At a glance
- Since 1 January 2026 every Armenian citizenship application starts on mcs-citizenship.am. Paper applications are no longer accepted.
- The process has two stages: an online preliminary application (hayt, հայտ), which the Migration and Citizenship Service examines electronically, and the formal application (dimum, դիմում), made in person at your appointment.
- The authorities have 90 working days to decide (Law on Citizenship, Article 29), counted from acceptance of the formal application. Uploading documents on the portal does not start that period.
- No processing-time statistics for 2026 have been published. The 90 working days are a legal limit for the later stages and say nothing about how long a typical file takes from first upload.
- The state duty is AMD 50,000 (about USD 138 at the house rate of AMD 361.36 per USD, CBA rate of 19 October 2026), paid online and non-refundable.
- After citizenship is granted, the passport duty rises to AMD 28,650 and the ID card duty to AMD 5,950 no later than 1 November 2026.
An Armenian citizenship application filed through mcs-citizenship.am moves through two stages, and the 90 working days the law gives the authorities to decide (Article 29 of the Law on Citizenship) begin only at the second one: the formal application you make in person once the Migration and Citizenship Service (MCS) has cleared your uploaded file. Account creation, upload, corrections and appointment booking all happen before that clock starts.
The same portal handles applications by ethnic Armenians, by spouses and family members of citizens, and by three-year residents. In the first half of 2026 the MCS received 23,522 preliminary applications and granted citizenship to 14,770 people, of whom 8,676 were displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh (MCS release of 31 August 2026). Those figures cover different groups of applicants and give neither an approval rate nor a processing time.
What mcs-citizenship.am is and who must use it
mcs-citizenship.am is the electronic citizenship system run by the MCS. It is the filing channel itself: the application form, the uploads, the state duty payment, the appointment calendar, notices and the case record all sit inside it. Sixteen state bodies have access to the system, among them the National Security Service (NSS), the Police, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Armenian embassies and consulates.
The legal basis is Law HO-4-N, which amended the Law on Citizenship from 1 January 2026, and Government Decision 97-N, adopted on 22 January 2026 and in force since 27 January 2026. Decision 97-N replaced the decrees that governed paper filings (1390-N, 1040-N, 498-N and 1290-N). There is no parallel paper route.
The system runs automated checks against the Population Register, the Police Information Center, INTERPOL, the NSS border system and the Civil Registry, so you are not asked for a police clearance certificate.
If you are still choosing where to file, our comparison of applying in Armenia or at an embassy abroad covers that choice. Background on the reform is in our note on the overhaul of Armenia’s citizenship process.
The two stages: preliminary application and formal application
Since the 2026 reform the law separates two acts that the old paper process treated as one.
- Preliminary application (hayt). You complete the electronic form, upload your documents and pay the duty. The MCS examines the file electronically and either asks for corrections or clears it for an appointment. Article 29 of the Law on Citizenship states that this electronic submission is not an application.
- Formal application (dimum). At the appointment you present your originals in person and biometrics are taken. Decision 97-N fixes the date the application counts as accepted: for applicants who must sit the Constitution test, the day they pass it; for ethnic Armenian applicants, the day they present a complete set of originals. The 90 working days run from that acceptance.
Why this matters for your timeline. Weeks spent on corrections or waiting for an appointment do not count against the authorities’ 90 working days. On 13 October 2026 the head of the MCS said publicly that the 90-day proceeding starts once originals are presented and found in order; that statement is known from press reports, and no official transcript has been published.
Step 1: Creating your account
If you hold an Armenian ID or mobile ID
Armenian citizens and residents sign in through Armenia’s national identification infrastructure, the national ID portal or mobile ID.
If you are a foreign national
Applicants without Armenian credentials register by scanning the biodata page of their foreign passport, which the system reads to pre-fill identity fields. You also need an email address and a phone number. The MCS sends notices by email and posts them to your account at each procedural step, and correction deadlines run from those notices, so use an address you check daily.
Step 2: The preliminary application and document upload
You choose the legal ground you are applying on (ethnic Armenian origin, marriage or family relationship, three years of residence and so on), and the ground determines the document set the system asks for. Where the state already holds data about you, the form fills itself from the Population Register and the Civil Registry.
Most files are sent back over the upload rules:
- Format and size. PDF only, no more than 5 MB per file. Phone scans often exceed this; compress the file and keep each document in a single upload.
