Argentina's government has launched a citizenship-by-investment programme that will allow wealthy foreign investors to apply for an Argentine passport by paying the state directly, bypassing the more typical naturalisation procedures.
The scheme was launched by Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Cabinet chief Diego Santilli during the “Argentina Week” business event in Paris. The ministry said applications would be accepted during the fourth quarter of 2026.
There are two routes. The first is “making a direct, non-refundable contribution of $350,000 (roughly €310,000) to the National Treasury”, the Economy Ministry said. The second is “subscribing to a $800,000 public bond created specifically for this program”. The ministry described the pair as “two simple and transparent mechanisms”.
The programme is priced per person. A principal applicant's spouse and children aged 25 or under may also apply at lower rates: spouses and childless children aged 18 to 25 would be charged $100,000 each, and minors $25,000 each.
The ministry set out the combined figure itself. “Under this scheme, a typical family unit consisting of a principal applicant, their spouse, and two minor children could apply for Argentine citizenship for a total of $500,000,” it said.
Officials framed the scheme as a fiscal measure as much as a migration one, saying it would “further strengthen the Argentine Republic's fiscal and financial position”.
“This announcement is part of Argentina's drive toward international openness and integration, accompanied by reforms aimed at strengthening the investment climate and attracting capital,” the Economy Ministry said in a statement.
Caputo added online: “We continue working to strengthen Argentina's ties with the world, project the value of our citizenship internationally, and consolidate the country as an open and reliable nation.”
Argentina said it would incorporate recommendations from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Financial Action Task Force, and “comply with applicable standards regarding the prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing, and financial transparency”.
Such schemes have had a difficult recent history elsewhere. In April 2025 the European Union's top court ruled Malta's fast-track naturalisation scheme for foreign investors illegal, finding that granting citizenship for investment makes naturalisation “a mere commercial transaction”. Argentina is not an EU member and that ruling does not apply to it.
The minister's phrasing repays a second reading. He spoke of projecting “the value of our citizenship” internationally. Until now that value had to be inferred. It has now been published, in dollars, with a schedule of reductions.
The schedule prices one Argentine according to age. A minor costs $25,000. A person aged 18 to 25 costs $100,000, which is four minors. A principal applicant costs $350,000, which is fourteen minors. Nationality, on these figures, appreciates steadily until the age of 25 and then holds.
The bond route is priced differently again. It costs $800,000, or $450,000 more than the contribution, and the holder gets a bond at the end of it. In the ministry's own units, the premium for preferring an asset to a gift is eighteen minors.
The Department of Unnecessary Research notes that Argentina has therefore done something no other state has managed, which is to publish a complete and internally consistent tariff for itself, including family rates. The document does not describe the country. It prices it.
The ministry calls the arrangement simple and transparent. On both counts it is right. A family of four costs $500,000, the discount for being a minor is 93 per cent, and no part of either figure is in dispute.