Armenia’s Proposed Electronic Work-Entry Visa (Draft 10749): What Employers Hiring Foreign Staff Should Prepare

Draft 10749 would give foreign hires a dedicated electronic work-entry visa, coded W-1, backed either by an employment-based residence certificate or by the employer’s undertaking for up to 120 days of short-term work, and public comments on it close on 29 October 2026. Nothing in it applies yet; if adopted, both decisions would take effect on 1 November 2026. Employers who bring foreign staff into Armenia can use the consultation window to prepare their hiring files and to put their concerns on record.

What the draft is and where it stands

Project 10749 on the government’s e-draft portal is a package of two proposed Government decisions. The first amends Government Decision 1268-N of 4 October 2007, which sets the visa application documents, issuance procedures and visa codes. The second adds to Government Decision 610-N of 22 May 2025, which governs visa-free entry for specified categories of foreigners. The sponsor is the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the consultation runs from 14 to 29 October 2026 at e-draft.am/projects/10749.

The draft sits next to the residence reform that takes effect on 1 November 2026. Law HO-11-N, which amends the Law on Foreigners, delays one part of that reform: its provisions on the work visa and on permission to stay or reside for employment enter into force only after Armenia introduces a new electronic entry-visa system (HO-11-N, Art. 30(7)). Draft 10749 provides for issuing the work visa through a dedicated electronic system; whether its adoption and that system’s launch satisfy the condition has not been established, and no launch had been announced as of 26 October 2026.

What would change for foreign hires

A separate W-1 visa, issued by the migration service

The draft creates the work-entry visa as a separate visa type with its own code, Գ/W-1, issued only as an electronic visa through a dedicated work-visa system run by the Migration and Citizenship Service. It would allow single or multiple entry and a stay of up to 120 days, with no extension. Under Decision 1268-N as it stands today, electronic visas are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moving this one category to the migration service would put the visa decision with the same authority that decides employment-based residence.

Two documents that can support it

The Ministry’s note gives two possible bases for a W-1 visa:

• a certificate confirming that the foreigner has been granted employment-based residence status; or
• an undertaking by an employer in Armenia covering short-term work of up to 120 days.

The draft adds the undertaking to the general list of documents filed with a visa application (Annex 1 of Decision 1268-N), so the applicant would still file the standard visa documents. It also says no invitation is required for a work visa. A foreigner who already holds employment-based temporary residence does not need the undertaking: they are sent from the unified electronic residence platform to the work-visa system, and only their personal data are checked. The draft sets no form or contents for the undertaking.

Employment leaves the visit visa

Today the V-7 visit visa in Annex 4 of Decision 1268-N covers business negotiations, employment activity and economic activity. The draft removes employment from the purposes of visit visas, so V-7 would keep business negotiations and economic activity only. A visa purpose has never authorised work on its own: a foreigner employed by an employer in Armenia still needs a work permit and employment-based residence status unless an exemption applies, such as the one for EAEU citizens. See our work permit service for the current route.

The statutory work-entry visa behind W-1

W-1 is the administrative code for a visa the amended Law on Foreigners already defines. That statutory work-entry visa lasts up to 120 days, allows single or multiple entry, cannot be extended and can be issued once per calendar year. Its purposes are short-term work, applying from inside Armenia for employment-based temporary residence, and collecting the residence document. These rules are on the statute book but remain dormant until the new e-visa system is introduced.

Changing visa purpose and collecting a residence card

The amended Law on Foreigners requires the Government to set procedures both for issuing the work-entry visa and for changing a visa’s purpose. The draft does this in a new Annex 6 to Decision 1268-N. A foreigner who is in Armenia on another visa may change it, but only to a work visa, and only when applying for employment-based temporary residence. The change starts from a link in the unified electronic residence platform. The applicant asks to end the current visa and receives a work visa for the days left on it, up to 120. Passport data are checked against the database of unwanted foreigners; the documents and the purpose of the visit are not assessed. The outcome is approval (the old visa is cancelled and the new one is emailed as a PDF), return for correction, cancellation of the application, or refusal where the database check finds a match.

