Armenia Reports Spike in Citizenship Requests

YEREVAN — The number of foreigners applying for Armenian citizenship has more than tripled since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to immigration authorities in Yerevan.

Ara Fidanyan, a deputy chief of the Armenian police, told lawmakers on Tuesday that the authorities received 3,278 citizenship requests from February 24 through April 20, compared with 941 such applications filed in the same period of last year.

The number of applications totaled 8,591 in the whole of 2021, said Fidanyan. The bulk of them were submitted by ethnic Armenian citizens of other countries. Under Armenian law, they are eligible for fast-track dual citizenship.

Other foreigners must live in the South Caucasus country for at least three years before they can become its citizens.

Fidanyan did not name the countries whose nationals applied for Armenian citizenship after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.

Armenia has not reported a massive influx of ethnic Armenian refugees from Ukraine. The Armenian community in Ukraine had at least 100,000 members before the war.

In the last two months, Armenia has attracted instead thousands of Russian migrants. Most of them are young professionals who are thought to have left Russia for primarily economic reasons.