Argentine citizenship by investment

The regime was added to the Citizenship Law (Law 346) by Decree 366/2025 and procedurally developed by Decree 524/2025, which created the Citizenship by Investment Programmes Agency (APCI) within the Ministry of Economy. The launch was announced on 2 October 2026 by the Minister of Economy and the Chief of Cabinet.

What was announced

• Route 1 · USD 350,000 contribution, non-refundable, to the National Treasury. It is not a recoverable investment: it is a definitive transfer.
• Route 2 · USD 800,000 government bond. Maturity, rate, currency, governing law, custody, transferability and minimum holding period have not yet been published.
• Family members: USD 100,000 for the spouse, USD 100,000 for each unmarried, childless child aged 18 to 25, and USD 25,000 for each child under 18.
• Assessment: APCI reviews the application with the participation of SIDE (intelligence), UIF (financial intelligence unit), the Ministry of Security and the Ministry of the Interior, and sends its recommendation to the National Directorate of Migration, which approves or rejects.

Example: a family with two minor children choosing the contribution route totals USD 500,000 (USD 350,000 + 100,000 + 25,000 + 25,000). The announcement does not clarify how family contributions apply if the main applicant chooses the bond.

Current status: announced, not yet open

As of this review, neither the regulations nor the procedure have been published in the Official Gazette. Still pending:

• The form and the official filing channel.
• The documentary requirements.
• The official Treasury payment accounts.
• The terms of the bond.
• The payment sequence — before or after the assessment — and the rules if an application is rejected.
• The possible admission of productive investments as an additional route.

What does the procedure provide?

Under Decree 524/2025, the Agency reviews the application and the applicant's profile, and requests reports from security, intelligence, anti-money-laundering, criminal-record and registry bodies. On that basis it recommends approval or rejection, and the National Directorate of Migration has thirty business days from receipt of the report to decide.

Those thirty days do not include the assessment, due diligence or the production of reports. They are therefore neither the total time to obtain citizenship nor a passport guarantee.

What will be assessed

Whatever the route chosen, the application will have to pass a due-diligence review that will foreseeably cover:

• Identity of the applicant and of each family member.
• Beneficial owner of the structures involved.
• Lawful source of wealth and of funds.
• Traceability of funds through the formal financial system (OECD/FATF standards).
• Wealth profile and jurisdictional risk.
• Criminal and reputational background.
• Immigration history.
• Absence of international sanctions.
• Consistency of corporate and banking records.

What about productive investment?

The announced routes are the contribution and the bond. A productive investment — energy, mining, agribusiness, infrastructure, industry or technology — will only qualify if a rule expressly allows it.

Real estate purchases, holdings of securities or crypto-assets, and incorporating a company should not be presumed to qualify.

Legal and tax risk

Naturalization by investment does not by itself make a person an Argentine tax resident: Article 194 of Law 27.802 amended Article 116 of the Income Tax Law, and the residence rules for foreign nationals continue to apply.