What changed in 2026 for Armenian driving-license candidates

Four changes matter most if you are taking the exam in Armenia this year. Since July 4, a passed theory exam is valid for two years, not one (Decision No. 385-N, Annex 1, points 22 and 24, as amended by RA Government Decision No. 979-N of July 2, 2026). Since September 1, candidates for categories A, B and C get law, Rules-of-the-Road and vehicle-faults questions only where those questions relate to category A, B, C, BE or CE vehicles and their subcategories (point 17.1). If a technical failure materially affects the exam, it is stopped and held again within 5 working days (point 10.1), and results must now be shown to the candidate (point 10.2). And you can book online, while most services are also available in a live queue (MIA notice of September 7, 2026).

The exam format itself did not change: a 3-question psychological test plus a 20-question knowledge test with a pass mark of at least 18 of 20, and 30 minutes to answer. Nothing has to be relearned.

Theory is valid two years, not one

Pass the theory exam and you have two years to take the practical. If you don't, the theory result lapses and you sit it again (points 22 and 24). Before July 4, 2026 the period was one year.

One thing deserves saying plainly: Decision No. 979-N has a transitional provision, but its text is not part of the official incorporation on arlis.am, and nothing there addresses theory results passed before July 4. If yours was, check your deadline with your MIA unit rather than assuming. Deadlines and payments in full are in a separate article.

Since September 1 the bank is split by category

Under point 17.1, for categories A, B and C and subcategories AM, A1, B1 and C1, the law, Rules-of-the-Road and vehicle-faults questions are drawn only from those relating to categories A, B, C, BE and CE and subcategories AM, A1, B1, C1 and C1E. Point 17.2 does the same for D and T.

On September 1, 2026 the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that exams now use category-grouped question banks and that no new questions were added — only their grouping changed. If new ones do appear, they will be published and enter the tests 30 days later (the same rule is in point 16).

Update, October 5, 2026. Since October 2, roadpolice.am publishes two separate banks: A, B, C and D, T. By our comparison of the Armenian A/B/C bank, it now has 1050 questions instead of 1094: about 100 removed, about 58 new, and two questions have a different correct answer. Details are in the 2026 new question bank article. bibip's practice uses the updated bank.

What did not change in the format

Nothing moved in the places people ask about:

• two parts — a psychological test (3 questions) and a knowledge test (20 questions), points 14 and 15;
• 2 to 5 answer options per question, only one correct (point 15);
• the split of the 20 questions: 2 on the law, 15 on the Rules of the Road, 2 on the vehicle-faults list, 1 on first aid (point 17);
• 30 minutes to answer (point 18), and a pass mark of at least 18 of 20 — with the knowledge test opening only if every psychological-test answer was correct (point 20).

The full study guide is How to pass the theory exam, and the exam simulation follows the same format, free and without an account.

Failures, results and booking

Points 10.1 and 10.2 are both new in 2026: a technical failure that materially affects the exam means a report and a retest within 5 working days, and the candidate must be shown the results of both exams.

Booking changed too: you choose unit, day and time online, and a four-digit code is sent to the email address you gave. The MIA asks you to arrive 15 minutes before your slot, enter that code at the terminal and confirm your attendance — its wording is a request, not a stated rule. Without a booking, most services are still available in a live queue, by ticket from the same terminal. The whole procedure is in the booking guide.

Medical data moved too: the new point 11 has the exam unit pull it from the ARMED e-health system automatically. Foreign citizens and stateless persons still bring the certificate on paper, and paper is also used whenever the data cannot be retrieved from ARMED (when it is needed at all).

The practical exam in its new wording

Decision No. 979-N also supplemented the practical-exam points. Today you pass on a maneuvering ground with at least 9 of the required actions performed correctly (point 41), and in real traffic with at least 10 (point 52); both points now carve out exams taken on category A and subcategory AM or A1 vehicles, where the mark is at least 13 actions (point 35). For category B the exam is held only in real traffic (point 9). The retake waits of 7 days and one month are unchanged, but points 23 and 33 now carve out the paid fast-track retake in the Law "On State Duty". The practical exam in detail is a separate article.

In the law: minor accidents and getting your license back

Since August 30, 2026 a new wording of Article 24 of the Law "On Ensuring Road Traffic Safety" has been in force (ՀՕ-399-Ն, adopted July 3, 2026). In a property-damage-only accident in which the drivers do not disagree about how it happened or what is damaged, they are not obliged to call the police: if the accident fits the conditions for settling by agreed statement (the Europrotocol), they may fill that in themselves and clear the vehicles from the scene within 15 minutes; and if only the participants' own vehicles or property were damaged and nobody intends to claim, they may draw up no documents at all (Article 24, part 4.1, item 2). If there is disagreement, or the accident does not fit those conditions, the duty is the opposite: report it to the police, record the vehicles' positions, the traces and the damage by photo and video, move the vehicles within 15 minutes to a place where they obstruct nobody — unless that is objectively impossible, or they already obstruct nobody — and wait for the officers (part 4.1, item 1). This is also a Group 2 exam topic — details here.

Article 29, part 5 has applied since July 6: a driver disqualified by a police act who applies within one year of the disqualification ending can restore the right once without retaking the exams, on payment of the state duty, with a one-year probation period. Per the MIA announcement of July 3, 2026, the duty is 50,000 AMD, probation carries 6 points instead of 13, and drivers disqualified after January 1, 2020 can use this route only once. More: restoration without an exam.

Driving school is still not compulsory

Article 28, part 1.2 of the law lets self-taught candidates sit the qualification exams for categories A, B and C. On August 18, 2026 the MIA discussed making driving-school education compulsory, and on September 14 it said it had circulated draft laws making it compulsory once the licensing of driving schools is completed. That is a draft, not a rule in force (more here).

What to do now

If you are preparing, you lose nothing by studying the way you already were. Work through every group in practice, then run exam simulations, and sit the theory once your driving lessons are scheduled — two years is a wide window, not an endless one. Common questions are answered in the FAQ.

See also: New Question Bank 2026: what changed in the theory test.