Argentina · 2026 guide
Argentina citizenship by investment, before it opens
The most anticipated program in the world, and the strongest passport money can buy: no residency needed, and a second passport in months. This guide covers what it costs and what can go wrong, starting with the parts most firms leave until the end.
Investment Migration Insider · 6 March 2026
Read the full articleUSD 500k
or USD 800k in a zero-coupon bond*
169
Destinations an Argentine passport reaches without a prior visa, 16th in the world
~4 months
From filing to passport once the program opens. It could stretch to six or eight
0
Applications processed so far. Every timeline you hear, ours included, is an estimate
Before you read on
Everything here describes a program whose rules have not been published. The Ministry of Economy still has to issue the resolution that sets the amounts, fees and procedure, and no draft has been made public. Treat every figure as reported or anticipated, never as settled.
Each figure says where it comes from: a published rule, the press, or Our sources, which is what AIM Global knows from its own work on the program since the 2026 tender. Our sources are informed, not official. We label them so you can weigh them, and we update them when the rules appear.
1 · At a glance
What it is, what it asks, and who says so
Route A: pay the state
PressUSD 500,000 paid to the Argentine state and never returned. Reported by the Financial Times, 29 June 2026
Route B: government bonds
Our sourcesUSD 800,000 in zero-coupon government bonds. The press reported about USD 1,000,000; our sources put it at USD 800,000. No maturity has been published
Government and due-diligence fees
Our estimateNothing official. Our working estimate is USD 20,000-30,000 per family
Family
UnconfirmedSpouse and children under 18 are expected to be included and parents excluded. This comes from industry guides, not from any norm
Residence requirement
Our sourcesNone beyond one visit after approval, to enrol biometrics, and no ongoing residence requirement. No published rule says so yet
Processing time
Our estimateAbout four months from filing to passport, possibly six to eight. Decree 524/2025 gives the migration authority 30 working days after the Agency reports; nobody has filed yet, and the courts have unsettled who decides
First stage
Our sources5,000 approvals in the first stage, according to the terms of the government's tender. It matches the government's own projection of USD 2.5 billion in revenue (Infobae, January 2026)
Restricted nationalities
UnknownNot known whether any will apply
Passport
Current169 destinations without a prior visa, 16th in the world (Henley Passport Index 2026). An e-passport, valid for ten years
Launch
Not announcedExpected soon, with no official date. Late 2026 is the industry's expectation, not an announcement. Nothing with amounts or dates has appeared in the Boletín Oficial, Argentina's official gazette
1 · At a glance · Cost
What it will really cost you
The first question everyone asks, and the one this industry most often answers with "it depends". Here is the whole bill, including the lines nobody can price yet and the ones no government has confirmed.
Route A · Pay the state
USD 500,000
Money handed to the Argentine state: the price of the citizenship, not an investment, and it is never returned. The Financial Times reported it on 29 June 2026, our own sources give the same figure, and it fits the government's projection of USD 2.5 billion from 5,000 approvals (Infobae). But no published norm sets it yet.
Route B · Government bonds
USD 800,000
Zero-coupon government bonds: they pay no interest and repay the principal at maturity. The figure is ours Our sources: the press reported about USD 1,000,000. How long the maturity is has never been published. Seven years is the figure circulating in the industry and the one we use below, but no document says so.
The whole bill
| Item | USD | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Route A: payment to the state | 500,000 | Never returned. In dollars; pesos are not expected to be accepted | FT via El Cronista · our sources |
| Route B: zero-coupon bonds | 800,000 | The alternative to the payment, not an extra. Returned at maturity, with no interest meanwhile | AIM Global · our sources |
| Government and due-diligence fees | ≈ 20,000-30,000 | Our working estimate per family. Nothing official published | AIM Global · our estimate |
| Our professional fee, per family | 50,000-75,000 | Depends on family size and how complex your source of funds is | AIM Global |
| Documents: apostilles, sworn translations, police certificates | ≈ 3,000-8,000 | For a family; it grows with every person on the application. Translations must be done by an Argentine public translator | AIM Global · our estimate |
| Travel to Argentina | ≈ 4,000-12,000 a year | Our sources expect one visit after approval, but plan for one to three trips a year for a couple while the application is open. Roughly USD 4,000 a trip for two | AIM Global · our estimate |
Only the payment figure has also been reported by the press; the rest are ours. Nothing about amounts or fees has appeared in the Official Gazette as of 23 September 2026.
What the fee pays for
The payment, or the bonds, go to the Argentine state. Our fee pays for getting an application approved: documenting where your money came from, which is where most applications stall, timing your documents so none expires before filing, preparing the application, answering the authorities and coordinating your visit.
No money toward the payment or the bonds should change hands before the rules are published. No firm can sell you a place within the first 5,000, because no mechanism for reserving one exists. If a firm offers you either one, do not work with that firm.
