Armenia's new law on foreigners, November 2026: IE checklist

Armenia's new law on foreigners takes effect on November 1, 2026, and for an individual entrepreneur (IE) it changes what business residence asks of you. The old law listed entrepreneurial activity as a ground and set no amount. From November, an IE needs AMD 1,000,000 of turnover in the 60 days before applying, or the same amount in the IE's accounts, and the status lapses if the tax service has no record of tax from your business within 180 days of the grant. Fees go up, a temporary permit no longer gets extended, permanent residence on the business ground now has a waiting period, and applications move to one online platform.

This page is written from the IE holder's side. It ties each rule to the law text, says where the official answer is still missing, and connects the residence tests to the tax regime you are on, which none of the law-firm alerts we read does. We checked it against the published law in early October 2026 and will re-check it weekly through November.

What the new law on foreigners changes in November 2026

The amending law, HO-11-N, was adopted on January 20, 2026 and published on February 13, 2026 (text on ARLIS, in Armenian). Some pages still say the reform starts in August. That was an early plan. The published text gives November 1, 2026, and the Migration and Citizenship Service repeated that date at the start of October.

For an IE holder, these are the changes that matter:

Some things stay as they were. The service still decides within 30 days, and the new text adds that your stay counts as lawful while the application is pending, even if your previous term runs out. A permanent status still lasts 5 years. And nothing in this law touches your taxes: regimes, rates and tax deadlines come from the Tax Code, not from the Law "On Foreigners".

Two more rules are new for everyone. You can hold only one status that confirms lawful residence at a time. And the Government will set yearly quotas by type of status, number and ground; once the quota for the year is used up, that is a ground for refusal. No quota numbers had been published when we checked.

What an IE needs for a business residence permit

The law gives an IE two ways to qualify, and either is enough:

• turnover from your business of at least AMD 1,000,000, or the equivalent in foreign currency, in the 60 days before the application date
• at least AMD 1,000,000 held across the IE's accounts, in any currencies, counted in drams

You apply in person through the platform, after registering on it yourself. For a company the rules differ: a participant or shareholder needs at least AMD 2,000,000 invested in charter capital or held in shares, and the head of the company files through the platform.

Take a designer billing a German agency in euros. She registered her IE in the spring and invoices once a month. What counts is the turnover that falls inside the window before her application date, converted to drams. As far as the text goes, one large invoice inside the window counts the same as several small ones. Someone who registered an IE last week and has no clients yet can still use the balance route, if the IE's accounts hold the amount on the day.

If you have not registered an IE yet, the steps are in our guide to registering an IE as a foreigner.

What counts as turnover for the test

The law says "turnover from entrepreneurial activity" and stops there. The list of documents you upload is set by a Government decision that was not published in early October, so nobody can tell you yet whether the platform reads your turnover from tax records, from bank statements or from both. The platform does pull data from state databases on its own (it checks the Cadastre for housing, for example), but the law text we read does not say which source it uses for turnover.

The cautious assumption is that the two should match. Money that arrives in a personal account, or that never shows up in your turnover tax calculation, is the kind of figure that is hard to defend later.

The balance route has its own dispute. Several relocation guides say the status can be cancelled if the IE's balance later falls below the threshold. The law text sets no such condition for an IE: the ongoing floor of AMD 1,000,000 in the law applies to a company's charter capital and shares. Implementing decisions could still add conditions, so treat the balance as something to keep an eye on rather than a settled question.

How much tax that turnover carries

The test is about turnover, so the tax on it depends on your regime, not on the residence law:

• On turnover tax, qualifying IT and high-tech work is taxed at 1%≈Estimate: Uses at least one rule that an accountant has not verified yet. of turnover, but whether you need to be in the high-tech registry for that rate is disputed IT-02: IT rate: High-Tech Registry. Sources disagree.
• On turnover tax, most other services are taxed at 10%≈Estimate: Uses at least one rule that an accountant has not verified yet..
• Microbusiness charges no turnover tax at all while your previous-year turnover stays at or below AMD 24,000,000≈Estimate: Uses at least one rule that an accountant has not verified yet. MB-01: Microbusiness turnover cap. Sources agree, not verified, but sources disagree on whether IT, design, marketing and translation are still allowed MB-03: Disputed microbusiness exclusions. Sources disagree.

