2024-07-26 08:41:27
Yesterday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to discuss the latter’s 2023. activity report. This is reported by the RA government.
Head of Migration and Citizenship Service Armen Ghazaryan and his deputies reported on the activities carried out during the reporting period.
It was reported that on December 16, 2022, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia adopted the legislative package on the formation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in its second reading. According to Article 2 of the Law HO-457-N “On Amendments and Additions to the Law on the Structure and Activity of the Government”, the authority to manage migration processes has been assigned to the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs, and in 2022 In accordance with Article 3, Part 2 of Law HO-458-N dated December 16 “On Amendments and Additions to the Law on Bodies of the State Management System”, the Migration Service was renamed the Migration and Citizenship Service.
At the same time, the Government’s 2023 According to Decision No. 17-A of January 5 “On Amendments and Additions to Decision No. 580-A of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of May 22, 2018”, the Migration and Citizenship Service was established as a body subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The goal of the structural reforms is the unified and effective management of the migration chain, the transfer of social functions (integration of newly recognized refugees, reintegration of citizens returning to the Republic of Armenia) to the Republic of Armenia, the transfer to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, taking into account the security component of services and processes, as well as the transition from force logic to the provision of citizen-centered services. .
The new structure and charter of the ISS was also approved. The structure of the service includes 6 departments and 47 territorial units. As a result of optimization, 63 territorial units will become 47.
It was noted that in the context of structural reforms, the aim was to turn the regional passport services into territorial units of the Service, where not only passport services, but other services within the scope of the Service’s functions will be provided: accepting applications for residence statuses, accepting asylum requests, accepting applications for obtaining or terminating RA citizenship, etc. . This approach will enable citizens and foreigners to use the services in a more flexible way and eliminate the need to come to the head office in Yerevan to submit the mentioned applications. This approach will also make it possible to get rid of heavy queues, which, although booked electronically, stretch for months.
Optimization was based on a number of criteria: distribution of territorial units, geography, service coverage according to population, management efficiency.
Prime Minister Pashinyan, according to the presented map, referred to the optimization of the territorial units of the ISS and noted. “This is our optimization map. Red points are optimized, blue points are preserved. And why is this important, because there are still many speculations related to this process? When the Meghri court was being optimized, it gave rise to political speculations, and now some of our colleagues are doing the same with Vardenis. Now I want everyone to see this map. Vayk, Ararat, Nor Hach, that is, we have Syunik marz, Vayots Dzor marz, Gegharkunik marz, we have optimization in practically all places, also in the city of Yerevan, and I said, as in the case of the court in the Ministry of Justice, that our reform processes should not be affected by these speculations. to stop We had a discussion on this topic with the Minister of Internal Affairs, and I know that there is an idea that in this optimization process and before the start of digitalization processes, if we see that there are really problematic moments, we will have mobile offices with a certain schedule in all our marzes or communities. It is already a matter of organizing work so that it is accessible, but in general, our strategic vision is related to digitization. In general, why should a person stand in line for such operations, he should be able to carry out the process from his home or workplace. And also, why are we implementing this program? This is the evidence that we first believe and are determined that we should implement digitalization. There is no turning back, and we must go and fulfill this function by all means.”
Training was carried out among the employees of the ISS for the purpose of appointment. The training consisted of 2 stages: testing and oral interview. The first stage was implemented from May 22 to November 6, 2023. 505 employees participated in the training, 470 of them participated in the oral interview, 51 people did not pass the minimum threshold.
Reference was made to the digitalization process in the Migration and Citizenship Service in general. “What is our plan to get out of paper states?” The issue of digitization of the ISS archive is on our agenda and a program should be written. And have we already entered some kind of competition, design stage?” asked Nikol Pashinyan.
Head of the ISS Armen Ghazaryan noted that now they are working with international experts to develop a digitization program, in particular, a road map. “That is, what we have, what we will get, we are drawing now together with international experts, and we will present a digitization council. Partners of the International Organization for Migration are also involved in this process. Within the framework of the EU program, we have the digitization of the administrative process of citizenship.”
