Events and News
Europe Day
25 May, 2013
The project participated in the Information Fair of the Europe Day celebrations on 25 May. Different EUArmenia cooperation projects were introduced and a number of culture events took place during the fair. People received information at the different pavilions and were given the opportunity to ask their questions.
The project was attracting a number of interested visitors. “This is one of the most important initiatives because migration is one of public concerns in Armenia” was the most commonly expressed opinion about the project.
SUPPORT THE STATE MIGRATION SERVICE
FOR STRENGTHENING OF MIGRATION MANAGEMENT
IN ARMENIA
Workshop -
Cooperation Enhancement
20 December 2012
The STEs - Mr. Conny Larsson and Ms. Therese Lindstrom started the workshop with a power point presentation showing the findings from activity 2.1. After the presentation there was a break when the participants could study migration management schemes from 11 different countries which had been put on the wall of the meeting room. Subsequently there was a “World café” conducted. The participants were divided into four groups with one rapporteur in each group. They were given specific topics to discuss and after a certain period of time they shifted places with another group and discussed the topic the previous group had already discussed. However the rapporteur stayed in his/her place and briefed the new group on the discussions that had taken place. The new group then started to discuss the same topic and gave comments to the rapporteur. After finished the discussion there was an account from each group of their discussions.
The topics discussed were:
1. Advantages and disadvantages with work groups connected to the action plan
2. How does the typical migrant to Armenia look in 5 years?
Representatives from around 20 institutions took part in the workshop.
1 State Migration Service Gagik Yeganyan Head
2 State Migration Service Maria Allahverdyan Chief Specialist of the SMS External Relations Division
3 National Security Service Yesai Mkrtchyan Deputy Head of the NSS Head Office
4 Police Hrachya Yeganyan Deputy Head of the RA Police Passport and Visa Department
5 Ministry of Foreign Affairs David Manukyan Attache of the Consular Department
6 Twinning Project Anush Poghosyan Language Assistant
INSTITUTIONS PARTICIPANTS POSITIONS
Within the 2nd quarter of project implementation the first study visit was organized. The period of the visit was December 9-12, the Member State- Belgium. It was organized by the Immigration Office in Belgium and the aim was to introduce the Belgian migration and asylum policy, management and cooperation systems to the participants of study visit, namely representatives of State Migration Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Police, and National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia. The delegation was hosted by the Immigration office in Brussels. Besides, visits to an asylum center and a detention center outside Brussels were organized.
Belgian asylum procedure involves the following agencies: Immigration Office (IO), Fedasil, Office for the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS), Council for Aliens Law Litigation (CALL), and Council of State.
Mr. G. Beirnaert, Policy officer from International relations unit, Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, introduced the fields of responsibilities of Immigration Office and CGRS. Namely issuance of visa, guidance to unaccompanied minors, protection of victims of trafficking, asylum (registration, Eurodac system, multiple applications, and return), disputes and appeals are under the responsibility of IO. IO passes the asylum procedure to CGRS if foreigners comply with immigration and residence regulations. If not the foreigners are subject to return.
Mr. H. Van Goetham from Legal Affair Department of the Council for Alien Law Litigation (CALL) introduced appeal procedures. The legal sources are Aliens act (15 December 1980, and Rules of Procedure, 21 December 2006). The mission of CALL is to provide effective judicial review of administrative decisions in the field of asylum and migration.
Ms. L. Peeters, Advisor from IO introduced the cooperation with local authorities, Mr. M. Vlamijnck, attaché from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke about the asylum and migration directorate in MFA, G. Verbauwhede, advisor from IO was the speaker on family units, Mr. Goriya, Deputy Director Long Stay from IO introduced the economic migration concept in Belgium, F. Arn, Senior Officer Naturalizations, IO spoke on 2012 Act on Belgian Citizenship, Mr. K. Vanhoecke, the head of unit of officers on duty, IO introduced the cooperation between IO and police, issues on follow-up and return were introduced by Mr. S. Goethals, attaché senior from IO, and identification procedures and challenged - by Ms. M. Elebaut.