For a worker abroad whose employment-based residence has been approved and who needs a visa only to come and collect the card, the draft sends the visa request from the unified electronic residence platform to the work-visa system, where only personal data are checked. Under the current employment procedure (Government Decision 2087-N) the foreigner collects the card in person from the migration service, five working days after the decision. The migration service’s general FAQ says a residence card may also be collected by an authorised person; the employment-specific rule is the narrower one. Official guidance does not say which visa an approved worker abroad should use today to enter for collection.

From 1 November 2026 the amended law also adds grounds on which the migration service may refuse employment-based residence: where the applicant entered on a different visa type and applied without changing it, and where a visa-free entrant applies without the new permission to stay for work. Both grounds are tied to the work-visa provisions that wait on the new e-visa system, so how they will be applied before that launch is unsettled. The draft’s purpose-change route covers visa holders only. And under the second draft decision, citizens of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Oman, and foreigners resident in the United States, the EU, a Schengen state or six Gulf states, who can now enter visa-free under Decision 610-N, would need a work visa to come to Armenia for work. Employers should not assume that a hire who arrives as a tourist can switch to work-based residence from inside Armenia.

The AMD 15,000 work-entry visa duty from 1 January 2027

This duty comes from a different source and is already adopted. Law HO-12-N amended the State Duty Law to set the duty for a work-entry visa at 15 times the base duty of AMD 1,000, which is AMD 15,000 (about USD 42 at the house rate of AMD 361.36 per USD, CBA rate of 19 October 2026), from 1 January 2027. The Migration and Citizenship Service announced it on 6 October 2026. The fee date does not mean the visa will be available on that date: issuance still depends on the new e-visa system.

The visa duty is separate from the residence-permit duty. A temporary residence permit costs AMD 155,950 in state charges (about USD 432 at the same house rate) from the tenth day after the migration service announces the unified platform’s launch, and no later than 1 November 2026.

What employers should prepare now

No one can apply for a W-1 visa yet. The useful work now is in your hiring files:

1. Map each planned foreign hire by entry route. Record nationality and whether the person enters visa-free, by e-visa or with a visa from an embassy. The amended law expects visa-required nationals to hold the work-entry visa before travel once the new system runs. Under the second draft decision, that would include people who enter visa-free today only because they reside in the US, the EU, a Schengen state or a Gulf state. Our e-visa guide covers the general E-VISA route, which is a different product from the proposed W-1.
2. File applications under the current rules where you can. Residence applications submitted before 1 November 2026 are processed under the old rules even if decided later (HO-11-N, Art. 30(4)), and existing documents stay valid until they expire.
3. Keep approval records for every hire still abroad. The residence-status certificate is one of the two proposed W-1 bases, and the current employment procedure requires collecting the card in person.
4. Identify short assignments of 120 days or less. Decide who in the Armenian company would sign the undertaking and which projects fit the 120-day limit; the draft sets no form for it.
5. Stop treating a business visit visa as cover for work. Anyone you employ in Armenia needs a work permit and residence status today, and under the draft the visit visa would lose its employment purpose. Our employment compliance work covers this check.
6. Budget the duty. Add AMD 15,000 per work-entry visa from 2027, on top of the residence-permit charges.
7. Comment by 29 October 2026. Submissions go through the project page on e-draft.am, which requires signing in. Useful points to raise include the missing form for the undertaking, the 1 November 2026 start date, which leaves little time, and how hires already in process would be treated.

Companies hiring without an Armenian entity can use an employer of record; our guide to work permits through an Armenian EOR sets out that route, and candidates weighing an offer can use our job-offer check. The next step is to run your 2027 hiring list against the visa rules on our visa page before the final text is adopted.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated: 26 October 2026