The types of residence statuses, granting procedure of residence status, employment of foreigners in the Republic of Armenia, Exceptions with regard to obtaining a work permit, the grounds for denial of work permit are stipulated by the RA Law on Foreigners.
In the Republic of Armenia, the following residence statuses are established for foreigners:
shall be granted to every foreigner, if he or she substantiates that there are circumstances justifying his or her residence in the territory of the Republic of Armenia for one year and a longer term. Such circumstance may be:
(a) study; or
(b) existence of a work permit in accordance with the Law on Foreigners; or
(c) marriage with a citizen of the Republic of Armenia or with a foreigner lawfully residing in the Republic of Armenia; or
(d)being a close relative (parent, brother, sister, spouse, child, grandmother, grandfather, grandchild) of a citizen of the Republic of Armenia or of a foreigner holding permanent residence status in the Republic of Armenia; or
(e) being engaged in entrepreneurial activities;
(f) being of Armenian origin.
shall be granted to a foreigner, if the applicant:
(a) proves the existence of close relatives (parent, spouse, brother, sister, child, grandmother, grandfather, grandchild) in the Republic of Armenia and
(b) has an accommodation and means of subsistence in the Republic of Armenia;
(c) has resided in the Republic of Armenia as prescribed by law for at least three years prior to filing an application for obtaining permanent residence status.
Permanent residence status may be granted also to a foreigner of Armenian origin or to a foreigner carrying out entrepreneurial activities in the Republic of Armenia.
The conditions referred to in point (b) of this part shall be considered sufficient, where the foreigner has means sufficient to cover his or her subsistence expenses and the subsistence expenses of his or her family members under his or her care, or has a family member or members who are able and have undertaken to provide means for his or her living.
An application with the list of documents prescribed by N 134 Decree of the Government of the RA 07.02.2008 for obtaining temporary or permanent residence status shall be filed with the public administration body authorized in the field of police of the Republic of Armenia.
The decision on granting or refusing to grant temporary and permanent residence status shall be adopted by the public administration body authorized in the field of police of the Republic of Armenia, within a term of 30 days following the day of filing the application.
In case of absence from the Republic of Armenia for more than six months, a foreigner holding permanent residence status shall notify thereon in writing the public administration body authorized in the field of police of the Republic of Armenia.
This status shall be granted to foreigners of Armenian origin. Special residence status may also be granted to other foreigners who carry out economic or cultural activities in the Republic of Armenia. Special residence status shall be granted for a term of ten years. It may be granted more than once.
In the territory of the Republic of Armenia, an application for obtaining special residence status shall be filed with the public administration body authorized in the field of police of the Republic of Armenia , whereas in a foreign State — with the diplomatic representation or the consular office of the Republic of Armenia.
The procedure, terms for consideration of an application for obtaining special residence status and the list of documents to be submitted with the application shall be approved by the President of the Republic of Armenia.
The President of the Republic of Armenia shall take a decision on granting or refusing to grant special residence status. This decision shall be final and shall not be subject to appeal.
The registration of foreigners holding special residence status shall be carried out by the public administration body authorized in the field of police of the Republic of Armenia as prescribed by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
The granting of a residence status may be refused to a foreigner, where:
(a) he or she has been expelled from the territory of the Republic of Armenia or was previously deprived of residence status, and three years have not elapsed upon the entry into force of the decision on expulsion or on depriving of residence status;
(b) he or she has been convicted in the Republic of Armenia of committing a grave or particularly grave crime provided for by the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, and the conviction has not been cancelled or has not expired in the prescribed manner;
(c) there exist reliable data that he or she is engaged in such an activity, participates, organises or is a member of such an organization, the objective of which is to:
– harm the state security of the Republic of Armenia, overthrow the constitutional order, weaken the defensive capacity;
– carry out terrorist activities;
– illegally (without an appropriate authorization) transport across the border arms, ammunition, explosives, radioactive substances, narcotic substances, psychotropic substances; or
– carry out human trafficking and/or illegal border crossings;
(d) he or she suffers from one of the diseases specified in Article 8(1)(d) of the Law on Foreigners;
(e) there are serious and substantial threats posed by him or her to the state security or public order of the Republic of Armenia;
(f) while seeking a residence status, he or she has submitted false information on himself or herself, or has failed to submit necessary documents, or there exist data that his or her stay in the Republic of Armenia pursues an objective other than the declared one;
(g) he or she has been subjected to administrative liability for violating the Law on Foreigners and has not performed the responsibility imposed on him or her by the administrative act, except for cases when one year has elapsed upon being subjected to administrative liability.
Foreigners shall have the right to freely manage their working skills, choose the type of profession and activities, be engaged in economic activities not prohibited by the legislation of the Republic of Armenian, by complying with the restrictions prescribed by the legislation of the Republic of Armenian. The principle of equal rights of the parties to employment relationships established by the Labor Code of the Republic of Armenia shall be guaranteed irrespective of their sex, race, national origin, language, citizenship, and other circumstances not related to the employee’s practical skills.
Employers of the Republic of Armenia shall be entitled to conclude an employment contract (service contract) with a foreign worker and use his or her work based on the work permit issued to the foreign worker by the authorized body. When issuing a work permit for a foreign worker, the public administration body of the Republic of Armenia authorized in the field of employment and occupation of foreigners shall take into account the needs and developments of the labor market of the Republic of Armenia.
With a view to assessing the needs of the labor market of the Republic of Armenia, a time-limit shall be established for the employer upon the decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, during which he shall be obliged to fill the available vacancies from among the citizens of the Republic of Armenia. Where the republican employment services do not nominate any candidate meeting his requirements within the established time-limit, the employer may find a foreigner who meets those requirements and apply to the authorized body for issuing а work permit for a specific foreigner for a specific term, by submitting the necessary documents prescribed upon the decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
A foreigner shall be entitled to carry out work activities in the Republic of Armenia in case of delivering by the employer the work permit issued to him or her.