The visits to Arendonk asylum center and Carecole detention center under Federal agency for the reception of asylum seekers in Belgium are worth mentioning. Federal agency for the reception of asylum seekers in Belgium - Fedasil is in charge of guaranteeing the granting of material aid to asylum seekers and other categories of foreigners with equal rights to reception.
In the frames of the study visit Mr. Yeganyan, the head of the State Migration Service had a meeting with Ms. Maggie De Block, State Secretary for asylum and migration issues.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Study Visit to Brussels
9-12 December 2012
Workshop -
Mapping of Migration Flows
21 November, 2012
After a number of meetings the experts - Mr. Conny Larsson and Ms. Therese Lindstrom held a workshop on November 21 with participation of representatives from the State Migration Service, the Police, the National Security Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Employment Service Agency.
A fictive migrant was followed through the process of migration, a so called work flow scheme. From visa, to permit issued due to work, to permit issued based on marriage, to family reunification, to asylum and finally for forced return. During the seminar the participants identified some challenges and some possible improvements. The seminar ended with the participants highlighting what the found to be the most important tasks to focus on.
Possible improvements were (blue = vital task, yellow = less important task, red = not important task):
Check with labour market before issuing a permit (4 blue, 1 red)
Find a mechanism to establish a work permit system (6 blue)
Reasons for permit and length of permit should correspond (work, family, student) (3 red, 1 yellow)
Make it possible for SMS to register the asylum application in BMIS (3 blue, 1 yellow)
Legal possibility to take passport / documents during asylum process (2 blue, 4 red)
Adaption of asylum definition to international standards (2 blue, 1 yellow)
The identified challenges were:
In order to get a permit to work - you need a work, in order to get a work – you need a permit (5 blue, 1 yellow)
Tourist are allowed to work, although not expressed by law (3 blue, 2 yellow, 1 red)
Other important tasks:
Possibility to check identity of an applicant without documents (3 blue, 1 yellow)
Extend capacities of the reception centers (1 yellow)
Recognition of foreign diploma (3 blue)
Permission to work during the asylum process (2 blue)
Qualification training while a refugee (3 blue)
Kick-Off
6 September, 2012
The official launch of the EU Twinning project “Support the State Migration Service for Strengthening of Migration Management in Armenia” took place on 6 September in Tigran Mets Ballroom Hall of Armenia Marriott Hotel.
The project, which is financed by the European Union, will be implemented by the Swedish Migration Board during 27 months in consortium with the Polish Ministry of Interior. This Twinning Project aims at bringing Armenian closer to EU legislation and best practices in migration and asylum issues management. It is comprised of three components which are aimed at adaptation of the Armenian legislation to the EU legislation relating to Asylum and Migration, strengthening cooperation among Armenian authorities involved in migration issues and enhancement of their efficiency and development of a complete migration data processing and communications system.
Twinning is a cooperation tool between a public institution in a beneficiary country and the equivalent institution in an EU Member State. The EU uses this tool in candidate countries, potential candidate countries and European Neighborhood Policy countries. Armenia became part of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) in 2004.
The speakers’ panel consisted of the RA Vice Prime-Minister, Minister of the RA Territorial Administration, Mr. Armen Gevorgyan, the Head of the Political, Economic, Press and Information Section of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, Mr. Onno Simons, the Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy of Sweden, Mr. Tobias Billström, the Head of the Office for Foreigners in the Polish Ministry of Interior, Mr. Rafal Rogala, and the Director of the Division for European and International Cooperation in the Swedish Migration Board, Ms. Monika Wendleby. The Head of the State Migration Service, Mr. Gagik Yeganyan, as well as the Project Leader from the Swedish Migration Board, Mr. Conny Larsson, and the Junior Project Leader from the Polish Ministry of Interior, Mr. Piotr Sadowski also participated in the official launch of the Twinning.