- Legalisation. Foreign documents need an apostille or consular legalisation unless a treaty between Armenia and the issuing country exempts them.
- Translation. Foreign documents need an Armenian translation by a translator qualified under Decree 193/2002.
- Photograph. A colour photo meeting the ISO/IEC 19794-5 standard, which the system checks automatically on upload.
Order the apostilles and certified translations before you open the form. Both take time to obtain from abroad, and the correction deadline below is short.
Step 3: Preliminary examination, corrections and the state duty
The MCS compares your uploads with the database results. Decision 97-N gives it 15 working days to tell you that something is missing, and the same period to notify you that the file has cleared. If you receive a correction request, you have 10 working days to fix the file electronically through your account. Missing that deadline ends the file as not processed.
The three-strike rule applies here: a file still incomplete after three correction rounds is closed as not processed. You may then file a new preliminary application immediately, but the duty already paid is not refunded.
Two correction periods, two different numbers. A guide hosted on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website gives 15 working days for electronic corrections. Decision 97-N sets 10 working days for that stage, and the decision governs. The 15-working-day period in the law applies later, to completing deficient documents at the in-person stage.
Real-world timing. The 15 working days are the legal deadline for the MCS’s first notice. We plan client files on the basis that the preliminary examination can take up to about two months; this is our own planning assumption and has no official source. Press reports in October 2026 carried applicants’ complaints of waits of eight to ten months before an appointment; these are individual accounts, and no official data exists to test them against.
Paying the state duty
The state duty for a citizenship application is AMD 50,000 (about USD 138 at the house rate of AMD 361.36 per USD, CBA rate of 19 October 2026), paid online through the system once the preliminary application is confirmed. It is non-refundable. Under the Law on State Duty, as amended from 1 September 2025, two groups are exempt: refugees recognised in Armenia, which includes people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh who were recognised as refugees under Government Decision 1864-N, and recognised stateless persons. The duty to renounce citizenship is AMD 150,000 (about USD 415).
A draft bill published for consultation in September 2026 would raise the application duty to AMD 250,000 and the renunciation duty to AMD 1,500,000. It has not been adopted, and the current amounts apply.
Step 4: The appointment, the formal application and the Constitution test
Once the file clears, the system lets you book an appointment. In Armenia this is at the MCS. Ethnic Armenian applicants may instead file and attend at an Armenian embassy or consulate abroad; other applicants attend in Armenia.
At the appointment the MCS checks your originals against the uploads and captures your biometrics. Bring the original of every document, including the apostilles and certified translations. If an original is missing or does not match, you have 15 working days to complete the file and a further visit is scheduled. The three-strike rule applies at this stage too.
The Constitution test
Applicants who must sit the test take it on the same visit, on a computer terminal inside the mcs-citizenship.am system, under supervision. The inspector gives you a one-time password to open it. The test is taken in written form.
- 33 multiple-choice questions with three options each
- Pass mark: at least 17 correct answers
- One-hour time limit
- Questions drawn at random from a bank the MCS refreshes every six months
- Three failed attempts mean the application is not accepted into proceedings; you may start again with a new preliminary application
Ethnic Armenians and persons recognised as legally incapacitated are exempt. Applicants whom the law does not require to know Armenian, such as spouses and certain family members of citizens under Article 13(2) of the Law on Citizenship, may use a translator. Three-year residence applicants sit the test in Armenian without a translator. Our language and Constitution exam guide covers preparation.
Do not rely on the portal’s text about attempts. The English version of mcs-citizenship.am shows “Number of attempts: unlimited”. Decision 97-N allows three failed attempts per application before it is closed, and the decision governs. Plan on three.
What each stage means: a status-by-status guide
There is no official glossary of the portal’s English status labels, and a label does not always show which stage a file has reached. A status reading “Preliminary investigation”, for example, does not by itself tell you whether the MCS is still examining your uploads. Read your stage from the last notice you received by email or in your account, using the table below.