The bond, honestly
The "free" option is the expensive one to price
What we know: a payment of USD 500,000 that is never returned, or USD 800,000 in zero-coupon government bonds, according to our sources; the Financial Times reported about USD 1,000,000 for the bond. The maturity has never been published, so treat the seven years below as an assumption, not a term.
What the money could have earned
USD 800,000 at 4.5% a year grows to about USD 1,089,000 over seven years. A zero-coupon bond gives you back exactly USD 800,000. That gap, roughly USD 289,000, is the bond's real price, and it grows with every extra year of maturity.
Who you are lending to
Argentina has defaulted on its sovereign debt nine times by the usual count, most recently in 2020. All three agencies upgraded it during 2026, to B− at S&P and Fitch and B3 at Moody's, which is still six notches below investment grade.
What nobody knows yet
How many years your money is locked up. Whether the principal is adjusted for dollar inflation. Whether the bond can be sold before maturity. None of it is written down anywhere official, and each answer changes the price you are paying.
What would it really cost you?
Put in your own numbers. The calculator adds the costs you can see to the one you can't: what your money would have earned elsewhere*.
1 · At a glance · Where it stands
Where the program actually stands
Argentina did not pass a law for this. The route was opened by presidential decree, which is why courts keep being asked whether it is valid, and why the piece that would actually let you apply, a resolution setting the amounts, still has not appeared.
The decree that opened the route
DNU 366/2025, May 2025
A presidential decree, not an act of Congress. It did three things at once: it let foreigners who make a "relevant investment" apply for citizenship without living in the country, it moved that decision from federal judges to the immigration authority, and it created the agency meant to assess the investments. Three lower courts have since ruled against parts of it, each in the case of one applicant. The Supreme Court has not ruled, and the route still stands in the official text of the law.
The rulebook for the paperwork
Decree 524/2025, July 2025
Sets out the steps an application would follow: who receives it, who assesses the investment, who signs off. On purpose, it sets no amounts: those were left to a separate resolution from the Ministry of Economy. The agency got its executive director in April 2026 (Decree 285/2026) and works from offices at the Ministry Our sources.
The tax rule
Law 27,802, article 194, March 2026
One article inside last March's labour reform settles the question investors ask first: taking Argentine citizenship through investment does not, on its own, make you an Argentine taxpayer. Living there is what does.
The search for an operator
Tender 34-0001-CPU25, March-April 2026
The government ran a tender to hire a firm to design, launch and promote the program. Six bidders entered, and on 5 March 2026 the evaluation committee ranked first the consortium AIM Global had built (Investment Migration Insider). On 14 April 2026, Resolution 522/2026 cancelled the whole tender without awarding it, so who would run the program day to day is still open. The cancellation never appeared in the Official Gazette; it is known through Argentine lawyers who saw it, and from our own part in the process.
The missing piece: the rules themselves
Not publishedA single resolution from the Ministry of Economy still has to say how much you invest, what the state charges, who counts as family and how long it takes. Nothing has appeared in the Official Gazette. Until it does, no figure on this page binds anyone, ours included.
Where the court fight stands
May and July 2025
The decrees
DNU 366/2025 opens the investment route and creates the Agency; Decree 524/2025 sets the procedure.
18 June 2026
Federal Civil and Commercial Court of Appeal, Chamber III
In Volosh, it held articles 37 to 43 of the decree unconstitutional: the ones that moved citizenship to the migration authority (Palabras del Derecho).
30 June 2026
The National Electoral Chamber rules the decree null
In Yang, Liping, an ordinary naturalisation case, nothing to do with investors, that began in the Federal Court of Paraná. Citizenship carries political rights, the court held, and a decree cannot regulate electoral matters (Infobae, Perfil).
26 August 2026
Federal Court of Esquel
A first-instance court, ruling against articles 4, 37 and 39 in another individual case (Palabras del Derecho).
23 September 2026
Nothing has reached the Supreme Court
The government announced it would take the case to the Supreme Court (La Nación, 1 July 2026). There is no published ruling, and no public record of the appeal's progress*. Meanwhile the investment route still appears, with no annotation, in the official consolidated text of Law 346.
"The decree has lost three times, always in lower courts and always in one applicant's case. Nothing has reached the Supreme Court, and the route is still on the books. Whoever tells you this is settled, in either direction, is guessing."
2 · Tax
The part most people get wrong
Citizenship by investment does not make you an Argentine tax resident. If you do not live there, Argentina taxes only what you earn in Argentina. Three rules explain why, and one of them almost nobody mentions.
1 · Holding the passport
Written into law for investor citizens
Article 194 of Law 27,802, part of the labour reform of March 2026, added paragraphs to article 116 of the income tax law: naturalising through investment does not, by itself, create tax residence. It is not an exemption you apply for. Nationality simply isn't what triggers tax; where you live is.
