Medical documents for a driver's license in Armenia

For a category B driver's license you normally don't need to bring a medical certificate. You are sent for medical accreditation — the law's term for a medical check at a polyclinic — only if it is evident when you apply that you may have a contraindication or restriction for driving (for example a missing limb, deformities that limit the movement of a hand or foot, neck or back problems, or an obvious vision or hearing impairment), or if your health declaration notes a condition that hinders driving. For citizens of Armenia, the exam authority receives medical data automatically from ARMED, Armenia's unified e-health information system. Come to the theory exam with an identity document (a passport or an ID card if you are a citizen of Armenia) and the receipt for the state duty.

Below: when a medical check really is required, what foreign citizens have to submit, and how to get through it without wasted trips.

Why you normally don't need a medical certificate

For citizens of Armenia, the exam authority pulls medical data — including medical indications, contraindications and restrictions — automatically from ARMED. Foreign citizens and stateless persons submit the medical accreditation certificate on paper, and paper is also used whenever the data cannot be retrieved from ARMED automatically (RA Government Decision No. 385-N of March 26, 2020, Annex 1, point 11).

So if you are applying for a category B license, you are a citizen of Armenia and none of the grounds described below applies to you, you don't need a certificate from a polyclinic in order to sit the exam.

That doesn't mean there is no health screening at all: the exam authority does not admit anyone who appears on the list of people registered at narcological or psychiatric medical institutions, or on the list of people deprived of the right to drive — and those data reach it electronically (point 7; Law, Article 28, part 1.8).

When a medical check is required

For a category B driver's license you are sent for medical accreditation in only two cases (Law "On Ensuring Road Traffic Safety", Article 28, part 1.3; Decision No. 385-N, Annex 1, point 8):

• It is evident when you apply that you may have a contraindication, a medical indication or a restriction for operating a vehicle (a missing upper or lower limb, hand or foot; a deformity of the hand or foot that limits movement, or deformities and defects of the fingers or their phalanges; neck or back problems; an obvious vision impairment or a missing eye; an obvious hearing impairment).
• Your completed health declaration notes a condition that hinders driving.

In both cases the authorized internal-affairs body (the Ministry of Internal Affairs) hands you the written request to undergo medical accreditation at the moment you file your application for the license, and the forms of that request and of the health declaration are set by a Government decision (Article 28, parts 1.4 and 1.5).

What happens after the check depends on its result. If it finds a medical contraindication to operating a vehicle, you are not allowed to take the qualification exams at all. If it finds a medical indication or a restriction, the qualification exams are held for the category of vehicle that matches it (point 8, sub-points 1 and 2), and the restriction itself is noted on the license form, which has a field 12, "Restrictions" (Annex 3).

The psychological test is part of the theory exam

Don't confuse medical accreditation with the first part of the theory exam. The theory exam for a category B driver's license is taken on a computer and has two parts (Decision No. 385-N, Annex 1, point 14). The first is a psychological test of 3 questions. You may answer the knowledge-test questions only if every psychological-test answer is correct, so one wrong answer there means the exam is failed (points 15 and 20). The legislation calls this part a psychological test and does not describe its content; candidates who have taken the exam report that it shows color plates.

We've written about that part in a separate post. bibip's exam simulation starts with 3 questions from group 11 — that set of color plates is what stands in for the psychological test on bibip.

Practical tips to save time

1. Fill in the health declaration accurately. If it notes a condition that hinders driving, you will be sent for medical accreditation, so allow extra time in that case.
2. If you are a foreign citizen or a stateless person, you submit the medical accreditation certificate on paper — arrange it in advance.
3. Keep the documents in one folder: an identity document and the receipt for the state duty. We've described every step of the process in our step-by-step guide, and the short procedural questions are answered in the FAQ.

If you are a citizen of Armenia and none of the grounds for medical accreditation applies to you, there are no medical documents to deal with, and all your attention can go to the thing that actually matters: preparing for the theory exam, starting with practice by topic.

Short answer: Do you need a medical certificate to get a driving license in Armenia?