Argentina citizenship: investment claims & current status

Has Argentina opened its citizenship-by-investment program?

Written into law, still unopened: that is the status on 13 September 2026. Argentina's citizenship law has carried an investment route since 29 May 2025. It covers a foreigner who has made a relevant investment, 'cualquiera sea el tiempo de su residencia' (whatever the length of their residence). Count 472 days forward, and the price, the rulebook and the place to apply are all still missing. ^{1, 8}

Two dated statements fix where it stands. On 1 July 2026 the government said it would keep designing the program's regulation whatever the courts decided. On 20 August 2026, national press reports said the program was still waiting on that final regulation. ^{5, 9}

Two decrees, a tender, an appointment and a court ruling sit behind those blanks, dated in the timeline below. To see Argentina beside other countries, start with MMT's citizenship by investment countries page. The page on five Caribbean programs compared goes program by program.

The timeline, from decree to appeal

Thirteen dates, and not one of them set a price. The decrees built an agency, a vetting path and a decision clock. The tender tried to hire an operator. The court ruling and the appeal put the foundation itself in question. ^{6, 7, 11, 4}

The operator that was never hired. The November tender would have put one private consulting firm in charge of designing, launching and promoting the program. Bids went only through the government's COMPR.AR portal, in Spanish and priced in US dollars. After the 5 March evaluation, two losing bidders challenged. On 14 April 2026 the Ministry ended the tender in one line: 'Déjase sin efecto el presente concurso' (this competition is set aside). ^{13, 11}

That resolution never ran in the Boletín Oficial. Any firm that says it runs the program for the government can show the contract that hired it. ¹¹

What is the minimum investment amount?

The minimum waits on one ministry's resolution. Article 2 bis of Law 346, added by Decree 366/2025, gives the Ministry of Economy the job. The ministry 'establecerá qué inversiones serán consideradas relevantes' (will set which investments count as relevant). It may also name specific investment projects for the purpose. ⁶

That resolution would carry any minimum, list of eligible assets or named project. On 13 September 2026 it was missing from the Ministry's website, the legislation database and the Boletín Oficial. The US$500,000 minimum quoted on advisory websites appears in none of those official places. ^{2, 10, 3}

Decree 524/2025 adds no fee of its own. Its Article 6 hands the paperwork to the agency. APCI will write the rules 'para regular el procedimiento de solicitud' (to regulate the application procedure). ⁷

A December 2025 government release ties tourism projects to the program. The Tourism Secretary met foreign investors about high-end lodging in Puerto Iguazú 'bajo el nuevo marco de Ciudadanía por Inversión' (under the new citizenship-by-investment framework). The release gave no price or project size. The legal step that pre-qualifies a project is a Ministry of Economy listing under Article 2 bis. None had been published by 13 September 2026. ^{14, 6, 2}

How would an application work under the decree?

Decree 524/2025 lays out five stages, and only the fourth has a clock. The stages stay on paper until the agency publishes its procedure. They already show where the time and the risk sit. ⁷

1. 01

   File with the agency

   A foreign person who has made a relevant investment applies directly to APCI, a decentralized body under the Ministry of Economy. ^{12, 7}

2. 02

   The agency tests the investment

   APCI judges whether the investment counts as relevant under the Ministry of Economy's criteria. The decree's wording is past tense: 'la inversión realizada por el solicitante' (the investment the applicant made). The money is already in when the test runs. ⁷

3. 03

   Security and background checks

   Before recommending approval, APCI must request assessments from security and records bodies. They include the Ministry of National Security, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the National Recidivism Registry. RENAPER, the national registry of persons, and the State Intelligence Secretariat are on the list too. The Ministry of Economy's release adds security standards from third countries, including those tied to the visa waiver program with the United States. ^{17, 7}

4. 04

   The Migration Directorate decides

   APCI sends its report to the National Migration Directorate. The Directorate then has 30 working days to grant or refuse citizenship by a reasoned decision. The count runs 'desde que hubiere recibido el informe' (from receipt of the report). ⁷

5. 05

   A tax number for new citizens

   The decree orders ARCA, the federal tax and customs agency, to adapt its systems. The goal: anyone granted citizenship this way can get a CUIT, the tax ID used to do business in Argentina. ⁷

The 30 working days start late. The investment test, the security checks and the paperwork before them carry no deadline in the decree. An offer that promises citizenship in 30 days is counting one stage of five. ⁷

That fourth stage is also the one now before the courts. The 2025 decrees gave the National Migration Directorate the power to grant citizenship. The June 2026 ruling declared that transfer null. A lawful stay in Argentina in the meantime is a separate residence permit, covered in MMT's residency guides. ^{7, 4}

What did the June 2026 court ruling decide?