Exceptions with regard to obtaining a work permit
The following persons may work in the Republic of Armenia without a work permit:
(a) those holding permanent and special residence status of the Republic of Armenia, as well as those holding temporary residence status of the Republic of Armenia on the grounds of being a close relative (parent, brother, sister, spouse, child, grandmother, grandfather, grandchild) of a citizen of the Republic of Armenia or of a foreigner holding permanent residence status in the Republic of Armenia
(b) those holding temporary residence status of the Republic of Armenia on the grounds on marriage with a citizen of the Republic of Armenia or with a foreigner lawfully residing in the Republic of Armenia, for a period not exceeding the term of residence;
(c) family members of employees of diplomatic representations and consular offices, international organizations and their representations accredited in the Republic of Armenia, based on reciprocity principle;
(d) workers of border regions as well as culture and sport specialists arriving for a short term;
(e) founders, directors, or authorized representatives of commercial organizations with foreign capital;
(f) employees of commercial organizations of a foreign State, for the purpose of working in representative offices of those organizations located in the Republic of Armenia;
(g) foreign specialists arriving for a term not exceeding six months, to train employees for installing, repairing, and exploiting machines, equipments, and machine tools delivered to its branch or representative office by a foreign commercial organization, or purchased from foreign commercial organizations;
(h) specialists or other persons arriving on the basis of the international treaties of the Republic of Armenia;
(i) lecturers of foreign education institutions invited to deliver lectures at educational institutions of the Republic of Armenia; accredited representatives of foreign media organizations;
(j) foreign citizens and stateless persons holding refugee status, having obtained political asylum in the Republic of Armenia, for a period not exceeding the term of residence;<
(k) students performing work in the framework of work exchange programmes during holidays based on relevant international treaties
A work permit shall indicate the work the foreigner shall perform and the employer with whom he or she shall be recruited. A foreigner having obtained a work permit shall be granted temporary residence status or its term shall be extended for the term specified in the work permit. (Art. 24.3 Law on Foreigners)
The procedure of obtaining a work permit, the required documents for granting the employer a labor permit for the foreign employee, the grounds for denial of work permit are stipulated by N 493 Decree of the Government of the RA (12.05.2016).
Procedure for obtaining a work permit
- In order to fill a vacancy with a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, the employer shall apply to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) either in person or by post (by registered letter), submitting a job description for the vacancy in accordance confirmed form.
- Within 5 working days after receiving the information about the vacancy from the employer the Ministry shall, in the manner prescribed by the laws of the Republic of Armenia:
1. Input the information in the employment database;
2. Carry out data comparison and in case of finding job seekers with appropriate qualifications for the vacancy, refer them to the employer with their consent.
In case of absence of a candidate meeting the requirements of the employer or the employer turning down the proposed candidate, the employer shall, within five working days after the deadline of 5 days (mentioned in the previous step) , in person or by post (by registered letter), submit to the Ministry the documents included in the list set forth in Annex 3 of the N 493 Decree, to obtain labor permit for a specific foreign national for a specific work for a certain period of time.
- In cases where the documents stipulated for obtaining a labor permit are incomplete of faulty, the Ministry shall inform the employer in writing within one working day.
- If the employer, within three working days after receiving the notification from the Ministry, completes the documents included in the list and/or eliminates the faults and submits them to the Ministry, the day of submission shall be considered the day when the documents were first submitted to the Ministry. In case of failure to adhere to the deadlines set forth by this point, the day of submission shall be considered the day when the documents were completed.
- The Minister or the official thus authorized by the Ministry shall, within five working days after submitting the documents required for obtaining a labor permit, make a decision on granting or denying a labor permit to the employer for the specific foreign employee proposed by the employer for a specific time frame.
- Within three working days after making a decision in accordance with above mentioned point of this Procedure, the Ministry shall send the labor permit or a written notification about denying the permit to the employer by post (by registered letter) or hand it to the employer in person.
- Within three working days after receiving the information about granting a labor permit, the employer shall inform the foreign national in person or by post or by email, with a view to arriving in Armenia and submitting the documents provided for by Decree N 134-N of 7 February 2008 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia to the Police of the Republic of Armenia adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia, in order to request a temporary residence status on the basis of the labor permit.
- Within five working days after signing a labor agreement with the foreign national, the employer shall submit a copy of the agreement to the Ministry in person, by post or by email.
- After obtaining the work permit, foreigners are required to register in the Passport and Visas department of the Police of the Republic of Armenia.
A labor permit shall be denied if:
The following foreign nationals shall have the right to work in the Republic of Armenia without a labor permit:
(1) Foreign nationals having professions in the following fields included in the list of professions of vocational education as approved by Annex 2 of Decree N 73-N of 12 January 2006 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia:
(a) Field 4: Natural sciences
The qualification “4-62.01.02.01-4 Technician – operation and technical maintenance of computing tools and computer networks” of the profession “4-62.01.02 Technical maintenance of computing tools and computer networks;” the qualification “4-62.01.03.01-4 Technician – operation of computing tools, systems and networks” of the profession “4-62.01.03 Computing tools, systems and networks;” and the qualification “4-62.01.04.01-4Web designer” of the profession “4-62.01.04.Computer design;”
(b) Field 6: Agriculture
The qualification “6-01.50.01.01-4 Agronomist” of the profession “6-01.50.01 Agronomy;” the qualification “6-01.50.02.01-4 Farmer” of the profession “6-01.50.02 Organization of farmer economy;” and the qualification “6-01.50.03.01-4 Technician-agronomist” of the profession “6- 01.50.03 Greenhouse economies;”
