People of Armenian descent will be required to reside or spend at least 60 days during the last 2 years in Armenia in order to obtain citizenship, according to a draft proposal from the country's National Security Service.
Under the Constitution, individuals with Armenian roots have the right to acquire citizenship from the moment they settle in the country.The National Security Service argues, however, that the Citizenship Law does not define when a person is considered to have “settled” in Armenia.
According to the NSS, recent studies have revealed that a large number of people of Armenian descent applying for Armenian citizenship do not know much about the Armenian culture, history, social, political and economic processes taking place in the country, and do not have any participation in the Armenian community and Armenian church life in the countries of origin and, as a rule, do not carry out pro-Armenian activities.
The NSS’s research also shows that after obtaining citizenship, such people, mostly citizens of the Middle East countries (especially Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, etc.) do not acquire real estate in Armenia and do not engage in economic activities, and neither do they visit the country for the most part. In addition, there have also been cases when, after obtaining citizenship, the Armenian passports were only used to have the opportunity to travel to other states.
In order to come into legal force, the draft law must first be approved by the government, and then by the National Assembly.
