State compensations of monthly salary for organizations attracting highly skilled specialists
The Government of Armenia has approved the program developed jointly by the Investment Council of Armenia and the Ministry of Economy of the RA to boost the productivity of businesses through the engagement of highly skilled professionals into the local labor market.
According to the newly adopted program, commercial and non-commercial organizations (LLC, CJSC, OJSC, NGO, Foundations, including universities) (but not individuals or individual entrepreneurs) can benefit from state compensation of 20% - 70% of monthly salaries of highly qualified specialists they hire. The law defines certain criteria, which include indicators regarding the academic and professional experience of the highly qualified specialist (HQS). The state support scheme will be in force until December 31, 2025.
Who is eligible to apply for the state subsidy
✔ The application for state compensation shall be submitted by the organization (employer).
✔ Those organizations that have involved HQS in their organization for at least 2 months
(consecutively) during the 12 months prior to the time of applying for support.
✔ BE SURE TO CHECK your eligibility for the program through the following link: https://bit.ly/3eXUfnd
Who meets the definition of a “highly qualified specialist”
For the employer organization to be able to apply for the state support program, the latter needs to
hire a highly qualified specialist who has lived outside of the Republic of Armenia for 12
(cumulative) during the 30 months prior to the time of the organization applying to the state
support program, as well as correspond to at least one of the following conditions:
1)Has graduated from one of the 400 leading universities according to the QS World University Rankings
, published in the year of application for participation in the program, and received a
bachelor's, master's and/or doctorate degree (or other equivalent higher education qualification
accepted in the given country)
And/or
2) Has at least 10 years of experience in any of the world's leading companies included in the
Forbes,
Fortune,
HeadHunter,
NIFTY,
Dow Jones,
FTSE,
S&P,
SSE Composite,
SZSE,
KOSPI,
KOSDAQ,
BSE SENSEX,
NSE of India,
BOVESPA,
IBrX, ITEL,
Nikkei,
TOPIX,
DAX,
MDAX,
MOEX Russia.
Scales of state support
Wages paid to HQS and other payments equivalent thereto shall be considered salaries and other payments equal to them (including taxes, and other mandatory payments) established for them by contracts or individual legal acts on employment.
The following is the defined scale for state reimbursements:
| Employer | Criteria | Reimbursement |
|---|---|---|
| LLC, CJSC, OJSC, University, Scientific or Research Institution, NGO, Foundation | Bachelor or Master’s degree from Top 400 (no PhD from any University) | 20% of the salary on the monthly basis, not more than 1 mln. AMD |
| 10+ years of work experience (no PhD from any University) | ||
| LLC, CJSC, OJSC, University, Scientific or Research Institution, NGO, Foundation | Bachelor or Master’s degree from Top 400, as well as PhD from any university | 50% of the salary on the monthly basis, not more than 1.5 mln. AMD |
| PHD from Top400 universities | ||
| 10+ years of work experience, as well as PhD from any university | ||
| LLC, CJSC, OJSC Scientific or Research Institution, NGO, Foundation & University | Bachelor or Masters degree from Top 400, as well as PhD from any university who teaches at Armenian university and at the same time works for a different works in an Armenian organization/company | 50% of the salary on the monthly basis, but not more than 1.5 mln. AMD for other organization/company, 70% of the salary on the monthly basis, but not more than 2 mln. AMD to university |
| PhD from Top 400 University who both work at an Armenian Organization/Company and teaches at University | ||
| 10+ years of work experience, as well as PhD from any university who teaches at Armenian university and at the same time works for a different works in an Armenian Organization/company |
How to apply
✔BE SURE TO CHECK your eligibility for the program through the following link: https://bit.ly/3eXUfnd
✔The employer organization can fill in the application form, which is available here. The completed
application together with the package of the required documents must be submitted to
experts@ncie.am, indicating "Support for attracting highly
qualified specialists" in the subject
field.
Checklist of the documents to be attached to the application form:
1. Scanned copy of a certificate proving the higher education or scientific degree of a
highly qualified specialist and/or
2(а). An official reference from the indexed organization (who was HQS’s former
employer), where it is clearly mentioned how long the given specialist had worked for the indexed
organization, in which capacity (positions held).
2(b). Contact details of the senior management staff of the former employer (which is the
indexed organization), indicating the name, surname, position, e-mail address of the reference
providing person. This will be used to validate the submitted information about the professional
experience of HQS.
3. A copy (scan) of the employment contract (individual legal act on employment)
concluded with the highly qualified specialist (HQS).
4. Copy (scan) of the HQS’s ID Card or Passport.
How to receive the state subsidy/reimbursement
✔The state reimbursements are transferred to the bank accounts of the applying organization,
mentioned in the application form by the 15th of the month following each quarter (in case the
applying organization submits the tax report by the 10th of that month).
✔The state reimbursements are provided to the applying organization for 36 consecutive months
starting from the approval date of the application.
✔The state reimbursements are provided only for payments made to HQS after the application is
approved and are not provided for the payments made in the period preceding the application
IMPORTANT NOTICE. This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an official publication or official text of the program. The official text of the program may be found here. The applicant should check the official text of the program. The applicant is solely responsible for the accuracy of their submissions, as well as for timely submission of complete applications in accordance with RA legislation. The actual decision is made by the authorized government body based on your application. Additional requirements, terms and limitations may apply. This material only applies to the program established under Annex 2 of RA Government decree N 355-L dated 26.03.2020. This information does not help check eligibility for any other program.