On top of that come fixed charges: the monthly payment on turnover tax (sources say AMD 5,000≈Estimate: Uses at least one rule that an accountant has not verified yet. or AMD 10,000≈Estimate: Uses at least one rule that an accountant has not verified yet. FX-01: Fixed monthly payment. Sources disagree), stamp duty FX-03: Stamp duty for IEs. Sources agree, not verified and, once your previous-year turnover exceeded AMD 2,400,000≈Estimate: Uses at least one rule that an accountant has not verified yet., health insurance FX-04: Health insurance for IEs. Sources agree, not verified.

If you hit the threshold inside the window and keep that pace, your yearly turnover is several times the test amount. Put the yearly figure you actually expect into the calculator to see the estimated tax under each regime you appear eligible for.

Can the permit be cancelled if no tax is assessed

Yes, but read the wording, because it is not quite what the headlines say. A business-ground status loses force if, within 180 days after it is granted, the State Revenue Committee database holds no information on taxes calculated from your business. It is one window that starts at the grant. It is not a rolling rule that cancels your permit any time you go half a year without paying tax. It applies to IEs and companies alike.

We did not find an answer on whether the window also reaches business-ground statuses granted before November. If yours was, ask the service.

What this means on each regime

This is where the residence rule and your tax regime meet, and where the law is least clear.

On turnover tax, the tax is calculated every quarter and paid by day 20≈Estimate: Uses at least one rule that an accountant has not verified yet. of the month after the quarter ends DL-04: Quarterly turnover tax. Sources agree, not verified. A window of that length contains at least one quarterly calculation, so an IE that trades and files should have a calculated tax amount on record. The high-tech rate gives a small amount, but the law sets no minimum. One edge remains open: a quarter with zero turnover produces a zero calculation, and we found nothing on whether that counts.

Microbusiness is the real risk. It charges no turnover tax, and the law does not mention microbusiness at all. We found no official clarification. A microbusiness IE still owes stamp duty and, above a threshold, health insurance, but nothing says whether those count as "taxes calculated from entrepreneurial activity". Health insurance applies only after a year with turnover above the threshold, and stamp duty is reported to be due in April, though that date is inferred DL-07: Stamp duty payment date. Sources disagree. A new microbusiness IE could easily have nothing recorded inside the window. Do not assume you are safe. More on the regime itself in who qualifies for microbusiness.

Who can answer this for your case: an accountant can tell you what the State Revenue Committee database will show for your IE in a given month, and the Migration and Citizenship Service or a lawyer can tell you how the platform reads it. Ask before you apply, not after the grant. An existing IE can only change regime on a fixed annual calendar, by February 20≈Estimate: Uses at least one rule that an accountant has not verified yet. DL-02: Annual regime election. Sources agree, not verified, so this question has a lead time.

The calculator shows the tax line separately from fixed charges for each regime you appear eligible for, so you can see which of them produce a tax amount at your income. It does not tell you which to choose. For the full comparison, see IE regimes compared.

The new fees, and why sources quote different numbers

Both sets of numbers you see online are correct; they count different things. The companion State Duty law (text on ARLIS) splits the charge into a review fee and a card fee:

EY's alert quotes the review fee. armenian-lawyer.com quotes the total. EY also notes that the review fee is not refunded if you are refused. Until the change, the official fee page lists AMD 105,000 for temporary and AMD 140,000 for permanent status.

The timing has a wrinkle. The fee amendments start shortly after the service announces on its website that the platform has launched, and no later than November 1, 2026. If the launch is announced early, the new fees could apply a few days before November. No such announcement had appeared when we checked. US citizens pay reciprocity rates under a separate government decision; we have not checked those amounts.

How long the first permit lasts, and when permanent residence opens

A temporary status now lasts up to 12 months, and the new text drops extensions. When it ends, you apply for a new status. On the business ground the platform can grant it using its own data that shows your business is continuing. The Government sets the criteria for that, and they were not published in early October. Without that data, you submit documents again.

Permanent residence on the business ground now requires 3 years of temporary status within the last 5. Under the old law, an entrepreneur could apply for permanent status with no prior residence, so this is the biggest change for anyone who planned to go straight to it. Ethnic Armenians can get permanent status directly. The new investment ground has criteria the Government has not yet published, and buying property is not a ground in either the old or the new law.

Applications filed before November

The law says applications submitted before November 1, 2026 are decided under the old rules. The word is "submitted". A booked appointment is not an application, and the service has said people with appointments after the start date must apply through the new system, because migration.e-gov.am and Early One stop residence services on November 1, 2026≈Estimate: Not yet confirmed by an official source. Last checked October 5, 2026.. Only a filed application locks in the old rules.