In his speech Mr. Armen Gevorgyan mentioned a few steps forward undertaken by Armenia in the field of migration management, one of which was the formation of the State Migration Service supported by the Swedish Migration Board in 2009 after the Survey of the Migration Management in Armenia. He assured that the Project will be at the center of attention of the Government.
Ms. Monika Wendleby mentioned she believed that the troika – Armenia, Poland and Sweden, will make a very good team and that her colleagues in the Swedish Migration Board are convinced that this project will contribute to this work by the exchange of knowledge and experience. Mr. Conny Larsson gave a presentation on the Twinning Project, its components and the expected results.
Seminar on the Legal
Institutions and the Legislative Procedures within the EU
30 July, 2013
Seminar on Asylum procedures within the EU
2-3 May, 2013
An interagency training on EU asylum procedures was held on 2 - 3 May 2013. Experts of the Swedish Migration Board Ms Yvonne Bengtsson and Mr Ulf Bohman gave an overview of the asylum procedures within the EU also in connection to Armenian asylum procedures.
The training was a good possibility for active discussions between experienced experts and experts with not very in-depth knowledge of asylum procedures. The seminar was preceded by a number of meetings with different Armenian institutions dealing with asylum procedures. They gave the experts a good understanding of the asylum system in Armenia.
On the first day of their mission the experts met with the head of State Migration Service Mr Gagik Yeganyan, who introduced the overall situation in the Republic of Armenia. Then a tour was organised to the asylum division where the experts met with the staff. The Armenian colleagues
briefly introduced the asylum procedures. After discussing common problems the parties concluded that even if the situations may differ in Armenia and in Sweden the problems are the same. The experts met also with NSS Border Guard Troops, Armenian Young Lawyers' Association and the Administrative Court.
The overall objective of Component 2 is to improve the cooperation among Armenian authorities dealing with migration.
The mission of the expert Anna Sjöberg from the Swedish Migration Board started with a number of meetings in the State Migration Service, EU Delegation to Armenia, the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Police, the RA Ministry of Labour and Social Issues and the RA Ministry of Justice, etc to get acquinted to their experience in adapting legal amendments corresponding to the EU legislation into the Armenian legislation and used tools.
Seminar on legal institutions and legislative procedures in the EU was held on July 30 at the SMS.
Topics discussed during the seminar were:
-
Legal institutions within the European Union, including the Commission, Council Parliament and the European Court of Justice and their respective mandate and tasks
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Legislative procedures, including the general legislative procedure as well as some examples from the Swedish experiences from negotiating the EASO Regulation and the Asylum Procedures Directive.
Study Visit
to the Netherlands
1-3 July, 2013
The second study visit of the Project was organized to the Netherlands within July 1-3, 2013. It was hosted by the the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Meetings were organized with Immigration Policy Department of the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, Repatriation and Departure Services and Immigration and Naturalization Office at their premises. Visits were organized to Detention Center Zeist and Asylum Seekers Accommodation Center Katwijk.
A legal workshop was organized to present gaps between Armenian and EU legislation relating to asylum and migration on 21 - 22 May in Aghveran. Experts from the Polish Ministry of Interior had prepared a draft legal analysis report which was presented during the workshop.
The legal gaps analysis was performed during seven months of the project. The experts outlined the major findings of the gaps analysis of the Armenian legislation and also talked about the Polish experience. They introduced the recommendations for necessary legal modification. The beneficiary institutions took an active part in the discussion of the findings and recommendations and made suggestions on improvement of the
report.
The workshop was summarized and closed by the Project Manager from the Delegation of the EU to Armenia Mr David Avakian, the Head of Migration Policy Division of State Migration Service (SMS) Mr Hambardzum Abrahamyan, and Junior Project Leader from Polish Ministry of Interior Mr Piotr Sadowski.
