IT IS PROPOSED AMENDING SOME PROVISIONS OF RA LAW ON DUAL CITIZENSHIP

Noyan Tapan
Nov 26, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. At the November 26 sitting,
the Armenian government made an addition to Decision No 821 of
December 25, 1998. The addition is conditioned by the circumstance
that foreign citizens who receive Armenian citizenship or special
status of residence in the Republic of Armenia often have problems
with transcription of their first names and family names, which later
results in numerous obstacles and complaints. Under the decision,
in such cases the English spelling of the first and family names of
the person shall coincide with the English spelling in the passport
received in the foreign state, and his (her) first and family
names shall be transcribed from English to literary Armenian, while
in especially complicated cases, the reference given by the State
Language Inspection of the RA Ministry of Education and Science shall
be assumed as a basis for transcription.

At the briefing following the government sitting, RA Minister of
Diaspora Ms. Hranush Hakobian said that over the two years when the
law on dual citizenship has been in force, some problems have arisen,
causing discontent of Diaspora Armenians. So the Armenian president has
instructed the Ministry of Diaspora, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
and the RA Police to jointly discuss these problems.

"According to the procedure, a person’s first and family names were
directly transcribed from English to Armenian, as a result of which
the individual, who was to receive an Armenian citizen’s passport he
dreamt of, would become a completely new person – in the Armenian
version," H. Hakobian said. According to her, there have even been
cases when people refused to receive a passport because of distortion
of their names. The minister informed those present that the amendment
envisages that transcription of first and family names from English to
Armenia will be done in literary Armenian. In case of a request of a
foreign citizen of Armenian descent who has received citizenship, the
name will be transcribed from English to Armenian by the version he
(she) prefers. If it is a complex name and does not conform with any
pattern, the opinion of the State Language Inspection shall be taken
into account. "However, if the first and family names in Armenian
are unaccepatble after joint discussion by the police, the Language
Inspection and the given person, then the name will be written in
the form preferred by the person," the minister said.

In her words, the number of those acquiring dual citizenship is
gradually growing: 1,350 persons received dual citizenship in 2008,
and 3,514 ones in the first ten months of 2009. Discussions are
underway to amend some provisions of the current law in order to
facilitate the process of receiving dual citizenship.

H. Hakobian said that it is mostly the heads of all-Armenian
organizations and the Armenians dealing with problems of Armenian
identity preservation in the Diaspora who acquire dual citizenship.

She added that there have been cases when dual citizenship was granted
to people who had never been to Armenia but who dreamt of having an
Armenian passport.