| Stage | What is happening | Who acts next | Legal deadline | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary application submitted | MCS examines your uploads against database results | MCS | Notice of defects, or of clearance, within 15 working days | Watch email and account; no action |
| Correction requested | A document is missing or defective | You | 10 working days, electronically; three rounds at most | Fix it through the account; a missed deadline ends the file |
| Cleared for appointment | Preliminary examination passed | You | None set | Book the appointment and gather all originals |
| Appointment: formal application | Originals checked, biometrics taken, Constitution test if required | You and MCS | 15 working days to complete deficient documents | Bring every original; acceptance starts the 90 working days |
| Security review | NSS reviews the file | NSS | 40 working days; silence counts as a positive opinion | Wait |
| MCS conclusion | MCS prepares its conclusion | MCS | 15 working days | Wait |
| Inter-agency commission | Only where the MCS conclusion is negative | Commission | 10 working days; silence counts as positive | Take advice on the file |
| Proposal to the President | MCS forwards the proposal | MCS | 8 working days after the conclusion | Wait |
| Presidential decision | The President signs a decree or returns the proposal with objections | President | 3 days; if returned, MCS has 10 working days to respond, and continued disagreement goes to the Constitutional Court | Wait |
| Decision notified | Email with the approval and oath date, or the rejection | You | Appeal to the Administrative Court within 2 months of a rejection | Attend the oath, or take advice |
The MCS may also suspend review for up to 60 days where it suspects false documents or needs to resolve inconsistencies. A suspension is separate from the correction rounds and does not use up a strike. If your status has not moved, check first whether a notice is waiting in your account: a correction request left unanswered for 10 working days ends the file.
How long it takes: the 90-working-day statutory period
Article 29 of the Law on Citizenship gives the authorities 90 working days from acceptance of the formal application. Decision 97-N sets the maximum period for each stage inside that, as shown below. The preliminary stage before acceptance is outside the 90 working days.
| Stage | Maximum period set by Decision 97-N |
|---|---|
| MCS notice of defects or clearance (preliminary stage) | 15 working days |
| Electronic correction by the applicant, per round (three rounds at most) | 10 working days |
| Completing deficient documents at the appointment | 15 working days |
| NSS security review | 40 working days |
| MCS conclusion | 15 working days |
| Inter-agency commission (negative MCS conclusion only) | 10 working days |
| Forwarding the proposal to the President | 8 working days |
| Presidential decision | 3 days |
| Statutory period after acceptance (Article 29) | 90 working days |
The MCS publishes no figures on how long files actually take, and the statistics it has released count applications and grants only. For case-specific timing, our page on timelines for citizenship by descent covers the descent route.
“Not processed” is not “rejected”
- Not processed. The file was closed for a procedural reason: three failed correction rounds, three mismatches at the appointment or three failed Constitution tests. You may file a new preliminary application at once. The duty is not refunded.
- Rejected. Citizenship was refused. The rejection arrives by email and may give no reasons. You may reapply after one year, or appeal to the Administrative Court within two months of the notification.
After citizenship is granted
An approval notice arrives by email with the date and time of your oath ceremony, and the decree takes effect the day after notification. The oath is taken at the MCS, or at an embassy or consulate abroad: you read it aloud, say “I swear” and sign electronically.
You then apply for a passport and an ID card; the ID card is compulsory from age 16. Under Law HO-215-N the duty for an ordinary passport becomes AMD 28,650 (about USD 79) and for an ID card AMD 5,950 (about USD 16), both at the house rate of AMD 361.36 per USD, CBA rate of 19 October 2026. The new amounts apply from the tenth day after the MCS announces the launch of its new identity-document platform and no later than 1 November 2026; as of 28 October 2026 the qualifying announcement had not been identified. The older AMD 1,000 and AMD 3,000 duties end on that date. Our passport and ID card guide has the full fee schedule.
Men under 55 must register with the military office after naturalisation, which can also be done at an embassy abroad.
Frequently asked questions
Does uploading my documents start the 90-working-day period?
What does my portal status mean?
Why has my status not changed for weeks?
Can I still submit a paper citizenship application?
How much does it cost?
Do I need a police clearance certificate from my home country?
Who is exempt from the Constitution test?
Can I complete the in-person stage at an embassy?
What happens if my application is closed as “not processed”?
Where applications usually go wrong
Files stall on document preparation: a missing apostille, a translation by an unqualified translator, a photo the validator rejects, or a scan over 5 MB uploaded incomplete. Each costs a correction round, and there are three. Non-standard files, such as a name spelled differently across documents, a foreign marriage or adoption record, gaps in residence history or a prior refusal, are the ones most likely to need more than one round. The eligibility rules are on our Armenian citizenship service page and, for residents, our guide to citizenship by residency.
Last updated: 28 October 2026
