Moving to Armenia: What Repat Armenia Actually Does for Canadians
In 2025, 806 people moving to Armenia went through the Repat Armenia Foundation. Not a campaign, not a conference. Eight hundred and six individual cases: a family working out schools, a software developer comparing salaries, a retired couple asking about health coverage, a Canadian in their late twenties who visited on a volunteer programme and never quite stopped thinking about it.
Repat Armenia is the organization that handles that conversation, for free, and most Armenian Canadians have never heard of it. If moving to Armenia is something you have wondered about in an abstract way, this is what the practical version looks like.
There is also a reason to write about it now. Repat Armenia's staff are coming to Canada in October for the Engage Armenia Forum, with sessions in Toronto and Montreal, so the conversation can be had in person.
Who Repat Armenia is
The foundation was founded in Yerevan in 2012 by twelve repatriates and diasporans, people who had already made the move themselves and noticed how much of it had to be figured out from scratch. Its stated mission is to inform, initiate and actively champion the return of professional and entrepreneurial individuals and families to Armenia to secure the future development of the Armenian nation.
Two structural facts are worth knowing, because they explain how the organization can afford to charge nothing. It is funded by the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation, which has supported it since 2019. And as of January 2026 it operates as the Repat Armenia Branch of Birthright Armenia Inc., continuing the mission its founders set out. Vartan Marashlyan is co-founder and executive director, and Edele Hovnanian chairs the board of trustees.
That places Repat Armenia inside a cluster of organizations funded by the same foundation, including Birthright Armenia, the Armenian Volunteer Corps and HIKEArmenia. In practice this is useful to a newcomer: the volunteer programme that first brings someone to Armenia and the office that helps them stay are part of the same network.
What it does, service by service
Everything below is free to the person using it.
Consultations, online and in person. The starting point is registering and opening a case, after which you get practical advice on relocating, settling and adjusting. The foundation handles roughly 1,000 repatriation and integration consultation requests a year.
Employment support. Repat Armenia works with 126 employment partners, and helps newcomers understand the market rather than guess at it. This is the single most common sticking point for people with a Canadian salary and an Armenian mortgage in mind.
Business and start up guidance, including a mentorship programme for people arriving with a business rather than a job.
Free Armenian language courses. Elementary, intermediate and business levels, plus, and this matters enormously for Canadians, a Western to Eastern Armenian adaptation course. In 2025, 151 people took these courses. There is also HayTalki, a speaking club for practice outside class.
Health insurance. A package for repatriates, with 140 members in 2025.
Networking and integration events. The foundation ran 31 events in 2025 with an average attendance of 50, which is how most people find the other newcomers who are six months ahead of them.
A published repatriation guide to Armenia, and a podcast of repatriates' own accounts.
One programme is worth checking before you count on it. Armenia Works 4U, the professional repatriation track, has been described as on hold.
The part nobody tells you: the community is the service
By most accounts the paperwork is solvable and the banking is solvable. The hard part is the first six months, when you know nobody, your Armenian comes out wrong in shops, and your friends back in Toronto have stopped asking how it is going.
Repat Armenia's answer to that is a community of more than 12,500 members and a steady calendar of events where the person next to you has already been through it. Thirty one events a year is one every twelve days. For a family that has just landed, that is the difference between an address and a life.
This is also where the Western Armenian issue gets solved socially rather than academically. Armenian Canadians from Toronto and Montreal often arrive speaking Western Armenian in a city that runs on Eastern, and the adaptation course plus a speaking club does more for that in a month than a year of quiet embarrassment.
What Repat Armenia does not do
We would rather set expectations properly than write a brochure.
Visa, residency and citizenship processing are not among its listed services. Armenia's own procedures apply, and the foundation's role is guidance and integration.
It does not place you in a job. It works with employment partners and helps you navigate, which is different from being hired for you.
Its own site carries no donation page. The funding comes from the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation, and since January 2026 Repat Armenia is a branch of Birthright Armenia Inc., so ask the foundation directly where support should go.
It is based in Armenia, not in Canada, and we could find no Canadian office, which is exactly why the October forums matter.
Meeting them in Canada this October
Repat Armenia runs the Engage Armenia Forum, and the 2026 edition comes to Canada for the first time under that name:
Toronto, Thursday October 22, 2026, 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Hamazkayin Theatre, Armenian Youth Centre, 50 Hallcrown Place, North York
Montreal, Saturday October 24, 2026, 1:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Armenian General Benevolent Union of Montreal, 805 Rue Manoogian, Saint-Laurent
Montreal, Sunday October 25, 2026, 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Pastermajian Hall, Sourp Hagop Armenian School, 3400 Rue Nadon
Registration for all three is on Eventbrite, and our full write up of the forum has the agenda, the speakers and the volunteer programmes on offer. Vartan Marashlyan is among those attending, along with Sevan Kabakian of Birthright Armenia and Arina Zohrabian of the Armenian Volunteer Corps.
