Argentina citizenship by investment in 2026: US$350,000, a contested decree, and Argentine tax residence

Argentina is now the only country in this site's set that has announced a passport for money. Malta's programme was struck down by the Court of Justice in 2025, Portugal never had one, and Greece, Cyprus and the UAE do not sell citizenship. That makes the Argentine route real, but not yet open, and not yet safe: the decree it stands on has been declared void by an appeals court, and the passport carries a tax consequence that the selling pages do not mention.

Everything below is read from the official texts and the Ministry of Economy's announcement of 2 October 2026, as recorded in our Argentina verification file of 25 October 2026, and from the current and original texts of the Citizenship Law, Law 346, read on argentina.gob.ar on 26 October 2026.

Argentina citizenship by investment: US$350,000 or a US$800,000 bond

The Ministry of Economy's announcement gives two ways in:

• a direct, non-refundable contribution of US$350,000 to the National Treasury; or
• the subscription of a US$800,000 public bond created for the programme, whose terms — interest, maturity, whether it can be sold — have not been published.

It is citizenship, not a residence permit, and it needs no prior residence. Article 2(2) of Law 346, as rewritten by decree 366/2025, lets a foreigner who shows "haber realizado una inversión relevante en el país" be naturalised "cualquiera sea el tiempo de su residencia", and the Ministry of Economy defines what counts as relevant. At the European Central Bank's rate of 23 October 2026, US$350,000 is about €312,700. The programme's fees have not been published.

Argentina citizenship by investment for a family: US$500,000 for four

Family members apply with their own contribution:

US$500,000 is about €446,700 at the same rate. These amounts come from the announcement; no implementing resolution setting them had been published by 26 October 2026.

How to apply for Argentina citizenship by investment: the agency, the vetting and 30 working days

Decree 524/2025 sets the procedure:

1. The application goes to the Agencia de Programas de Ciudadanía por Inversión, a body under the Ministry of Economy (article 1).
2. The agency decides whether the investment is "relevant" under the Ministry's criteria (article 2).
3. After reports from the security bodies — the announcement names the intelligence secretariat, the financial intelligence unit and the Security and Interior ministries — the agency sends the National Migration Directorate a reasoned report with its recommendation (article 3).
4. The Directorate grants or refuses by a reasoned act within 30 working days of receiving that report (article 4).

No deadline is set for the agency's own review, so the 30 days are not the length of the procedure. The announcement says the vetting follows OECD and FATF standards and that money is accepted only through the formal financial system.

When Argentina's citizenship by investment programme opens

The announcement says the programme "estará operativo para recibir solicitudes" during the fourth quarter of 2026. As of 26 October 2026 no opening date and no application channel had been published, and no application can be filed yet. Anyone taking payment for a "reservation" before the agency publishes its procedure is selling something the state has not opened.

The legal risk: decree 366/2025 was declared void by the electoral appeals court

The programme is not in a law passed by Congress. It is in emergency decree 366/2025 (DNU, published 29 May 2025), whose articles 37 to 41 rewrote the Citizenship Law and created the agency.

On 30 June 2026 the Cámara Nacional Electoral, in *Yang, Liping s/ nacionalidad y ciudadanía*, declared that decree "absolutely void": article 99(3) of the Constitution forbids emergency decrees in electoral matters, and the court held that citizenship is one. The case concerned naturalisation by residence, not the investment programme, but both stand on the same articles of the same decree. The government appealed; the appeal was admitted on 24 September 2026, and press reports since 7 October place the case before the Supreme Court.

Until the Supreme Court rules, a citizenship granted under the programme rests on a decree an appeals court has declared void. Congress could put the programme into a statute and remove the risk; it has not.

Argentina citizenship by naturalisation: two years, under two competing texts

The ordinary route is naturalisation by residence, and the decree changed it too. Two texts now compete:

The original text also allowed naturalisation "cualquiera que sea el tiempo de su residencia" for a list of services, among them having "establecido en el país una nueva industria". Since the June ruling, the federal courts have again been taking naturalisation cases, and which text governs a given application depends on how the Supreme Court decides. How the Argentine clock compares with the others is in the naturalisation clock.

Argentine citizenship and tax: a new citizen is an Argentine tax resident

This is the point the selling pages leave out. Under the Income Tax Law, consolidated by decree 824/2019, residents pay on income from Argentina and abroad (article 1), Argentine citizens, "native or naturalised", are residents (article 116(a)), and they stop being residents only on acquiring permanent residence in another state or after twelve continuous months abroad (article 117). The personal scale runs from 5% to 35%.

A passport bought from abroad therefore brings Argentine tax residence with it, unless the holder already has permanent residence somewhere else. For someone who lives in a country that grants that status, this is paperwork; for someone without one, it is a worldwide tax claim. The wealth tax was not read and nothing is said about it here.

Argentina citizenship by investment compared with the rest of the set

How Cyprus closed its programme in 2020 is in Cyprus citizenship by investment. Why a golden visa does not lead to a passport in the European countries is in golden passport: what a golden visa actually leads to, and the Portuguese case in Portugal citizenship by investment.

Frequently asked questions

Where this sits in the rest of the site

Living in Argentina on a pension or foreign income is in retiring in Argentina, and remote work in the Argentina digital nomad visa. Why European golden visas do not lead to a passport is in golden passport. Every Argentine instrument named here is on the sources page.

If Argentine citizenship is what you are weighing

We do not give legal or tax advice. What we do is put a person who knows what they are asking in front of a licensed adviser in Argentina. The questions that decide this route are rarely the US$350,000. They are whether to apply before or after the Supreme Court rules, how a citizenship granted under a contested decree would be defended, and whether you hold permanent residence elsewhere that keeps you out of Argentine tax. Send them through the enquiry form. We take no part in the fee.

Sources: where each figure comes from

• The amounts, the family contributions, the fourth quarter of 2026 and the vetting bodies: Ministry of Economy, announcement of 2 October 2026.
• The procedure and the 30 working days: Decree 524/2025, BO 31 July 2025, articles 1 to 4.
• Naturalisation for an investment and by residence: Law 346, article 2, as rewritten by DNU 366/2025, BO 29 May 2025, current text on argentina.gob.ar, read 26 October 2026; the original text of article 2 on argentina.gob.ar, read the same day.
• The ruling: Cámara Nacional Electoral, *Yang, Liping*, Expte. CNE 8843/2023/CA1, 30 June 2026; the appeal and the Supreme Court: press reports of 7 October 2026.
• Tax residence: Income Tax Law, consolidated by decree 824/2019, articles 1, 94, 116 and 117.
• The euro figures: ECB reference rate of 23 October 2026, USD 1.1193.
• Not published here: the programme's fees; the bond's terms; the criteria for a "relevant investment"; how many countries an Argentine passport opens without a visa; and the wealth tax.