Armenia's new residence permit rules from 1 November 2026: what changed

Tabsi Travel consulting team Last reviewed against official sources: November 2, 2026

Labels: official = law text on ARLIS (Armenia's legal database) or an MCS/MIA notice; corroborated = two or more law-firm or press sources; unconfirmed = one source, or nothing published yet.

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Old rules vs new rules at a glance

Table 1 lists the 2026 Armenia residence permit changes: the rule until 31 October next to the rule from 1 November. Labels come from the law texts on ARLIS and from notices of the Migration and Citizenship Service (MCS) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), checked on 2 November 2026. "Residence status" is the law's term for a residence permit.

What the law is and who it applies to

HO-11-N is the law that made the Armenia Law on Foreigners amendments 2026. Parliament adopted it on 20 January 2026, the President signed it on 12 February 2026 and it took effect on 1 November 2026 (HO-11-N, Art. 30(1)) — official. An earlier start date of 1 August 2026 was postponed to 1 November; the postponement is reported by law firms such as Fragomen — corroborated.

It covers every foreign national who files a residence application from 1 November 2026. Applications filed earlier are examined under the previous rules, and documents issued earlier stay valid until expiry (HO-11-N, Art. 30(4); MCS release, 30 Oct 2026) — official. For grounds, documents and the full procedure, see our complete guide to Armenian residence permits; this page covers only what changed.

Warning: on 2 November 2026 the MCS pages for temporary and permanent residence still showed the old fees and the migration.e-gov.am booking. Do not rely on them for applications filed after 1 November.

The new electronic platform: mcs-permits.am

Name and address

The platform is mcs-permits.am, the Electronic Residence Case Management System run by the MCS with IOM support — official. It replaced workpermit.am, which now shows a closure notice pointing to it; migration.e-gov.am and the "Early One" app stopped serving residence matters on 1 November (MCS notice, 19 Jun 2026) — official. The interface is Armenian only; there is no English page. Some websites call it "permit.am"; no official source uses that name, and the address did not resolve on 2 November 2026. Contact: Davtashen 4th district 17/10, Yerevan; tel. 84-22 or +374 10 300 159; mcs@gov.am.

The filing steps

1. Register on mcs-permits.am.
2. Upload the documents for your ground.
3. Preliminary review by the MCS. A requested action not completed within 5 days suspends the proceeding automatically.
4. One in-person appointment, scheduled after the review.
5. Decision within 30 days of filing, taking the annual quota into account (LoF, Art. 17(4)).
6. Collect the card, and any certificate of legality of residence, in person. Fingerprints and an e-signature sample are taken at this visit; children under 16 go through a parent or representative.

Your stay remains lawful while the decision is pending (MCS release, 30 Oct 2026) — official. The collection location has not been announced — unconfirmed.

Documents

No post-reform checklist has been published. The pre-reform MCS list (application form, three 35×45 mm photos, passport with a copy and a notarised Armenian translation, documents proving the ground, medical certificate, duty receipt) is the best guide today — official, pre-reform.

New state duties for residence permits

A state duty is the government fee. The base duty is AMD 1,000 (Armenian dram) and every fee is a multiple of it. The Law "On State Duty" in force from 1 November 2026 (ARLIS 232761: Art. 8 for the base duty, Art. 14 point 8 for the residence lines) sets 150 × base to review a temporary residence application, 250 × for permanent, 30 × for the certificate of legality of residence and 5.95 × to issue the card — official. The amending law HO-12-N alone reads "next tax year"; the consolidated text in force on 1 November carries the new multipliers, so we cite that text and the MIA's statement.

The duty is not refunded if the application is refused: that is the MIA's statement of 6 October 2026, republished by Armenpress — official statement; we found no refund clause in the law text. The "1 January 2027" date in the same statement is a new duty for work entry visas (reported AMD 15,000 — corroborated), not the residence duties; that line is not yet in the duty schedule. Translation, notary and other costs are in new residence permit fees.

