How to Apply

If you are ready for a life-changing volunteer experience, then it’s time for you to start an application to serve with the Armenian Volunteer Corps.

AVC accepts applications year-round through its online application form at armenianvolunteer.org/registration. The application allows you to save and return to complete it at any time. To ensure the best possible volunteer experience, we recommend you submit a complete application at least one month prior to your anticipated arrival date in Armenia.

Completing this application will require time. Most volunteers tell us it takes them between one to two hours. We recommend you carefully review and prepare the required documents prior to filling out the application. The application consists of:

The online application form, including one essay (two for volunteers who plan on serving for 4+ months)
An updated resume
Two references (only one required for applicants age 60+)

If you have any questions, we are here to help! Request your very own personal consultation by emailing info@avc.am.

What happens after you apply? Once we confirm that you have submitted a fully complete application, we will schedule a short virtual interview with you (typically 30 minutes to one hour in duration) to better understand your background and volunteering interests. Then, the AVC team does a thorough review of your entire application package. Typically, one week after your interview, we will email you a final decision. If you are accepted into the program, we will provide details of what you will need to do to confirm your place as a volunteer. The following is a timeline of how things work, from application to arriving in Armenia as a volunteer!

Application Deadline

There is none. AVC accepts applications on a rolling basis throughout the year.

We do ask, though, that you submit your complete application at the very least one month prior to your planned arrival in Armenia; two months in advance would be preferable. The application will call for you to put down tentative arrival and departure dates, but we try to be flexible around these, so do not worry if there is some uncertainty about your dates. Your application is valid for one year from the date of its complete submission, so if you end up having to delay your arrival there is plenty of wiggle room, without any need to go through the application process all over again.

Review and Approval

Your application will not be deemed complete and ready for review until we have received all of your application materials, including reference letters.

After submitting your application, you will receive an automated email confirmation. Once we confirm your application is complete, we will email you again to schedule an online interview. If you happen to be in Yerevan, we can also schedule an in-person interview. After your interview, which will deal with many of the same matters addressed in the written application (such as what types of volunteering assignments you would like most), your application package will be forwarded to the selection committee. In approximately three business days, we will email you our decision. If you are accepted, that email will include a number of documents that you must send back our way to confirm your participation and whether or not you would like to stay with a host family. Once you email us your confirmed itinerary to Armenia, we will then email you again about potential volunteer placements. All successful applicants determined to travel to Armenia should at this stage make sure they have all the necessary paperwork to enter Armenia, noting that AVC is unable to issue invitation letters. Check your requirements at here.

Service Dates

After AVC has accepted you and you have determined that you will be able to satisfy all Armenian visa requirements, you can finalize your travel dates and purchase your ticket.

You should try to give us at least one month’s notice of your intended arrival date, so we can make your arrival as smooth as we can. As soon as you have shared with us your final travel itinerary, AVC will line up in-person interviews in Armenia with prospective volunteer sites, to take place shortly after your arrival. Note that all volunteers must attend an Orientation, typically taking place during your first week of service. Please be aware, too, that for Junior Corps the minimum service term is one month and that for Professional Corps and Senior Corps it is two weeks with a fee of 75,000AMD and one month without a fee.

Pre-Arrival

A few days prior to your arrival, we will email you important information about your imminent stay in Armenia,

including about your mandatory orientation. If we have not done so already, we will also email you details about your host family (if you requested one).

Arrival

If you request a pickup, an AVC driver will meet you at the airport upon arrival and take you to your home-stay (or alternative living arrangement).

If you are staying with a host family, they will help you find the AVC office the first time you visit us. During the mandatory orientation session (which, depending on how the schedule shakes out, may fall on your first full day in Armenia), you will be required to pay for health insurance (costing 6,000AMD per month [12,500AMD for volunteers aged 65+) if you do not have coverage for Armenia. Any volunteer slated to stay in Armenia for a month or longer does not have to pay a participation fee to join AVC, but a voluntary donation to our community service project fund in the suggested amount of 20,000AMD would be greatly appreciated.