2 · If you don't live there
Taxed only on Argentine income
A non-resident pays Argentine tax on Argentine-source income only: rent from a property in Argentina, an Argentine salary, dividends from an Argentine company. Income and assets elsewhere stay outside it, and the personal assets tax reaches only what you hold in Argentina.
3 · The "tax holiday" people ask about
Up to five years as a non-resident, on conditions
Article 123(c) of the income tax law says that foreign nationals whose presence in Argentina is due to documented employment reasons requiring a stay of no more than five years are not treated as residents, and neither are the family members who come with them: they are taxed on Argentine-source income only.
Read it precisely. The five years is a condition for qualifying, not a countdown of benefits, and it turns on a genuine employment reason you can evidence. It applies to foreigners on a temporary stay, not to citizens, so it does not combine with citizenship by investment. Take advice in both countries first*.
If you do live there
| Tax | Non-resident | Tax resident |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax (Ganancias) | Argentine-source income only | Worldwide income on a progressive scale of 5% to 35%, with credit for foreign tax paid |
| Personal assets tax (Bienes Personales) | Argentine assets only | Worldwide assets held on 31 December, on gross value. Rates fall by law: 0.50%-1.00% for 2025, 0.50%-0.75% for 2026 and a flat 0.25% from 2027 (Law 23,966, as amended) |
| VAT (IVA) | 21% standard rate, included in prices | |
| Turnover tax (Ingresos Brutos) | Provincial and by activity; it cascades and is often overlooked | |
| Bank debit and credit tax (impuesto al cheque) | 0.6% on each side of a current-account movement, partly creditable | |
| Inheritance tax | None at federal level. The Province of Buenos Aires levies its own (ARBA) | |
When you become resident
On obtaining permanent residence, or after twelve continuous months on a temporary one (art. 116). A separate six-month rule affects deductions, not worldwide taxation; the two are often confused.
When you stop
On obtaining permanent residence elsewhere, or after twelve continuous months abroad (art. 117). With large assets and modest cash flow, the assets tax can hurt more than income tax. Model it before moving.
Treaties and reporting
24 double-tax treaties, including the UK, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland and Canada. None with the United States. Argentina exchanges account information under the OECD standard, and the OECD has asked banks to look harder at clients holding investment citizenship. Your tax residence decides where you are reported, not your passport.
3 · Problems
What can go wrong
If you are asking about the problems, you are close to a decision. Better you hear them here than in month eight. Where the program stands legally, and the court fight, are in chapter 1.
Seven risks, ranked
It may launch late, or not at all
Three lower-court rulings against the decree, a Supreme Court that has not spoken, and still no resolution with the amounts. 2027 is realistic; never is possible.
The window depends on who governs
Argentina elects a president in October 2027, with a runoff, if needed, in November. The route was opened by decree, and a government that does not share the policy could close it before you apply. Nobody knows how long the door will stay open.
Nobody has been through it
Our estimate is about four months from filing to passport, possibly six to eight. Decree 524/2025 gives the migration authority 30 working days after the Agency reports, but while the rulings stand, which body decides is itself in dispute. Until someone files, every timeline, ours included, is an estimate.
The bond carries Argentina's credit
USD 800,000 locked for years with no interest, from a state with nine sovereign defaults by the usual count and a rating six notches below investment grade, even after three upgrades in 2026.
Nobody has published the family rules
That spouses and children under 18 are included, and parents excluded, comes from industry guides. It is not in any norm, and it can change when the real rules appear.
The EU can now suspend visa-free travel over these programs
Regulation (EU) 2025/2441, in force since 30 December 2025, added investor-citizenship schemes without a genuine link as grounds for suspending a country's visa-free access. Argentina is on the visa-free list, so the rules it writes will matter to its own passport.
The currency rules keep moving
In April 2025 the central bank lifted the monthly cap and prior approval for individuals (Communication A 8226), then in September 2025 reinstated a 90-day bar on combining official purchases with market dollar trades (A 8336). For companies the controls remain.
Five facts, not risks
These are settled today. Check each one against your own plans before you apply.
The USD 500,000 payment is never returned
Route A is a payment to the Argentine state, not an investment. If you change your mind, or the country changes course, you do not get it back.
No visa-free entry to the United States
Argentina left the Visa Waiver Program in February 2002 and has not returned (DHS). A process to readmit it began in July 2025, and there has been no official news since. Argentines apply for a US tourist visa like everyone else.
Moving there changes your tax position
The passport does not make you a tax resident, but twelve continuous months on a temporary residence does (article 116): worldwide income plus an annual tax on worldwide assets.
A specific trap for US citizens
Argentina has 24 double-tax treaties and none with the United States. Live there as a US citizen and two countries tax the same income with no rules to split it.
