Citizenship by Ethnicity
Ethnic Armenians qualify for citizenship without having to meet any language or residency requirements. You should note, however, that certain requirements have to be met to establish Armenian origin. Having an Armenian name or speaking Armenian fluently is not by itself sufficient. You will have to produce a document (birth certificate, passport or other official document) showing that you are (or your parent or grandparent or siblings are) an ethnic Armenian. This can be a birth certificate or other identity document. For this, it is necessary that the submitted documents contain a note about the Armenian ethnicity (in certain countries, for example, in the birth certificate, family records, etc.). Please note that your birth certificate must be certified by an apostille (with the exception of those countries with which Armenia has an interstate agreement that does not require an apostille, for example, the Russian Federation, etc.) and its translation into Armenian must be notarized. Thus, the required documents (except passport) must be with apostille and notarized translation.
The most common way to prove Armenian ethnicity is to show a baptism certificate issued by a church organization that confirms your Armenian ethnicity. It is important that the document be attested (legalized) by the Armenian embassy/consulate in the country where the document was issued.
Thus, it is necessary to certify the baptism certificate and have a birth certificate with an apostille before submitting them to the appropriate authority.
The list of churches the certificates of which are generally accepted by the Government are published here (see Annex 4). If your church does not appear on the list or if there is no Armenian embassy or consulate in your country, you may be required to confirm the document at the RA diplomatic body operating in another country (for example, in the case of Australia, in the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia to the USA).