Armenia`s premier comments on closing of government offices in some  border communities 

ArmInfo.The process of optimizing the structural units of the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia has caused a lot of speculation. The optimization of the Meghri court gave rise to  political speculation, the same thing is happening with Vardenis, Armenia's Premier Nikol Pashinyan stated at a discussion of the Service's activities for last year. 

The other day, MP from the Armenia bloc Garnik Danielyan said in  parliament that government institutions in Meghri are being closed -  the court of first instance, a division of the Cadastre Committee, a  notary's office, a hospital, a morgue, and the archive is also  closed. "The closure of these departments under the pretext of  optimization only creates obstacles for Meghri residents. What else  will you close in the near future - kindergartens, schools? What is  the real purpose of all this?" asked Danielyan. He listed other  problems that Meghri residents face - the lack of slaughterhouses,  transport, etc. "Due to the lack of basic conditions and basic  services in Meghri, many families move to other cities," Danielyan  emphasized, adding that under the pretext of optimization Departments  and other border communities are closing.  "Meghri is the southern  gate of Armenia, Meghri and its inhabitants deserve daily care, while  a policy is being implemented there that will lead to the  de-Armenization of this beautiful part of our Motherland and new  disasters," the parliamentarian concluded.

According to the prime minister, optimization is planned to be  carried out throughout the country, including in Yerevan, and no  speculation will affect the process. At the same time, according to  him, there is an idea to use mobile offices of the Service during the  optimization process and before the start of digitalization  processes, when identifying problematic issues.

The head of the Service and his deputies reported to the head of the  Cabinet that, as part of structural reforms, the goal was to  transform territorial passport services into territorial divisions of  the Migration and Citizenship Service, where not only passport  services, but also other services within the functions of the Service  would be provided: accepting applications for residence status,  asylum, obtaining or terminating RA citizenship, etc.

Thus, in the reporting year, a new structure and charter of the  Service were approved: the structure, based on optimization, includes  6 departments and 47 territorial divisions (instead of the previous  63). It was noted that optimization was carried out according to a  number of criteria: distribution of territorial divisions, geography,  coverage of the population with services, management efficiency.

In 2023, the migration.e-gov.am platform was also launched. This  gives citizens the opportunity to receive a range of information  online, in particular about the registration address, the number of  public services of both the citizen and his minor children, as well  as identification documents. The website also provides an online  queue for service at the Yerevan passport services. According to  officials, this has reduced the load from queues at territorial  offices for migration and citizenship, and the queues have been  transferred to electronic format. In the near future, digitized  services on the website migration.e-gov.am will be expanded.