The Spanish shortcut does not apply
Spain's two-year naturalisation covers Ibero-Americans by origin (Civil Code, art. 22.1). Argentines by naturalisation face the standard ten years. A surprising number of guides get this wrong.
The record
Programs close
Citizenship-by-investment programs have a history of closing, and Argentina's will be judged against it. The three largest closures were all EU member states, which answer to Brussels in a way Argentina does not, and they closed through a route that does not reach Argentina: article 20 of the EU treaty.
What can reach Argentina is the visa-suspension mechanism above. The lesson for an applicant: a citizenship lawfully granted is hard to take away, but a program can close, and a passport's travel value can be cut by somebody else's decision. Both are reasons to prefer a strict process over a quick one.
| Country | Ran | How it ended |
|---|---|---|
| Cyprus | 2007-2020 | Closed by cabinet decision on 13 October 2020, effective 1 November, after an investigation into how citizenships had been approved (Ministry of Finance) |
| Bulgaria | 2005-2022 | Repealed on 24 March 2022, effective 5 April, under EU pressure (State Gazette 26/2022) |
| Malta | 2013-2025 | The EU Court of Justice ruled it unlawful on 29 April 2025 (C-181/23); Parliament repealed it on 24 July 2025 (Act XXI of 2025) |
4 · Is it for you?
Some people should not apply
Saying no early saves you months and saves us an application that was never going to work. After that: how Argentina compares with every program on sale, and the residence routes that sometimes fit better.
Probably not for you if
- You need visa-free travel to the United States. Argentines apply for a US tourist visa (B1/B2) like everyone else, and investor citizens can use the E-2 investor visa only after three years living in Argentina
- Your parents need to be on the application. Only spouse and children under 18 are expected to qualify
- You need a passport in the next few months. The program is not open yet. Once it is, our estimate is about four months from filing, possibly six to eight
- You want to live in Argentina and pay little tax. Living there makes you taxable on worldwide income and worldwide assets. Holding the passport without moving does not
- You are a US citizen who would live in Argentina. There is no tax treaty between the two countries, so both would tax the same income with no rules to split it, and Argentina's tax on worldwide assets has no US credit to offset it. Buying the passport as a plan B, without moving, avoids all of this
- Your source of funds is hard to evidence, or you are politically exposed
- You want every dollar back. The USD 500,000 is a payment, not an investment, and the USD 800,000 bond comes back only at maturity, with no interest meanwhile. Türkiye, Portugal and Greece keep your capital invested instead
Worth a serious look if
- You want the strongest passport available by investment, and can wait for the launch
- You want a second passport in months, not the years residence routes take
- You want a second citizenship with no obligation to live there
- Latin America matters to you: Mercosur rights, language, time zones
- Your current passport limits where you travel or bank
- You want a citizenship your children inherit
Not sure which side you are on? Eight questions, two minutes, and an honest answer. If Argentina isn't the right fit, the result tells you what to look at instead.
4 · Is it for you? · How it compares
Argentina, or something else?
A fair comparison includes programs we don't offer, the places where Argentina loses, and a link to the authority behind every figure.
What only Argentina puts together
A stronger passport
169 destinations, against 157 for St Kitts & Nevis, the strongest among the programs already running, and 143 for Saint Lucia (Henley Passport Index 2026).
A region, not just a country
Simplified residence in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, which became a full Mercosur member in 2024 (Mercosur).
A real economy
The only citizenship program in South America, from a G20 member of 46 million people (INDEC census). The Caribbean programs belong to states of 47,000 to 180,000. Only Türkiye, also G20, has a larger economy among countries selling citizenship; Egypt has more people.
No obligation to live there
One visit after approval, to enrol biometrics, and no ongoing residence requirement Our sources. No published rule has confirmed it yet.
Dual, and inherited
You keep your nationality, and your children are Argentine too (Law 346).
No tax just for holding it
Article 194 of Law 27,802 makes nationality alone irrelevant to tax residence. See the tax chapter.