INSTITUTIONS PARTICIPANTS POSITIONS
1 State Migration Service Hambardzum Abrahamyan Head of Migration Policy Division
2 State Migration Service Haykanush Chobanyan Head of External Relations Division
3 State Migration Service Maria Allahverdyan Chief Specialist of the SMS External Relations Division
4 National Security Service Yesai Mkrtchyan Deputy Head of the NSS Head Office
5 Police Hrachya Yeganyan Deputy Head of the RA Police Passport and Visa Department
6 Twinning project Lars-Erik Fjellström Resident Twinning Advisor
7 Twinning Project Anush Poghosyan Language Assistant
Programme of the Study Visit to the Netherlands is available here.
A detailed report on the Study Visit to the Netherlands is available here.
The 4th Steering Committee Meeting of the EU-funded Twinning project “Support the State Migration Service for Strengthening of Migration Management in Armenia” was held on 13 August 2013 at the State Migration Service.
The Project leaders from the State Migration Service and the Swedish Migration Board, the Resident Twinning Advisor, the representatives of EU-Delegation and PAO under the RA ministry of economy were participating in the meeting.
They discussed the overall progress of the project, as well as approved and signed the 4th quarterly report.
The 4th Steering Committee Meeting
13 August 2013
Migration Statistics and Data Analysis
16-27 September 2013
The activities within Component 3 “Development of a complete migration data processing and communications system” continue and the project office hosted two IT experts on 16 - 27 September 2013 from the Swedish Migration Board for the first mission within activity 3.2. “Feasibility Study on establishment of a data processing and communication system” The aim of the mission was to conduct a feasibility study on the establishment of a data processing and communication system.
The experts, Mr Ulf Åkerberg and Mr Kjell Ekfeldt together with the RTA and the SMS representative visited the government authorities dealing with migration issues to study their information sources. Meetings were also held at the State Migration Service to discuss questions raised in the course of study.
The next mission to Armenia will take place in the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014. A study visit to Sweden will also take place within the activity in order to introduce the migration data processing, analysis and statistics in Sweden to the Armenian colleagues.
The 5th Steering Committee Meeting
28 November 2013
The 5th Steering Committee Meeting of the EU-funded Twinning project “Support the State Migration Service for Strengthening of Migration Management in Armenia” was held on 28 November 2013 at the State Migration Service.
The Project leaders from the State Migration Service and the Swedish Migration Board, the Resident Twinning Advisor, the representatives of EU-Delegation and PAO under the RA ministry of economy were participating in the meeting.
They discussed the overall progress of the project, as well as approved and signed the 5th quarterly report.
The Swedish Migration Board (SMB) organized a study visit to Sweden for the Armenian delegation on 11-13 December 2013. The purpose was to study how the data is collected, registered and how statistics is used for analyzing migration flows in Sweden. SMB hosted the delegation in Norrköping. Here the delegation met not only relevant departments of SMB but also representatives of authorities dealing with compilation of migration statistics in the country: Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Tax Authority. On the first day the Swedish colleagues made a general introduction of the SMB and its cooperation with public bodies and other organizations. The experts from the IT department Mr Ulf Åkerberg and Mr Kjell Ekfeldt made presentations on operational IT systems, systems for analysis and their support. They showed what data SMB collects and the way data is processed and used in statistics. “To be able to make correct decisions we need information, and information is data that should be structured and organized”, said Mr Åkerberg.
Over the past years the Swedish legislation changed to a great extent. The need for coherence with EU legal standards gradually made SMB a new actor in providing statistics. Nowadays it produces migration statistics and implements different regular or “on-demand” analysis. Statistics produced by SMB reflect applications and decisions for third country nationals and EU-citizens, immigration, visa, citizenship, and voluntary return. The newly established intelligence department of SMB has an important role in making immigration forecasts and providing different information on the inflows. Their main tasks are ”Early warning system”, cooperation with EMN, research and development.
