TH E ANDZNAGIR
News for the American citizen community in Armenia
ISSUE 7: MAY 2017
The Warden Network
Did you know, when you register your presence in Armenia through the
online STEP system, that you are assigned to a geographical or functional
zone, according to your affiliation or where you live? Below are the
zones and the private American citizens who have volunteered to serve
as warden(s) in each one. Note the name of yours: in case of a crisis, this
person might be reaching out to you to ascertain whether you are safe
since the embassy does not have the resources to call personally every
American citizen in Armenia. If the name for the warden of your zone is
blank, the position is vacant, and we would love to hear from you if you
would like to volunteer to fill that role!
ZONE
NAME OF WARDEN
Ajapniak/Davtashen
Lucineh Kassarjian, Arpi Vartanian
Arabkir
Artashes Hovanessian
Erebuni/Shengavit/Nubarashen
VACANT
Kanaker-Zeytun/Avan
VACANT
Kentron Northeast
VACANT
Kentron Northwest
Steven Movsesian
Kentron Southeast
VACANT
Kentron Southwest
Arina Zohrabian
Kotayk Marz
VACANT
Malatia-Sebastia
VACANT
Nor Nork
Christopher Brown
For further information:
See the State
Department's travel
website for
the Worldwide Caution,
Travel Warnings, Travel
Alerts, and Country
Information for Armenia.
Enroll in the Smart
Traveler Enrollment
Program (STEP) to receive
security messages and
make it easier to locate
you in an emergency.
Contact the U.S. Embassy
in Yerevan, Armenia,
located at 1 American
Avenue, at tel. (374-10)
46-47-00 and fax (374 10)
46-47-42, Monday
through Friday 9:00 a.m.
to 5:30 p.m. After-hours
emergency number for
U.S. citizens is (374-10)
49-44-44. Our email
address is
The U.S. Embassy will be closed for the following upcoming holidays—May 9 (Armenian Victory and Peace Day),
May 29 (American Memorial Day), July 4 (American Independence Day), July 5 (Armenian Constitution Day).
Nork Marash
Niery Bardakjian
Vahagni
Nina Hovnanian
American University of Armenia
Arpie Balian
Green Bean Café
David Bequette
LDS Church
Allen Bostrom
Marriott Hotel
VACANT
QSI
Robbie Reno
Two-parent consent for passports for children under 16.
Until a child is 16 years old, U.S. law requires that BOTH parents
sign the application to grant permission for a passport. If one parent cannot attend the passport
appointment, he/she may give permission through a notarized letter or a notarized DS-3053
form. If there is only one parent on the birth certificate, or if the applying parent has sole
custody as demonstrated by a court order, this requirement is waived. It is also waived if a
parent is deceased, but the applying parent must present the death certificate. All other cases of
“missing” parents must be sent to the State Department for approval, which is granted only in narrow
circumstances, so be prepared for delays if both living, custodial parents do not attend the appointment and/or
provide notarized consent. NB: You must provide a birth certificate or a consular report of birth abroad so that
we can see who the parents are before we can proceed with any passport application for a minor.
I’m an American citizen, and I have petitioned for my children to receive
immigration visas. However, at the interview, the officer told me that
he/she couldn’t approve the visas because the children might already be U.S. citizens. What’s going on?
The short answer is that U.S. law prohibits the issuance of visas to American citizens and requires that they enter
the U.S. on American passports. If you are a U.S. citizen, and you have lived in the U.S. for at least five years,
then chances are you can transmit your American citizenship to your children, making
an immigration visa impossible. Instead, the officer will send you to the American
Citizen Services unit, either to make your children citizens, or to get a letter from us that
they are not, in fact, citizens, in which case the immigration can proceed. The delays
are significant when families in this situation are Iranian because all Iranian-American
citizenship cases must be sent to Bern, Switzerland for adjudication. Apart from the time delay, there is also the
cost: the hefty fee you paid for each immigration petition cannot be refunded if the visas are not issued. So
take our advice: BEFORE you petition for your children, come to see us in ACS and make sure your children are
not already entitled to U.S. passports. And keep in mind that only children who are citizens by birth can become
president one day!
ACS insight of the quarter
Visa question of the quarter
If the Marz where you live is not
listed to the right as a geographical
zone, the reason is that we do not
have enough registrants in that
area to merit a warden.
If you know of another cluster of
American citizens, or another
place where American citizens
congregate, that should be a
functional zone, please let us
know!
BUYING OR RE-FINANCING A PROPERTY IN THE UNITED STATES?
If you will be bringing a large packet of mortgage documents to ACS for notarization, please remember that the
burden is on YOU to vet the documents thoroughly and find all the places where notarizations are necessary
BEFORE you come for your appointment. It is also your responsibility to complete any information blanks and to
place any necessary initials before the documents are notarized. By the same token, it is wise to review the
packet after the notarizations are finished to ensure that nothing has been missed.
Another thing to keep in mind: you pay a notarial fee of $50 each time the
notarial officer signs and affixes a seal to a document. In some states—
California comes to mind—there can be more than ten notarizations required
in a mortgage packet, which adds up to hefty notarial costs. You might ask
your mortgage company before they send the packet to format documents for
notarization only when absolutely necessary.
TRANSITION TIME: LET’S WELCOME FRANK LAVOIE!
At the end of June, our current American Citizen Services chief, Adam Colvin, is departing Yerevan for his next
post, Prague, via a year of Czech language instruction in Washington. He will be replaced by Frank Lavoie
starting in early July. Frank has been in the Foreign Service since 2011 and served his first tour in Kingston,
Jamaica, before transferring to Brasilia, Brazil. He is now in Yerevan until 2019. He has extensive American
Citizen Service experience, having served in ACS in both prior posts for a year
each. Frank speaks Armenian and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia from
1995 to 1997. He grew up in Massachusetts and resided in Hawaii, where he was
an elected local official and business owner prior to joining the State Department.
When you have the chance to meet him, please welcome him to our ACS team!
Renew passports early!!
Needless to say, an American citizen overseas should never be without a valid U.S. passport. If your passport
will be expiring in 2017, you should think about renewing it. Although we always tell passport applicants that
their new passports will arrive in 7-10 business days, it is not a good idea to wait until the last minute to renew:
systems problems do arise that can cause significant delays. Plus, we are expecting a surge in demand this year.
Keep in mind also that there are many countries that require six months’ validity for admission, so if you plan to
travel to countries other than the U.S. and Armenia, you should check on this at travel.state.gov and renew at
least seven months before your current passport’s expiration date if it is an issue.
Please note that new restrictions have been imposed on electronic devices in the cabin for passengers
traveling by air to the U.S. from Qatar, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, among other places. Put your phones,
laptops, etc. into your checked luggage before you check in, and be sure to have a good book with you!
