Armenia is considering making the process of obtaining citizenship more difficult. According to the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, it is currently too easy to obtain an Armenian passport.

Armenia needs to review the process of granting citizenship to ethnic Armenians, said Armenian Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Armen Kazaryan.

According to him, the process is currently overly simplified.

The Deputy Minister noted that in 2025, Armenian citizenship was granted to 32,000 Armenians, an all-time record.

Kazaryan pointed out that the majority were ethnic Armenians from Russia. He believes they obtained Armenian citizenship because of the conflict in Ukraine and difficulties entering other countries. In this regard, the Deputy Minister stressed that obtaining citizenship should have value and should not resemble a transaction.

“There are no requirements for ethnic Armenians to obtain a passport of our country. This is a problem, and it needs to be addressed specifically.” — Armen Kazaryan

In his opinion, foreigners should be required to live in the country for three years and pass tests demonstrating knowledge of the Armenian language and laws in order to obtain citizenship. At present, compatriots go through a simplified procedure and, in practice, face virtually no requirements.