The full field, ranked by passport strength
| Country | Minimum | Destinations | Processing | Running since | Who publishes the rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | USD 500k or 800k in bonds | 169 | About 4 months, our estimate | Not open | Two decrees published; the resolution with the amounts is still missing |
| St Kitts & Nevis | USD 250k + ~10k | 157 | 120-180 days to approval in principle | 1984 | CIU |
| Antigua & Barbuda | USD 230k + ~19k | 154 | Not published | Law 2013, operating 2014 | CIU |
| Grenada | USD 235k + ~9k | 148 | 3-6 months | 2013 | IMA |
| Dominica | USD 200k + ~10k | 144 | At least 3 months | 1993 | CBIU |
| Saint Lucia | USD 240k + ~10k | 143 | About 90 days | 2015 | CIU |
| El Salvador | USD 1M in BTC or USDT | 131 | Up to 6 weeks | 2023, capped at 1,000 a year | Government portal |
| Türkiye | USD 400k in property | 112 | Not published | 2017 | Land Registry |
| Nauru | USD 90k + ~13k | Over 85, per the programme | 3-4 months | 2024 | ECRCP |
| Vanuatu | USD 130k + 5k | 86 | Not published | Lost EU visa-free access in 2023 | Citizenship Office |
| Sierra Leone | Not published | 63 | Not published | 2025, run by a private concessionaire | No government source |
| São Tomé & Príncipe | USD 90k + 5k | 59 | Not in the decree | 2025 | Decree-Law 7/2025 |
| Egypt | USD 250k + 10k | 49 | Not published | Law 190/2019, regulations 2020 | Law 190/2019 |
| Jordan | From JOD 500k in a business | 49 | 3 years of compliance first | 2018 | Petra, July 2026 |
| Botswana | Not announced | 81 | Not open | Law passed, rules unfinished | Daily News |
Read Argentina's row in two halves. The passport is real and measurable today, which is where the 169 comes from. What does not exist yet is the route to buy it: the two decrees that opened it are published, but the resolution that would set the amount, the fees and the timeline is not, so Argentina's bond figure and processing time are ours, not the state's. Destination counts: Henley Passport Index 2026, which is a private index. No government publishes this figure, so no version of this column can ever be official**. Minimums are the donation or fund route for a single applicant, with mandatory government and due-diligence fees added where the unit publishes them. Three corrections worth naming: Jordan scrapped its USD 1,000,000 central-bank deposit route in July 2026; Botswana's minister told parliament he was not in a position to state an amount, so the figures circulating for it are the operator's, not the state's; and Sierra Leone has no verifiable government publication at all. Vanuatu lost EU visa-free access in stages from 2022, made permanent by a Council decision of December 2024.
South America's strongest passports
Chile and Brazil are the only South American passports ahead of Argentina's, by five destinations and by one, and neither can be bought. St Kitts & Nevis, the strongest among the programs already running, sits twelve behind.
Destinations reachable without a prior visa, Henley Passport Index 2026. There is no investment route to a stronger South American passport.
Residence routes that lead to a stronger passport, eventually
The cheapest residence in the region, and the reason most people actually ask for it: tax
- Entry
- You put the money into a business or a property and you keep what you buy. From USD 70,000 in a productive project with five formal jobs · 150,000 in tourism · 200,000 in property or financial assets. Property bought for your own family to live in does not count
- You get now
- A permanent residence permit, for you and your family, granted directly instead of after two years of temporary status, with a ten-year ID card. It does not settle where you pay tax: that is the separate application below
- Tax
- Territorial. Paraguay taxes Paraguayan-source income only, at 8% to 10%; foreign income falls outside it. But tax residence is a separate application: you need the ID card, a tax number, and either 120 days a year in the country or proof that your main business and economic interests are in Paraguay
- Passport
- 3 years of actually living there, plus a trade or profession practised in the country
Ministry of Industry · DNIT on income tax · tax residence rules
A base to live in, an hour from Buenos Aires, where the tax residence is the product
- Entry
- Property over UI 15 million, about USD 2.5 million · or UI 3.5 million, about USD 580,000, if you also spend 60 days a year in the country · or a business from UI 15 million creating 15 jobs
The law sets these in unidades indexadas, a unit that moves with Uruguayan inflation, so the dollar figures shift. Converted at September 2026 values - You get now
- Tax residence, for you, and that is the whole product. It is not a residence permit and not a passport: it settles where you pay tax, which is what people buy Uruguay for
- Tax
- Territorial in principle, but since January 2026 tax residents pay 12% on capital income, gains and rents from abroad. A new tax resident who was not one in the two previous years is exempt for 11 years only by living there more than 183 days a year, or, without moving, by also buying property of about USD 2 million on the coast (less inland) from 2026 on, or putting about USD 100,000 a year into qualifying funds. The 60-day route above gives tax residence, not the holiday
- Passport
- Uruguay does not naturalise foreigners the way other countries do: it grants a carta de ciudadanía legal, and a Uruguayan passport follows from it
You can apply after 3 years of living there if your family is in the country, 5 years if not. The right to vote and to stand for office begins 3 years after the carta is issued, so the full set takes 6 or 8 years
Decree 148/007 · Decree 188/026 · Law 20,446, art. 648 · Constitution, art. 75
Residence now, one of the world's strongest passports a decade later, and your capital back along the way
- Entry
- €500,000 subscribed into a regulated Portuguese fund; real estate no longer qualifies since 2023 (Law 56/2023). The money stays yours: the law requires funds with a maturity of at least five years, and you get it back when the fund closes or when you sell your units, at whatever they are worth by then. Not a deposit, and not guaranteed
