ARGENTINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Julieta Tula and Herberto Robinson, McEWAN
sensitive and highly technical from a tax, regulatory and estate-planning perspective. What has changed is that, in a world where uncertainty has become glob - al, families are comparing jurisdictional risk differently to how they did a decade ago. The traditional route: residence-based naturalisation Under Migration Law No 25.871 and Citizenship Law No 346 (as amended), foreign nationals may obtain Argentine citizenship by naturalisation following two years of continuous, uninterrupted legal residence in the country. In practice, investors have typically accessed this route through one of two visa catego - ries. • The rentista visa, available to individuals who can demonstrate stable passive income from abroad – historically bench-marked at approximately five times Argentina’s minimum wage ( Salario Mínimo , Vital y Móvil or SMVyM) per month. • The inversionista (investor) visa, available to foreign nationals investing a minimum of ARS1.5 million in a regulated Argentine business, subject to review by the Ministry of Economy as to the feasibility and legitimacy of the underlying project. Both categories grant an initially renewable one-year temporary residence permit, convertible to perma - nent residence after the statutory period, with natu - ralisation available two years after the grant of legal residence. This route remains fully operative today. Pending clarity on the investment-citizenship regime discussed below, it continues to be the only reliable – and legally uncontested – path to Argentine nationality for foreign investors. The emerging citizenship-by-investment • DNU 366/2025 modified the Argentine Citizen - ship Law to include, as citizens by naturalisation, foreign individuals who – irrespective of the length of their residence in Argentina – prove before the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones that they have made a “relevant investment” in the country. The decree leaves the definition of qualifying invest - ments to the Ministry of Economy, which may also framework Legal basis
designate specific investment projects for this purpose. • Decree No 524/2025 (31 July 2025) created the Agencia de Programas de Ciudadanía por Inver- sión , an agency within the Ministry of Economy tasked with designing, managing and controlling investment-citizenship programmes, including receiving and evaluating applications and issuing a reasoned recommendation for approval or rejec - tion. The stated policy objective is to incentivise invest - ment and employment generation and to support Argentina’s opening and integration with the world. As a practical matter, however, the objective is less important than the operative detail, and in that detail considerable uncertainty remains. Anticipated structural features Implementing regulations remain pending. Several structural features have nonetheless emerged with reasonable consistency across government commu - nications and market commentary: • No residency requirement – citizenship would be available to qualifying investors on the strength of the investment itself, departing from the two-year continuous-residence prerequisite that otherwise applies. • Investment threshold – figures under discussion range from approximately USD500,000 to USD1 million. The Ministry of Economy has not yet pub - lished a binding threshold or valuation methodol - ogy, nor confirmed whether passive investment will qualify or whether the regime will be restricted to productive investment. • Priority sectors – renewable energy, agribusiness, technology, tourism and infrastructure have been identified as likely qualifying sectors. Whether real estate will be included remains unconfirmed. • Processing timeline – a 30-business-day statutory review period is contemplated following formal submission of an application. • Due diligence – applicants would be expected to evidence the lawful source of funds and to pass a multi-agency security, financial and background review, with the National Directorate of Migra - tion ( Dirección Nacional de Migraciones , or DNM)
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