If you are seriously considering a move, an evening of questions with the executive director of the organization that would handle your case is worth more than a month of reading.
How to start, if you are actually considering it
Register a case through repatarmenia.org and book a consultation. It is free and it is the front door to everything else.
Try before you move. A volunteer placement is the usual first step. Birthright Armenia takes applicants aged 21 to 32 with at least one fully Armenian grandparent, and the Armenian Volunteer Corps takes diaspora Armenians aged 32 and over, including short professional placements from two weeks.
Start the language early, especially the Western to Eastern adaptation if that is your situation. Doing it before you land saves months.
Talk to someone who did it. The foundation's podcast and its events exist for this, and the October forums put several of those people in a room in Toronto and Montreal.
Contact: Hanrapetutyan 37, Yerevan, entrance from A. Melik-Adamyan Street, +374 91 46 46 60, Monday to Friday 10:00 to 18:00. Everything starts at repatarmenia.org.
Why Tomsak is writing about a foundation in Yerevan
Tomsak exists to show Armenian Canadians what is available to them, and that does not stop at the border. A Saturday school in North York, a summer camp in Ontario, a forum in Saint-Laurent and an office in Yerevan are all part of the same question, which is what it takes to keep being Armenian somewhere other than Armenia, and what it takes to go back if you decide to.
For everything happening here at home, see our events page, the Toronto and Montreal pages, and the Armenian events in Canada 2026 guide. To get it monthly instead of hunting for it, subscribe.
Frequently asked questions
What is Repat Armenia?
Repat Armenia is a foundation based in Yerevan that helps Armenians and their families relocate to Armenia and integrate there. It was founded in Yerevan in 2012 by twelve repatriates and diasporans, and it provides consultations, employment and business support, Armenian language courses, a health insurance package and community events, all free to the people using them.
Is Repat Armenia free?
Yes. Consultations, employment support, business guidance, language courses and events are provided at no charge to repatriates. The foundation is funded by the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation, which has supported it since 2019.
Is Repat Armenia still an independent organization?
As of January 2026 it operates as the Repat Armenia Branch of Birthright Armenia Inc., continuing the mission established by its founders. It was previously an independent Armenian non-profit foundation.
How do I start working with Repat Armenia?
You register and open a case through repatarmenia.org, then book an online or in person consultation. The foundation handles roughly 1,000 repatriation and integration consultation requests a year.
Does Repat Armenia find you a job in Armenia?
Not directly. It works with 126 employment partners and helps newcomers understand the job market, salaries and opportunities, and it offers business and startup guidance for people arriving with a company rather than a job. The hiring itself is between you and the employer.
Does Repat Armenia teach Armenian, and does it help with Western Armenian?
Yes. It runs free Armenian language courses at elementary, intermediate and business levels, plus a course for adapting from Western Armenian to Eastern Armenian, which is the situation most Armenian Canadians are in. In 2025, 151 people took part, and a speaking club called HayTalki offers extra practice.
What about health insurance?
Repat Armenia offers a health insurance package for repatriates, which had 140 members in 2025.
How many people does Repat Armenia help?
In 2025 the foundation assisted 806 repatriates, ran 31 events with an average attendance of 50, and reports a community of more than 12,500 members.
Is Repat Armenia an immigration or visa service?
No. Visa, residency and citizenship processing are not among its listed services, and Armenia's own legal procedures apply. The foundation's role is guidance, integration support and community.
Can I meet Repat Armenia in Canada?
Yes, in October 2026. Repat Armenia runs the Engage Armenia Forum, which comes to Toronto on Thursday, October 22 and to Montreal on Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25. Registration is on Eventbrite and executive director Vartan Marashlyan is among those attending.
What is the best way to test whether moving to Armenia suits me?
A volunteer placement is the usual route in. Birthright Armenia accepts applicants aged 21 to 32 with at least one fully Armenian grandparent, and the Armenian Volunteer Corps takes diaspora Armenians aged 32 and over, with placements from two weeks to a year and Junior, Student, Professional and Senior streams.
Can I donate to Repat Armenia?
Repat Armenia's own site carries no donation page. It is funded by the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation, and since January 2026 it has operated as a branch of Birthright Armenia Inc., which does fundraise. The safest route is to contact the foundation and ask where support is best directed.
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