On 30 June 2026, Argentina's highest electoral court struck at the decree's core. The Cámara Nacional Electoral declared the 'nulidad absoluta e insanable' (absolute and incurable nullity) of Decree 366/2025. That decree had moved the power to grant citizenship from federal judges to the National Migration Directorate. ⁴

The reasoning runs in three steps. Citizenship opens access to political rights, starting with the vote. So a rule about granting it is an electoral matter. Article 99, clause 3, of the Constitution bars decrees of necessity and urgency on electoral matters, and a decree that breaks that bar is void. ⁴

The case began with a residence-based application that a federal judge had rejected. The court reversed that rejection. It told the Ministry of National Security to instruct the Migration Directorate on the ruling's reach. It also sent the decision to every federal judge with electoral jurisdiction in the country. ⁴

The government is appealing, and the two sides read the decree differently in the meantime. On 1 July 2026 the government confirmed it would take the case toward the Supreme Court. Its position is that the decree stays in force because the ruling is not final. The electoral court's view is that the decree's implementation is suspended. ⁵

1. The government files an extraordinary appeal with the Cámara Nacional Electoral itself.
2. The chamber decides whether to send the case on to the Supreme Court.
3. If the chamber refuses, the government can file a complaint appeal directly with the Supreme Court. ⁵

The ordinary route: two years, zero trips abroad

Two years in Argentina, and the passport stays in the drawer. The ordinary route is open to applicants aged 18 or older. They must have lived in the country legally and continuously for the two years right before applying. The law defines continuous in one strict phrase: 'sin haber realizado ninguna salida al exterior' (without having made any trip abroad). ⁸

So a weekend across the border breaks the count. Travel inside the country leaves it whole. Two years spent between the lakes around Bariloche and the peaks above El Chaltén count in full. ⁸

The 2025 wording is stricter than the Constitution's own formula. Article 20 speaks of 'dos años continuos' (two continuous years) with no exit test. The amended law adds one. The clause has moved before, too: Decree 70/2017 replaced it and Decree 138/2021 restored it. ^{8, 1}

Who decides an ordinary file is the live question. Before the reform, federal judges decided naturalization. Cases already filed stayed 'ante el juzgado en el que estuvieren tramitando' (with the court handling them). The June 2026 ruling reversed a federal judge's rejection in a residence-based case. The appeal keeps the wider question open. ^{6, 4}

The 2026 tax change: what it covers and what it leaves out

Article 194 answers one tax question, for investment citizens only. Law 27,802, the labor modernization law, passed on 27 February 2026 and was published on 6 March 2026. It adds three paragraphs to Article 116 of the Income Tax Law. Together they decide when naturalizing by investment makes someone an Argentine tax resident. ¹⁵

Read together, the three paragraphs stop a passport from creating tax residence on its own. The rest of the Income Tax Law stays in place. Congress wrote them while the Ministry of Economy still had no investment criteria in print. Your home country runs its own residence tests. MMT's guide to citizenship, residency and tax residency separates the three. ^{15, 2}

What to ask about an investment citizenship offer

Ask for documents with numbers on them. Every piece of the investment route that exists has a decree number, an article and a Boletín Oficial date. Ask the seller to show where each promise sits in that record. ^{6, 7}

• The Ministry of Economy resolution under Article 2 bis of Law 346 that makes this investment relevant, with its Boletín Oficial date. ⁶
• The APCI regulation under Article 6 of Decree 524/2025 that sets the procedure and any fees. ⁷
• The government page where the application is filed. Argentina had published no application channel by 13 September 2026. ^{2, 10, 3}
• What the contract does with your money if APCI finds the investment falls short, or the Migration Directorate refuses citizenship.
• How the promised timeline accounts for the 30 June 2026 ruling and the government's appeal. ^{4, 5}
• Which stage the offer's 30 days refer to. In the decree, they start only when APCI's report arrives. ⁷

Treat any offer as two decisions. The first is an investment in Argentina, judged on its returns, its exit and its risks. The second is a citizenship application that, on 13 September 2026, still lacks a price, a form and a settled legal basis. Price the first on its own. MMT's real cost of citizenship by investment covers the professional and due diligence costs around any program. ^{2, 5}

What happens if the investment or the application fails?

Under the decree, the applicant invests first and the agency judges afterward. A refused file leaves the money wherever the investment put it. What happens to it next is a matter for the contract you sign. A file can stop at four points. ^{12, 7}

• APCI finds the investment falls short of relevant under the Ministry of Economy's criteria. ⁷
• A security or background assessment weighs against the applicant before APCI makes its recommendation. ¹⁷
• The National Migration Directorate refuses citizenship by a reasoned decision within its 30 working days. ⁷
• The appeal ends with the Migration Directorate's power to grant citizenship void, as the electoral court ruled on 30 June 2026. ^{4, 5}

Read the contract as if citizenship is refused. What can you sell, when and to whom? Who controls the payouts? Does a buy-back promise name a counterparty with the money to honor it? Suppose the investment only works with a passport attached. Then the passport is carrying more weight than the law gave it on 13 September 2026. ²

For a winter on the slopes of Cerro Catedral or a summer under Fitz Roy, a visitor stay is enough, and MMT's Argentina travel guides cover the trip itself.