By EUDO Citizenship country expert Shushanik Makaryan
On September 15, in its four-day session, the National Assembly of Armenia discussed and adopted in the first reading new amendments to Armenia’s citizenship law. Given the overwhelming support majority of the deputies in the parliament (81 in support, 0 against, and 1 undecided), it is likely that the amendments will be adopted in the second reading uncontested.
The new amendments introduce some precision and clarification to the wording of certain articles. However, the main change is in Article 13. This article specifies the acquisition of citizenship of Armenia. In the current citizenship law (adopted in 1995, lastly amended on April 6, 2010), capable persons are eligible for naturalisation if they have fulfilled the following three criteria: they must have permanently resided in Armenia for three years prior to the application, be able to communicate in the Armenian language, and be familiar with the Constitution of Armenia. The three-year residency and the language proficiency requirements are waived for persons of Armenian origin, persons who were former citizens of Armenia and who had renounced Armenian citizenship by their application, as well as persons who have married a citizen of Armenia, or have a child who is an Armenian citizen, or have a parent of Armenian citizenship (Article 13).
According to the new amendment, persons eligible for facilitated naturalisation (see above) will no longer be required to pass the test on the Constitution of Armenia either. Thus, all substantive requirements for naturalisation are waived for facilitated naturalisation.
The new amendments to the law and Article 13, in particular, are remarkable in two aspects: First, they show a clear trend in Armenia’s citizenship regime of consistently simplifying the naturalisation procedure for certain categories of persons in order to attract more new citizens. When the law was first adopted in 1995, only the three-year residency requirement was waived for eligible persons. The major amendment of 2007, which also introduced dual citizenship into the law, added the second waiver for the knowledge of Armenian language. The presently proposed new amendment will complete the process by also exempting eligible persons from demonstrating knowledge of the political system and the Constitution of Armenia.
Second, this trend of simplification of the naturalisation procedure is clearly linked and driven by ethnic conceptions of Armenian citizenship and represents an attempt by the Armenian government to integrate the Armenian diaspora with the homeland. New amendments help crystallise this approach to citizenship. For example, while in the 1995 version of the law persons of Armenian origin were eligible for facilitated naturalisation only if they were residing in Armenia, the 2007 amendment waived the latter requirement and extended facilitated naturalisation to all persons of Armenian origin (regardless of where they lived). The 2007 amendment also added a new provision for former citizens of Armenia as also eligible for facilitated naturalisation. Considering that Armenia’s population is highly ethnically homogenous (98% Armenian as per the 2001 population census), it is evident that facilitated naturalisation is largely, if not exclusively, designed for the old and new Armenian diaspora.
The new amendments to the citizenship law are also related to the new law on repatriation that is currently under discussion in the parliament. Together with the repatriation law (if adopted), these amendments intend to facilitate the integration, if not also return, of the Armenian diaspora to the Armenian homeland.
The interested reader can also consult the article Armenian language skills not necessary for Armenian citizenship.