Passports for Male Citizens to be Issued Until Age 19 Instead of 18

The Government of Armenia has approved amendments to the "Law on the Passport of the Republic of Armenia" during its session today. Specifically, the new amendment states: "Passports are issued to citizens under 6 years of age with a validity of 3 years, to citizens aged between 6 and 16 with a validity of 5 years, and to citizens over 16 with a validity of 10 years. Furthermore, passports are issued to male citizens under 16 and those over 16 until they turn 19, and in case they are over 19, according to the procedure established by the law on 'Military Service and the Status of Military Servants' for deferral or medical re-examinations related to the mandatory military service."

According to the reasoning behind the decision, the adoption of this project is driven by the need to provide passports with a longer validity period for citizens studying in vocational programs at schools and other educational institutions, or already serving in the mandatory military service. Specifically, the draft proposes to grant authority to the Police of Armenia based on substantiated requests from the Minister of Defense to issue passports with a longer validity for male citizens of Armenia who are of draft age or are currently in mandatory military service.

The proposal is based on the fact that often individuals in mandatory military service have no opportunity to leave the territory of Armenia to participate in sports, cultural, military, or other events taking place in foreign countries, since passports are issued until the age of 18. Additionally, male citizens studying at the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem's Heritage School or being a part of the Patriarchate’s monastic community who have not yet served in mandatory military service often face obstacles to legal residency in Jerusalem due to the validity period of their passports.

Students of the aforementioned school usually study until they turn 18 and, upon returning to Armenia, are drafted for mandatory military service. However, according to Israeli legislation, to maintain their residency legality in that country, they are required to renew their entry visa annually, which according to Israeli law requires a minimum of 2 years validity remaining on the passport. Similar issues are faced by male monastics of draft age from the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Similar problems arise for citizens of Armenia regarding the exercise of their educational rights in foreign countries, for instance, when obtaining a student visa requires at least 2 years of passport validity, making it necessary to extend the validity of passports for male citizens aged 17 to 18 beyond their 19th birthday. To solve these issues and ensure educational rights for male citizens, it is proposed to issue passports with a longer validity in the presence of a request from the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.

It should also be noted that currently, the completion of the 12-year general education program coincides with a person turning 18, and male citizens who wish to continue their education often face numerous issues regarding the validity of their passports when participating in entrance exams in Armenia or abroad, which hinders the full realization of their educational rights. Additionally, there are often cases where a male citizen turns 18, for example, in August, and is subject to draft in the winter of that year (the following winter), but due to the law that states that after turning 18, a passport is issued only for the duration of the deferment obtained from the draft, it becomes impossible to issue a passport during that period, thus again depriving the individual of various rights. As a result, after discussions with the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, it has been decided to issue passports to male citizens according to the proposed draft until they turn 19 instead of 18.