€250,000 through the cultural route is a donation. That money is gone, like Argentina's payment. There is also a job-creation route with no fixed amount - You get now
- A renewable residence permit, for you and your family. It asks for about seven days a year in Portugal on average*, does not oblige you to move, and does not settle where you pay tax
- Tax
- The permit does not change where you are taxed. Portugal taxes the people who actually live there
- Passport
- 10 years of legal residence, or 7 for EU and Portuguese-speaking nationals, under the rule in force since 19 May 2026, plus a basic Portuguese language test or course (level A2). The clock starts when the residence card arrives, and the immigration office can take one to two years to issue it*. 185 destinations, 16 more than Argentina
Lei Orgânica 1/2026 · AIMA · Law 56/2023
Our sources
EU residence that asks for no days in the country, which is also why the passport rarely arrives
- Entry
- You buy a property and you own it. Not a fund, not a donation: the title is yours and you can sell it, though selling ends the residence. One single property, with at least 120 m² of main living space, and it cannot be let for short stays (Law 5100/2024)
€800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands over 3,100 people · €400,000 in the rest of the country · €250,000 for a building converted to housing, an industrial building unused for five years, or a listed one you restore - You get now
- A renewable residence permit, for you and your family, valid while you keep the property, with no minimum stay. It does not settle where you pay tax
- Tax
- The permit alone does not make you a Greek tax resident. Living there does
- Passport
- 7 years of legal residence plus a language and civics exam. Since the permit asks for no days in Greece, most holders never start counting those seven years. 185 destinations
Ministry of Migration · Law 5100/2024
Read the four the same way: what the money buys you on day one, what it does to your tax position, and how many years of real life it takes before a passport appears. Paraguay and Uruguay are bought for the tax position; Portugal and Greece for the European passport at the end of a decade. None of them is a substitute for the Argentine route, and none of them is open to the same objection: all four are running today.
The benchmark
Argentina or Portugal
If you want a passport you can rely on, the real alternative isn't in the Caribbean. It's Portugal, which works in almost the opposite way: you keep your capital and get residence now, but the passport takes a decade. We offer both.
| Argentina | Portugal | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | USD 500k payment, or USD 800k in bonds | €500,000 in a regulated Portuguese fund |
| You get | Citizenship | Residence, after one to two years |
| Money back | Bond route only, at maturity | When the fund closes or you sell your units. You get what they are worth then, which can be more or less than you put in |
| Passport | 169 | 185 |
| Presence | One visit after approval | About seven days a year |
| To citizenship | About four months from filing | 10 years from the residence card, or 7 for EU and Portuguese-speaking nationals, plus a basic Portuguese test or course (level A2) |
| Status | Not open | Operating |
Read the last two rows together. Portugal wins on passport strength, stability and getting your money back. Argentina wins on speed, a passport in months rather than a decade, and on asking you to be there once. Argentina's bond, presence and timing come from our sources and estimates; Portugal's from Lei Orgânica 1/2026, AIMA and our own work there.
5 · Passport & country · The passport
How good is it, really?
What the passport opens and doesn't, how easily you can reach Argentina for the one trip the program asks for, the rights that come with it, and the country behind it.
What it opens
- The Schengen area, for short stays
- The United Kingdom, with an electronic travel authorisation, required since January 2025
- Japan and South Korea
- China, visa-free for up to 30 days under a unilateral trial that runs to 31 December 2026
- Nearly all of Latin America, Russia and the UAE
What it doesn't
- The United States: B1/B2 visa required
- India: visa required, available online as an e-Visa
- Around 30 destinations that require a visa in advance
169 destinations, 16th in the world, per the Henley Passport Index 2026. No government publishes this figure and the main indices differ by up to 15 destinations for the same passport, so any count is one publisher's methodology*.
The one trip the program asks for is simple for most nationalities, and two recent rules make it simpler for the ones that usually need a visa. Indian nationals holding a valid US visa can visit Argentina for tourism with no Argentine visa or electronic travel authorisation, for up to 90 days (Resolution 353/2025, August 2025). Chinese and Dominican nationals with a valid US visa can also enter without an Argentine visa (Resolution 316/2025, July 2025).
The United States, in detail
Argentina was in the Visa Waiver Program from 8 July 1996 until 21 February 2002, and the DHS list still shows it as a former member. On 28 July 2025 the two governments signed a statement of intent to work toward readmission. There has been no official announcement since, from either government.
The case is reasonable on the numbers: in the DHS overstay report for 2024, Argentina's B1/B2 overstay rate was 0.81%, the second lowest in Latin America behind Panama. Even so, today an Argentine passport means applying for a US visa: your place of birth is still on the form, and consulates decide case by case.
The E-2 investor visa
Argentina has held a commerce and navigation treaty with the United States since 1854, and appears on the State Department's treaty country list for both E-1 and E-2. Argentine citizens can apply for the E-2 investor visa.