The SMB’s role in statistics is crucial for the policy making. During the meeting at the Ministry of Justice in Stockholm it was shown how data and analysis from the SMB is used for developing or changing the policy on migration. The ministry decides on the budget for implementing the migration policy and its allocations are based on the statistics that the SMB produces.
Statistics - a key to a better management
Swedish experience
16-27 September 2013
The 6th Steering Committee Meeting
25 February 2014
The 6th Steering Committee Meeting of the EU-funded Twinning project “Support the State Migration Service for Strengthening of Migration Management in Armenia” was held on 25 February 2014 at the State Migration Service.
The Project leaders from the State Migration Service and the Swedish Migration Board, the Resident Twinning Advisor, the representatives of EU-Delegation and PAO under the RA ministry of economy were participating in the meeting.
They discussed the overall progress of the project, as well as approved and signed the 6th quarterly report.
Enhancing Statistics
3-14 March 2014
An expert on lean management Ms Kirsi Lepistö from the Swedish Migration Board visited Armenia from 17 to 28 March. The mission was in the frames of activities aimed at enhancing cooperation between Armenian migration-related authorities. To create a better understanding of the system as a whole the project office sent questionnaires to the relevant authorities before the mission. During her mission the expert had follow-up meetings with some of the respondents. This helped to evaluate the current forms of cooperation and coordination.
The expert and the RTA discussed challenges in this regard and the expectations from the activity with the head of State Migration Service.
The next step is to evaluate the information received. Based on this a seminar will be held during the next mission where the expert will propose an instrument for cooperation and coordination of migration management system in the Republic of Armenia.
New Tools for Cooperation
17-28 March 2014
Swedish experts Mr Ulf Åkerberg and Mr Kjell Ekfeldt visited Armenia from 3 to 14 March, 2014. They continued studying the technical and legal possibilities for establishing a data and communication system in migration area. They met all the relevant state actors, the SMS, ARMSTAT, NSS and the Police to have a full overview of all existing information sources maintained by these authorities. They also studied the technical and legal issues regarding the possibilities to interlink SMS with other systems of interest.
During the mission the Swedish and Armenian colleagues continued the discussion of the questions raised during the study visit to Sweden.
Visualizing statistics was another topic in focus. At the meeting with SMS relevant specialists the experts made a presentation on the ways some analytical tools can be used to visualize and analyze the data.
The 1st Steering Committee Meeting
29 November 2012
The 3rd Steering Committee Meeting
14 May 2013
Legal Workshop
21-22 May, 2013
The 3rd Steering Committee Meeting of the EU-funded Twinning project “Support the State Migration Service for Strengthening of Migration Management in Armenia” was held on 14 May 2013 at the State Migration Service.
The Project leaders from the State Migration Service and the Swedish Migration Board, the Resident Twinning Advisor, the representatives of EU-Delegation and PAO under the RA ministry of economy were participating in the meeting.
They discussed the overall progress of the project, as well as approved and signed the 3rd quarterly report.
The 2nd Steering Committee Meeting
13 February 2013
The 2nd Steering Committee Meeting of the EU-funded Twinning project “Support the State Migration Service for Strengthening of Migration Management in Armenia” was held on 13 February 2013 at the State Migration Service.
The Project leaders from the State Migration Service and the Swedish Migration Board, the Resident Twinning Advisor, the representatives of EU-Delegation and PAO under the RA ministry of economy were participating in the meeting.
They discussed the overall progress of the project, as well as approved and signed the 2nd quarterly report.
The 1st Steering Committee Meeting of the EU-funded Twinning project “Support the State Migration Service for Strengthening of Migration Management in Armenia” was held on 29 November 2012 at the State Migration Service.
The Project leaders from the State Migration Service and the Swedish Migration Board, the Resident Twinning Advisor, the representatives of EU-Delegation and PAO under the RA ministry of economy were participating in the meeting.
They discussed the 1st quarterly report and overall progress of the project.