The old rules are not a free pass either. The old law sets no turnover amount, but agencies report refusals for IEs that show no activity.

Permits issued before the reform

A permit you already hold stays valid until it expires. People who got a special status keep its rights until it expires, even though no one new can apply for it. There is no separate transition for renewals: when a temporary permit runs out after November, the next application follows the new rules, including the turnover or balance test. If yours expires in the next few months, work out now whether your IE will pass the test on the day you apply.

We found no exemption for older permits from the absence notice below, so plan as if it applies to you.

The new portal and the biometrics visit

The Ministry of Internal Affairs names the platform permit.am. Some law-firm pages spell it with an extra "s", which is wrong. When we checked, neither address worked yet, so do not trust a bookmark or a link from an agency until the service announces the launch. We will link it here once it is live.

You register, upload documents and fix errors online. If the platform flags a problem, you have 5 days to correct it before it suspends the application automatically, and a suspended application is later closed if you do nothing. You still make 1 in-person visit, for fingerprints and a signature. The service is opening 14 new biometric offices from November for identity documents, but it has not said whether residence cards go through them.

If you are refused, you can reapply after 1 year. That wait does not apply to some grounds, including an exhausted quota or a ground that has lapsed: you can reapply once the reason is gone. The refusal for entering on the wrong visa, which several news pieces mention, is part of the work ground, not the entrepreneurship ground.

If you are abroad for a long stretch

A temporary or permanent resident who is absent from Armenia for 183 days or more must notify the service through the platform within 10 days of reaching that count. If you do not notify, the status lapses. The trigger is the missing notice, not the absence itself.

The law does not say whether the days are consecutive or added up. Some secondary sources say "consecutive", but that is not in the text, so count conservatively. A developer who spends the winter in Dubai and comes back for a few weeks in spring should not assume the short visit resets anything. Only holders of permanent status on the investment or exceptional-services grounds are exempt, and an IE holder is in neither group.

This is an immigration rule. It is not the tax-residency test, which also uses 183≈Estimate: Uses at least one rule that an accountant has not verified yet. days but counts presence, over a period that sources describe differently RES-01: Tax residency: day count. Sources disagree. The two can point in opposite directions; see tax residency and the certificate.

If you hold a Russian or other EAEU passport

Citizens of EAEU countries still do not need a work permit for the term of an employment contract. Their certificate of lawful residence had no state duty before the reform. From November it costs AMD 35,950: a AMD 30,000 review fee plus an issue fee. You must apply for it right after signing an employment or services contract in Armenia, not only when you plan to stay past the visa-free term. Whether a self-employed EAEU citizen with an IE and no such contract uses this route at all, the law does not say. Ask the service before relying on it.

Checklist: before and after November

Before November 1, 2026:

1. If you are applying under the old rules, make sure the application is submitted, not just booked.
2. Check when your current permit expires. If it is after November, the next application follows the new rules.
3. Add up the turnover your IE received in the last 60 days, or check the balance across the IE's accounts.
4. Ask an accountant what the tax database will show for your regime in the months after a grant. On microbusiness, ask twice.
5. Get a public service number if you do not have one. It is free, and the work-permit exemption for business-ground residents depends on it.
6. Budget for the new review fee plus the card fee.

After the start date:

1. Wait for the official launch announcement, then register on the platform yourself and apply.
2. Answer platform notices within 5 days.
3. Go in person for the biometrics visit.
4. From the day of the grant, make sure a calculated tax from your business is on record within 180 days.
5. Track your days abroad and send the absence notice in time.
6. Watch for the Government decisions on quotas, documents and renewals, which can change parts of this list.

Questions people ask

Does the new law change my tax regime or tax rates?

No. It is an immigration law. Your regime, rates and tax deadlines stay the same. What changes is that your tax record now matters for your residence.

Can I lose my status if the IE's balance drops below the threshold?

The law text does not say so for an IE. Several guides claim it does, and implementing decisions could add conditions. Treat it as disputed.

Do I need a residence permit to register an IE?

Secondary sources say no. Whether you need a public service number first is disputed; the State Register can tell you.

Can I get residence by buying an apartment?

No. Property is not a ground in either the old or the new law. The new investment ground for permanent residence has criteria the Government has not published.

Where will quota numbers be published?

In a Government decision. We look for it on arlis.am and on e-draft.am, where drafts appear. None had been published when we checked.

Update log

• October 2026: first version, checked against Law HO-11-N, the State Duty amendments and announcements by the Migration and Citizenship Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.