Investor citizens have to wait. Since December 2022, US law requires anyone who acquired a treaty country's nationality through a financial investment to have lived in that country for at least three continuous years before applying (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(E)). An Argentine passport from this program opens the E-2 only after three years of living in Argentina, which also makes you an Argentine tax resident.
For a British or European applicant that adds little. For Indian, Chinese, Nigerian, Brazilian or South African applicants, whose countries are not on the State Department's list, it can still matter if they plan to live in Argentina first. The same rule applies to Grenada, the only Caribbean program with an E-2 treaty.
Mercosur: where the passport lets you settle
As an Argentine you can apply for residence in the other full members on the basis of nationality, with no job offer, investment or family tie required. It is a category, not an automatic right: you file a passport or nationality certificate, birth and civil-status records, police certificates covering the last five years, sworn statements and a fee, and you get temporary residence for up to two years (Mercosur Residence Agreement).
Permanent residence follows if you apply within the 90 days before expiry and show lawful means of living. You can still be refused on character grounds*.
And Spain? Its two-year naturalisation is for Ibero-American nationals by origin. Argentines by naturalisation face the standard ten years, and the shortcut never exempted anyone from qualifying for Spanish residence first.
| Group | Countries | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Full members | Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, a full member since 2024 | Simplified residence on nationality |
| Associates | Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, Suriname | Varies by country |
| Suspended | Venezuela, since 2017 | Not usable in practice |
5 · Passport & country · The country
A passport is a claim on a country. This is the country.
As a long-term hedge, Argentina is stronger than its reputation. Its weakness has never been what it has, but how it has run its own economy. Weigh one against the other.
2nd
In technically recoverable shale gas resources, 802 trillion cubic feet, and 4th in shale oil (US Energy Information Administration). Resources, not proven reserves
28 Mt
Lithium resources, second in the world behind the United States (USGS, February 2026). In reserves, which are a stricter measure, it ranks fourth
12,800 km
From Buenos Aires to Kyiv, and 12,200 to Tel Aviv. Far from today's flashpoints
Food
The world's largest exporter of soybean meal and oil and the second largest of corn (USDA). It grows more than three times the grain it consumes.
Space and water
2.78 million km², the 8th largest country (World Bank), and one of the four countries above the Guaraní Aquifer.
Alignment
Part of Latin America's nuclear-weapon-free zone since the Tlatelolco Treaty entered into force for Argentina on 18 January 1994 (Nuclear Regulatory Authority). It is not a NATO member or partner, though it has been a major non-NATO ally of the United States since 1998, a status that carries no security commitment.
6 · Next steps
What you can do before it opens
The slowest part of any citizenship application is your own paperwork. Applicants whose documents are ready when the rules appear will be processed first.
| Item | Lead time | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Source of funds: audited accounts, sale agreements, tax returns, bank records | 6-12 weeks | The most common reason applications stall |
| Police certificates from every country lived in for over a year | 2-8 weeks | They expire; sequence them |
| Civil documents, apostilled and translated by an Argentine public translator | 2-6 weeks | Translations done elsewhere may be rejected |
| Evidence of dependency for children aged 18-24 | 4-8 weeks | Slower than expected; eligibility unconfirmed |
| A private due-diligence review of yourself | 1-2 weeks | Adverse media, political exposure, past visa refusals, crypto provenance |
| Funding mechanics | 2-6 weeks | Remittance caps (India) or official channels (Nigeria) |
Don't pay anything toward the USD 500,000 payment or the bonds, don't buy a "reserved place", and don't move capital anywhere you can't bring it back from.
How close are you to ready?
Tick what you already have. We'll estimate how long you need before you could apply on day one.
7 · Short answers
Questions people ask us first
No. One visit after approval, to enrol biometrics, and no ongoing residence requirement, according to our sources. No published rule has confirmed it yet.
USD 500,000 paid to the Argentine state, or USD 800,000 in zero-coupon bonds, plus government fees, our fee and documents. See the whole bill.
No. Argentina allows dual citizenship.
Children included in the application become citizens, and children born to you afterwards are Argentine by descent.
That is what is expected. Nobody expects pesos to be accepted.
Soon is what the industry expects, but there is no official date. It depends on the Ministry of Economy's resolution and on the courts. We'd rather not give you a date we can't stand behind.
Our estimate is about four months from filing to passport, possibly six to eight. Nobody has filed yet, so treat any timeline, ours included, as an estimate.
Most nationalities don't. Indian nationals with a valid US visa can visit for tourism without an Argentine visa, and Chinese and Dominican nationals with a US visa can enter without one too. See the passport chapter.
No. Living there can. See the tax chapter.
Yes. Advisers, law firms and family offices refer clients to us or work with us as sub-agents, with a letter of intent now and a binding agreement once the program opens. Talk to us as a partner.
