Argentina announced a citizenship by investment program on 2 October 2026 with two main-applicant options: a non-refundable US$350,000 Treasury contribution or a US$800,000 subscription to a special public bond. The Ministry of Economy says it will be operational to receive applications during the fourth quarter of 2026.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Chief of Cabinet Diego Santilli presented the Programa de Ciudadanía por Inversión at the Argentine Embassy in Paris on Friday 2 October, on the last day of "Argentina Week", according to the Ministry’s statement as reported by La Nación and Reuters.
No opening date, portal or form has been published. The amounts below were announced, but the implementing rules are still to be published in the Boletín Oficial, the official gazette, and the program rests on a decree that a national electoral court has declared null and the Supreme Court has not yet reviewed.
What applicants would pay
A main applicant would have two options, according to the Ministry's statement as reported by Reuters, La Nación and Bloomberg Línea:
- a direct, non-refundable contribution of US$350,000 to the National Treasury (Tesoro Nacional); or
- the subscription of a US$800,000 public bond created specifically for the program.
Real estate purchases are not among the announced options.
Family members can apply by making their own contribution to the Treasury, on top of the main applicant's payment:
- spouse: US$100,000;
- children aged 18 to 25 who are unmarried and have no children of their own: US$100,000 each;
- children under 18: US$25,000 each.
The government's published example is a main applicant with a spouse and two minor children, who would pay US$500,000 in total (350,000 plus 100,000 plus two payments of 25,000).
Caputo described the bond as a zero-rate bond, Bloomberg Línea reported. Unlike the non-refundable contribution, the money would in principle be repaid at maturity, but the government has not published the bond's maturity, whether it can be transferred, or what happens to a subscription if citizenship is refused. Government fees, due diligence fees and professional fees have not been published either.
How applications would be vetted
The government says payment alone will not secure citizenship. Each application will be evaluated by the new Agencia de Programas de Ciudadanía por Inversión (Citizenship by Investment Programs Agency), with the intelligence secretariat (SIDE), the financial intelligence unit (UIF) and the Ministries of Security and of the Interior, La Nación and Bloomberg Línea reported. The checks listed include identity, the origin and traceability of funds, assets and net worth, jurisdictional risk, criminal and reputational background, and migration history.
All money must pass through the formal financial system under anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing rules, the Ministry said, with due-diligence standards aligned with the recommendations of the OECD and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF, known in Spanish as GAFI).
An application is filed with the Agency, which evaluates whether the investment qualifies as relevant under Ministry of Economy criteria and requests security and background reports. The Agency then sends a reasoned report recommending approval or rejection to the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (DNM), which decides each application. Under Decreto 524/2025, the DNM must decide by a reasoned act within 30 business days of receiving the Agency's final report. The decree also requires the tax agency, ARCA, to enable a CUIT tax identification number for the new citizen. The announcement did not say how long the Agency stage will take or whether applicants will have to attend in person for biometrics or an oath.
What the government says it is for
The Ministry said the program aims to attract capital and deepen Argentina’s international integration within a transparent framework aligned with OECD and FATF standards. It said the money raised would strengthen the country’s fiscal and financial position. Caputo said "El pasaporte argentino cotiza muy bien" ("The Argentine passport is highly valued"), La Nación reported.
Reuters called it South America's first citizenship by investment program. The Ministry's statement compared it to El Salvador's.
The legal backdrop
The program relies on two decrees. DNU 366/2025, signed on 28 May and published on 29 May 2025, amended Citizenship Law 346 so that a foreigner who makes a "relevant investment" can be naturalized whatever their time of residence. It also created the Citizenship by Investment Programs Agency as a decentralized body under the Ministry of Economy and moved the granting of naturalization from federal judges to the DNM. Decreto 524/2025, published on 31 July 2025, set the procedure described above and leaves it to the Ministry of Economy to define a relevant investment. It sets no minimum amount and no qualifying sectors.
The foundation is contested. On 30 June 2026 the Cámara Nacional Electoral declared DNU 366/2025 null in the case "Yang, Liping s/ nacionalidad y ciudadanía". The court held that citizenship carries political rights, a field that article 99, subsection 3 of the Constitution bars the president from regulating by decree, La Nación reported. The government said the ruling was not final and that it would go to the Supreme Court, La Nación reported on 1 July.
The Supreme Court has not ruled on DNU 366/2025. Lawyers disagree on the reach of the June ruling. Some say the DNM can no longer grant naturalization. An analysis published by Comercio y Justicia on 17 September argues that the nullity binds only the Yang case and the decree remains in force for others. The rulings reported so far do not address the investment route specifically, but the route rests on the same decree and ends in a DNM decision. A Supreme Court ruling or a law passed by Congress would settle the question. Anyone considering an application should take independent legal advice on this point before committing funds.
Context: dollars, land and advisers
The citizenship program is separate from RIGI, the incentive regime for large company projects, which is not a citizenship route (see our RIGI explainer). Our report on the 25 September IMF payment gives the reserves background.
The Supreme Court's 29 September ruling concerned rural land. That ruling concerned the rural land decree, DNU 70/2023, not citizenship, and it does not settle the question over DNU 366/2025 (see our coverage of DNU 70/2023 and the courts).
The program's design also has a history. A Ministry of Economy tender for an international program designer and promoter, opened on 5 December 2025, was suspended by Resolution 522/2026 on 14 April 2026, La Nación reported. Applications are evaluated by the Agency, not by private firms.
What happens next
Still missing are the opening date, the application portal and form, the document list, the fees, the Agency's processing time, the bond terms, and the Ministry of Economy resolution and Agency rules that would put the amounts and the procedure into legal form.
On residence, DNU 366/2025 applies the investment route whatever the time of residence, so the decree itself requires no minimum stay. Any presence or post-approval obligations will depend on the rules still to be issued. We set out the main open questions in a separate analysis, Argentina citizenship by investment: five open questions, which examines the legal and practical uncertainties.