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No more extensions: continuing your status means a new application

Until 31 October 2026 temporary status was granted for up to one year "with the possibility of extension by one year each time". That wording was deleted; the text in force says a new status is granted (LoF, Art. 15(2); HO-11-N, Art. 29.4(4)) — official. A 1-year card is therefore not "renewable": to stay beyond its expiry you file a new application, pay the duty again, and the decision again takes the annual quota into account. We found no statutory filing window in the sources we checked; our advice is to prepare the new file well before the card expires. The procedure is in renewing an Armenian residence permit under the new rules.

Special status abolished; permanent residence now needs three years

If you already hold special status

The 10-year special residence status is no longer granted (HO-11-N, Art. 14; MCS release, 30 Oct 2026) — official. Those who obtained it before 1 November 2026 keep it until it expires (HO-11-N, Art. 30(6)).

The three-of-five-years rule

Permanent status on the family or entrepreneurial ground now requires at least three years of temporary status within the preceding five (HO-11-N, Art. 16(1)(a)) — official. Before, the condition was three years of residence and applied to the family ground only; it now covers the business route too. The permanent card is still issued for five years (Art. 16(2)).

The new investment ground

HO-11-N adds permanent residence for "investment in Armenia" and "exceptional services to Armenia" (Art. 16(1)(d)) — official. The Government sets the conditions (Art. 29.6(3)); as of 2 November 2026 no amount has been published — unconfirmed. The "AMD 5 million investors" group on the platform's registration page is a platform category, not that threshold.

Two new mechanics: annual quotas and the 183-day absence notice

Annual quotas

The Government sets a yearly cap on residence statuses by type, number and ground (LoF, Art. 3). Quota exhaustion is a statutory refusal ground (Art. 19(1)(13)), and the MCS considers the quota when deciding (Art. 17(4)) — official. No quota figures have been published for 2026 or 2027 as of 2 November 2026.

The 183-day absence rule

A status holder absent from Armenia for 183 days or more must notify the MCS through the platform within 10 days (HO-11-N, Art. 17(8)) — official. Permanent residents on the investment or exceptional-services ground are exempt. We found no official statement on the consequence of a missed notice.

What changed per route: company and employment

Employment was the largest ground in the first half of 2026: 6,085 of the 8,181 temporary statuses granted (MIA data via Armenpress) — official statistic. Table 3 shows what changed on each route.

Notes for Indian and other foreign applicants

In the first half of 2026 Armenia granted 10,561 residence statuses, 59% more than a year earlier; Russian, Indian and Iranian citizens were the largest groups for temporary status (MIA data via Armenpress) — official statistic; only rankings are published, not per-country counts. If you are coming for a job:

• Your employer files. On mcs-permits.am the employer's director or an authorised person submits the application; the MCS reviews it only after the state duty is paid — official.
• No English interface. The platform is Armenian only; you need an Armenian-reading representative or your employer's HR to operate it — official.
• The entry channel matters. Entering on a visitor visa and applying for employment residence without changing visa type is a refusal ground (LoF, Art. 19(1)(10)) — official.
• The work entry visa is not live. The work entry visa (up to 120 days, single or multiple entry, not extendable, once per calendar year) and the employment-permission provisions apply only after the new electronic entry-visa system is introduced (HO-11-N, Art. 30(7)) — official; no launch was announced by 2 November 2026 — unconfirmed. The visitor eVisa remains a visitor visa, not a work authorisation; see Armenia eVisa rules for Indian citizens.

What is still unknown (as of 2 November 2026)

• The annual quota numbers for 2026 and 2027.
• The amount and conditions for investment-based permanent residence.
• The post-reform document checklist.
• Where the residence card is collected.
• The launch of the new e-visa system, which gates the work entry visa and the employment permission.
• A reported transitional route for stays that lapsed between 15 July and 31 October 2026 (filing 1 November–31 December 2026): one law-firm source, which itself calls it "not published law" — unconfirmed.
• Whether the former 30-day extension of the decision period still applies.

We re-check this page monthly against the official sources.

FAQ: Armenia's new residence rules

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