8 · Why AIM Global
Every firm will read the same decree. We were in the room.
We built the consortium that came first in Argentina's tender to run this program, and the government's team still asks for our advice as it shapes it. Among the global names in this industry, we are the local one.
Early 2026 · Tender 34-0001-CPU25
We built a consortium
We invited three global investment-migration firms to bid with us, and represented all four before the government. Six bidders entered; two offers were declared admissible, ours included.
5 March 2026
We came first
The Ministry of Economy's evaluation committee ranked our consortium first and recommended it for the contract. Its evaluators wrote that joining several firms of the industry was "an added value" (Investment Migration Insider).
14 April 2026
The tender was cancelled
Resolution 522/2026 cancelled the whole tender, and nobody got the contract. For anyone watching from outside, the story ended there.
Today
We stayed at the table
The government asked us to advise it. We stay in constant contact with the team behind the program as it takes shape.
Tender 34-0001-CPU25 · Ministry of Economy evaluation report, 5 March 2026, as reported by Investment Migration Insider · Resolution 522/2026, Ministry of Economy · Our sources
The only Latin American firm of the four
Your local partners
Three of the four firms in the consortium are global names in investment migration. We are the one from this region, the one that put the consortium together, and the one whose founder and management live in South America. When something needs doing in Buenos Aires, we are a short flight away, not a long-haul one.
Lawyers, not brokers
A law firm behind the application
AIM Global was founded by the partners of Apparcel Uriarte Abogados, a Chilean firm recognised by The Legal 500 and Chambers, and still shares its team and offices in Santiago and Lisbon. The Argentine application is legal work, and lawyers on our team prepare it.
On the ground
Buenos Aires, Santiago and Lisbon
Our Buenos Aires office is at Tucumán 1, in the Edificio República, and we work from Santiago and Lisbon too. The program runs in Spanish, and so do we; the team also works in English, Portuguese and German.
A record outside Argentina
Nine years, and hundreds of families
More than 200 Golden Visas, 550 nationalisations and 800 residences since we started, for families moving between Latin America and Europe.
The people you would work with
Lawyer, and a partner at Apparcel Uriarte Abogados, ranked in Chambers FinTech 2022. He built the consortium for Argentina's tender and represented it before the government.
How to choose an adviser, us included
Once the program opens, established global citizenship firms will offer it too. Firms differ less in what they know than in how they behave when the answer is inconvenient. These six questions will tell you which kind you're talking to. Ask them to anyone, and ask them to us.
- Will you take money before the rules are published?A good adviser says no.
- What does your fee include, and what gets billed later?Ask for it in writing.
- What happens to your fee if I'm refused?Many firms stay vague here.
- Who signs the application?It should be a lawyer admitted in Argentina.
- Who else pays you?Commissions from developers or funds shape advice.
- Where does that figure come from?Ask for the decree, the gazette or the unit's own page, or for the adviser to say plainly when it is their own information. Most numbers in this industry come from other advisers' websites.
For advisers, law firms and family offices
Your local team for Argentina
If your clients will ask you about Argentina, work with the firm that was in the room. Refer them to us, or work with us as a sub-agent: you keep the client relationship, we handle the Argentine application and the legal work. A letter of intent now, and a binding agreement once the program opens.
Be ready the day the rules come out
Pre-register and we'll write to you when something real changes: the resolution, the Supreme Court ruling, the final amounts. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Advising clients on Argentina?
If Argentina is wrong for you, we'll tell you.
Important. This guide is general information about a framework that is not yet in force in final form. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it is not an offer. Amounts, fees, timelines and eligibility rules are anticipated and may change or never apply. Figures marked "Our sources" are what AIM Global reports from its own work on the program; they are informed, not official. Take independent legal and tax advice in your country of residence and in Argentina before acting. AIM Global does not represent the Argentine Republic.
Notes: verify before you rely on this
Verify before you rely on this
- No amount, fee or timeline has been published in Argentina's Official Gazette. Check it before committing money: it is free and it is the only source that counts.
- At 23 September 2026 no Supreme Court ruling had been published on DNU 366/2025, and there was no public record of the appeal's progress. Check the current position.
- Tax outcomes depend on your country of residence, days spent in each country and your personal ties. Take advice in every country involved.
- No government publishes a count of visa-free destinations. Every figure here comes from the Henley Passport Index 2026, and the main indices differ by up to 15 destinations for the same passport because they count visas on arrival and travel authorisations differently.
- Mercosur residence is simplified but not automatic, and each country applies it its own way. Confirm with the migration authority where you intend to live.
- Other programs change their minimums, fees and rules often, and several changed while this page was being written. Every row in the table links to the unit that runs it: check there before deciding.
- The calculator is illustrative. It uses reported figures, our own sources and your estimates, not published fees.