What Steps Will Armenia Take on the Road to EU Visa Liberalization: Details

Armenia and the European Union announced the start of discussions regarding visa liberalization for Armenian citizens on September 9, 2025. Public discussions on the topic mainly revolve around when Armenian citizens will be able to travel freely to EU member states, while professional discussions are almost non-existent or are pushed to the background. Various figures frequently express political evaluations regarding the process, which may create unjustified expectations among a significant portion of the population regarding timelines.

Armenpress spoke with Armen Ghazaryan, head of the Migration and Citizenship Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, about the start of discussions on EU visa liberalization, upcoming developments, and the recent queues for obtaining visas at EU member countries' embassies.

In response to a question about how long this process will take to complete, Ghazaryan stated: “In the coming months, we will focus on this work with our European partners. There will be numerous visits and discussions, after which the European Commission will present the visa liberalization action plan to Armenia. This document will certainly be developed jointly, but in a formal sense, it is the European Commission that must present it to the Republic of Armenia. At this moment, we do not yet know the complete content of the visa liberalization action plan, but by studying the experiences of other countries that have gone through this path, we can identify four main blocks around which the dialogue should take place. The first block concerns data protection, including the protection of biometric data and document security. The second block pertains to migration management and the management of asylum and borders. The third block is about public safety and combating crime, while the fourth block relates to fundamental freedoms and, so to speak, external measurement.

Regarding the timeline, I can mention that the shortest timeframes for implementing visa liberalization action plans were in Moldova and Georgia. In Moldova's case, it took over four years, while for Georgia, it took five years.”

In response to a question regarding the perspective that visa liberalization might lead to a significant outflow of migrants from Armenia to Europe, Armen Ghazaryan explained: “The situation is as follows: we may misinterpret what visa liberalization means. Visa liberalization only implies the removal of the requirement for one type of visa. We are talking about the short-stay visit visa, which allows for a stay of 90 days within the Schengen area every 180 days over the span of one year. In other words, this does not imply opportunities for work or study.”