Argentina · Citizenship by naturalisation
Argentine Citizenship by Naturalisation
Governed by Ley 346 of 1869. DNU 366/2025 tried to tighten it to two years of continuous residence with zero departures and to move jurisdiction from federal judges to Migraciones. On 30 June 2026 the Cámara Nacional Electoral declared that transfer absolutely and incurably null; citizenship jurisdiction has returned to the federal electoral courts. The law is in flux and the government is expected to appeal.
Two years to a passport with ~171 visa-free destinations, no investment, no language exam and no renunciation is the best nominal offer in the world. The catch is that the rules governing it were rewritten by decree in 2025 and struck down by a court in 2026 — you are underwriting legal risk, not paying money.
Qualifying routes
Ley 346 requires two years of residence; the courts have historically counted time on precaria and temporary status, and have granted citizenship to applicants with imperfect residence records
The facts
- Total landed cost
- a few thousand USD in legal fees; no investment required — the cheapest genuinely top-tier passport in the world
- Timeline
- 24–60 months — two years of residence, then a judicial process that ran 6–24+ months before the 2025–2026 upheaval; expect delays while jurisdiction is re-settled
- Physical presence
- Contested. Ley 346 as applied by the courts required residence but tolerated absences; DNU 366/2025 demanded two years with no departures at all. With the decree's citizenship provisions nullified, the pre-2025 judicial standard is the operative one — but this is precisely what the Supreme Court may revisit.
- Family
- each applicant applies individuallychildren born in Argentina are Argentine by birth regardless of parents' statusparents of an Argentine-born child have a strong independent claim
- Permanent residency
- 3 years of temporary residency for most categories (2 for Mercosur nationals)
- Citizenship
- 2 years of residence
- Language test
- No formal language examination. The judge may assess Spanish and basic knowledge of Argentina in interview.
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- two years of residence in Argentinaover 18 years of ageclean criminal recordevidence of lawful means of support and genuine residence — a rented flat, a CUIT, utility bills and bank activity
- This is the least legally stable citizenship route in the region right now. DNU 366/2025 changed the rules in May 2025; the Cámara Nacional Electoral voided its citizenship provisions on 30 June 2026 as an unconstitutional use of decree power over electoral matters; the government has signalled an appeal to the Corte Suprema. Anyone filing in 2026 is filing into an unresolved conflict, and the standard applied to your file may change mid-process.
- The 'jus soli' plan — have a child in Buenos Aires, then naturalise as the parent — is real and widely used, and Argentina has begun scrutinising birth tourism. Do not assume the current permissiveness is permanent.
- Argentine citizenship carries Argentine tax residency risk. Argentina taxes worldwide income and levies Bienes Personales on worldwide assets. Getting the passport while living there is expensive; the usual play is to naturalise and then break tax residency, which requires care and documentation.
- Argentina cannot be renounced. Argentine nationality is effectively irrevocable — you cannot give it back. For a family with US exposure or future citizenship plans elsewhere, that permanence is a feature to be considered, not ignored.
- The residency provisions of DNU 366/2025 — cancellation of temporary residency after six months' absence and permanent residency after one year's absence, plus new economic-means and criminal-record tests — were not the subject of the electoral court's ruling and appear to remain in force. The decree has separately been challenged on other grounds. Verify status before relying on either half.