lived in Armenia for three years, have command of the Armenian language and the RA Constitution.
Muradkhanyan says the large flow of people who have applied for RA citizenship in the past couple of years is not only due to the lift of the ban, but the simplification of the procedure for acquiring citizenship. By the government's decision, quite a lot of documents have been removed from the list of documents.
As a result, any Armenian can acquire citizenship without being registered in Armenia. "In this case, the applicant simply states the registered address of his or her country without presenting any reference or document," said Muradkhanyan.
As for biometric passports and identification cards, Norayr Muradkhanyan mentioned that the introduction of this system has been extended to early 2012 instead of September 2011.
"The contest is over, and negotiations are underway to determine which organization will sign the contract," said the Head of the Department of Passports and Visas of the RA Police.
