YEREVAN, MAY 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The number of persons returning to Armenia exceeds 1,5 times the number of those leaving the country," head of the RA Police Passport and Visa Department, Colonel Alvina Zakarian declared at the May 7 press conference, denying the rumors about an increase in the number of persons leaving Armenia. According to her, 54 families rejected so-called green cards (status of a permanent resident of a country) in 2007, while 25 families rejected green cards in the first 4 months of this year. 799 citizens have applied to their department with the request to be granted Armenian citizenship in 2008, most of them are citizens of Georgia, Russia, Lebanon, Turkmenistan and the U.S. 188 citizens received dual citizenship under decrees of the Armenian president, while after adoption of the RA Law on Dual Citizenship, the department sustained 1,417 persons' applications for dual citizenship. In her words, as was announced earlier, in 2010 Armenia intends to introduce a new passport system but the current passports will be in force until their date of expiry. A. Zakarian provided explanations about some provisions of the RA Law on Foreigners concerning the terms of residence permit and entry visas. She underlined that without an invitation sent beforehand, residents of not all countries may receive a visa to cross the Armenian border. Among these countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, China, Egypt, India, Iraq, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Vietnam amd Syria.

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