Armenia records positive migration balance in first half of 2026

Armenian officials said Friday that significant increases had been recorded across individual migration indicators compared with the previous two years.

Nelly Davtyan, Acting Head of the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, provided an update on the latest trends at a press conference.

“The broadest migration indicators concern border crossings. When summarizing last year, we publicized the figure of 8,660 as a first-ever positive indicator, when the difference between entries and exits by Armenian citizens was significantly positive.

“Describing the first half of 2026, we have recorded another notable development. During this period, the balance between border entries and exits by Armenian citizens was also positive. This is an exceptional indicator in the sense that the figure usually improves in the second half of the year, mainly due to our traditional labor-migration flows, in which departures are recorded at the beginning of spring and arrivals during the working season.

“Nevertheless, this year we recorded 1,347 as the difference between entries and exits. There were 871,409 entries, while exits totaled 870,062. If we compare this with the first-half figures of previous years, the figure was -20,065 last year and -22,893 in 2024,” Davtyan said.

She added that the same trend could also be observed among foreign nationals. Once again, a significant increase was recorded in the balance of border crossings. According to data for the first half of 2026, the difference was 57,953. By comparison, the figure for the first half of 2025 and 2024 was approximately 35,000.

“9,534 applications were submitted for a one-year temporary residence status, of which 6,059 were approved. Compared with previous years, there has been an approximately threefold increase in the number of applications, while the number of approved applications has also increased by roughly three times.

“There has also been some growth in applications for three-year residence status, although the figure is comparatively small. In previous years, the figure was in the range of 1,500–1,700, whereas in the first half of this year it reached 2,085,” Davtyan said.

The official said that readmission figures were also broadly comparable with those of previous years. Armenia received 293 readmission requests, involving a total of 462 individuals.

The number of asylum applications submitted in Armenia during the first half of the current year was 358, of which 94 were approved. Compared with previous years, the number of rejections this year was 50% higher.