2023 among the works carried out during the year, the works of registration of persons forcibly displaced from Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the organization of the documentation process, were mentioned. 2023 Since September 19, in order to organize the registration process of people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, the IRS group conducted a site survey in Goris, registration stations connected to the State Population Register were established in Kornidzor, Goris, Vaik, Vardenis, access to the registration program was ensured in humanitarian centers, staff training was carried out. recruitment and training of volunteer forces.
Necessary measures are being taken to document displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh. In particular, in order to meet the existing demand, a six-day work regime was established, and citizenship applications were accepted in all passport departments of the Republic of Armenia. At the same time, the service of displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh is carried out on an extraordinary basis, without the requirement of electronic queuing.
It was informed that the works aimed at digitizing the processes of granting residence statuses on other grounds, similar to the digitized process of granting residence status on the basis of work, have been started, works have also been carried out on the analysis and improvement of the work.permit.am platform, as well as the asylum electronic system.
In the context of legislative reforms, it was noted that in 2023, work was done on the amendment of the RA Law “On Refugees and Asylum”, the legal basis for providing international protection. The draft law is already ready and will be presented to the interested bodies for discussion in the near future.
During the reporting period, the reasons for the increase in the number of stateless persons were studied, as a result of which there was a need to revise the legislation in order to reduce the number of stateless persons. As a result, a draft law “On Stateless Persons” was developed, which will also regulate the procedure for determining the status of the Stateless Persons.
In 2023, the migration.e-gov.am platform was also launched. It gives citizens the opportunity to receive a number of information online, in particular, regarding the address of registration, the number plate of public services for both the citizen and his minor children, and identity documents.
Through the website, online queuing for service at Yerevan passport services is also carried out. According to the officials, thus the workload caused by queues in the territorial units of Migration and Citizenship has decreased, the queues have been transferred to the electronic domain. In the near future, the digitized services on the migration.e-gov.am website will be expanded.
As of January 1, 2024, the indication of passport validity in foreign countries (exit stamp) was also removed. The work is aimed at citizens needing to visit passport services once every few years.
As a long-term solution for the sector, it was noted that the Republic of Armenia has adopted a policy of completely switching to the biometric system. It is planned to introduce a new system of biometric passports and identification cards in the form of a public-private partnership, the aim of which is to increase the use and circulation of documents that meet secure and international standards, to replace the outdated IT infrastructure, improving the security and efficiency of the process, to improve the quality of service to citizens, including: in terms of physical conditions of service.
In order to increase the quality of service and communication, effective quality control mechanisms are planned to be introduced. In this regard, it is also planned to create a call center, to introduce video recording equipment in all departments of the ISS.
Referring to the reforms implemented in the passport services, the Prime Minister was interested. “It was said that our task is for the citizen to have the need to visit the Migration and Citizenship Service unit once every few years. Now, how are we going to accomplish this and do we already have a road map ready or not?”
Head of the International Security Service Armen Ghazaryan noted that the issue is being approached in two stages. “The first is mid-term solutions that we provide. In particular, for example, elimination of the exit seal, certain references, if they are still needed, we are trying to make them digital so that the person does not come to us. For example, the reference of the registration, the reference of the public service number plate, and it is very practical, there is the reference of the passport history. Some embassies require this type of reference. In the case of personal identification, a person can receive on our platform and for that he does not need to visit the service. This is the first group, but the vast majority of our operations are passport and ID card issuance, in the sense of the front office. Here, the long-term solution is the private outsourcing sector within the framework of public-private partnership.”
The issue of reforming the State Population Register was also discussed, both from the point of view of logic and ideology, as well as the structure and software. Summarizing, Prime Minister Pashinyan emphasized. “We must consolidate and manage our digitization processes in such a way that when a person performs an activity, it becomes the base data in the State Population Register that this person is currently in Armenia. That program should recognize that we gave this person a passport, but he is no longer visible, he was not on our radars. In other words, if a person entered, the digital system should give the signal that this is no longer a passport data, this is already a person’s data. When there was an action related to him on any digital platform, that impulse should come because after some time due to this action, the database of passports will become the database of the population.”