Argentina has announced a passport for a US$350,000 contribution. Here is what the decrees actually say, why the programme is not open yet, how the ordinary residence and naturalisation routes work in 2026, and how it all compares with Paraguay’s Investor Pass and territorial tax.
In October 2026 Argentina announced a citizenship-by-investment programme: a non-refundable US$350,000 contribution to the Treasury, or a US$800,000 government bond, for a passport without any period of residence. The legal basis is real — a 2025 decree created the “relevant investment” route and an agency to run it — but as of November 2026 the programme is not accepting applications, the amounts exist only in a government announcement, and the decree behind it is being challenged in the courts.
What works today in Argentina are the ordinary routes: temporary residence as an investor or as a person living on foreign income, permanent residence after three years, and naturalisation after two years of continuous residence — with a 2025 rule that the two years must pass without a single trip abroad. Becoming resident also brings Argentina’s worldwide taxation of income and wealth.
Paraguay’s Investor Pass asks for less money and gives more certainty: from US$70,000 in a real business, permanent residence straight away, citizenship three years later and a territorial tax system. For most founders choosing a regional base, Paraguay is the practical answer; Argentina is the answer for those who plan to live there, or who want the investor passport once it opens and can wait.
| Argentina | Paraguay | |
|---|---|---|
| Investor route today | Temporary residence as inversionista (productive investment approved by the DNM) or as rentista (passive income from abroad) | Investor Pass: certified investment from US$70,000 in a business with 5 jobs; US$150,000 tourism; US$200,000 securities or rental property |
| First status | Temporary residence, up to 3 years, renewable | Permanent residence directly |
| Permanent residence | After 3 years of temporary residence (2 for Mercosur nationals) | From approval |
| Citizenship, ordinary route | 2 years of continuous legal residence with no trips abroad | 3 years after permanent residence |
| Citizenship by investment | Announced: US$350,000 to the Treasury or a US$800,000 bond; not yet open | None |
| Losing residence through absence | 6 months abroad (temporary) or 1 year (permanent) | Absence of over a year can block conversion to permanent residence |
| Government fee for residence | ARS 100,000 (ARS 50,000 for Mercosur nationals) | Investor Pass fees vary |
| Tax on residents | Worldwide income at up to 35%, plus wealth tax on worldwide assets | Territorial: Paraguayan-source income only, at 8–10%; no wealth tax |
Law and practice: Argentina: Law 25.871 (migration), arts. 22, 23 and 62, as amended by DNU 366/2025; Decree 616/2010, arts. 22–23; Law 346 (citizenship), art. 2, as amended by DNU 366/2025; Decree 524/2025; residence fees under Decree 584/2024 (100 UMSM extra-Mercosur, 50 UMSM Mercosur, at ARS 1,000 per unit). Paraguay: Law 6984/2022; Resolution MIC 283/2026 (Investor Pass); Constitution, art. 148.
The legal basis is DNU 366/2025 — a decreto de necesidad y urgencia, a presidential decree with the force of law — signed on 28 May 2025 and published in the Boletín Oficial, the official gazette, the next day. It rewrote article 2 of Law 346, Argentina’s 1869 citizenship law, to allow naturalisation of a foreigner who has made a “relevant investment in the country” whatever the length of residence. A new article 2 bis gives the Ministry of Economy the power to define which investments qualify. The same decree moved the granting of citizenship from federal judges to the DNM — the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, the national migration authority.
Decree 524/2025, published on 31 July 2025, set the procedure. Applications go to the Agencia de Programas de Ciudadanía por Inversión (APCI), within the Ministry of Economy. The agency checks the investment and the origin of the funds and collects reports from the Ministry of Security, the financial intelligence unit (UIF), the criminal records registry, RENAPER (the national population registry, which issues the DNI identity card) and the intelligence service. It then sends a recommendation to the DNM, which has 30 business days to decide.
The amounts came only on 2 October 2026, when Economy Minister Luis Caputo presented the programme in Paris. According to the official announcement:
Main applicant
A non-refundable contribution of US$350,000 to the National Treasury, or subscription of a US$800,000 government bond created for the programme.
Spouse and adult children
US$100,000 each for a spouse and for single, childless children aged 18 to 25.
Minor children
US$25,000 each. A family of four — applicant, spouse, two minors — contributes US$500,000.
Timing
Applications expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2026; no date set.
Funds
Through the formal financial system, with full anti-money-laundering checks.
No residence
No period of residence is required before applying.
Three cautions. First, the figures sit in a press announcement, not in a resolution published in the Boletín Oficial; the bond’s terms, the payment mechanics and the government fees are not yet public. Second, the programme’s preparation has already stumbled: in April 2026 the Ministry of Economy cancelled the international tender for a consultancy to design and launch it (Resolution 522/2026). Third, the courts. In June 2026 the Cámara Nacional Electoral declared DNU 366/2025 null in an ordinary naturalisation case, and the Cámara Civil y Comercial Federal held its citizenship chapter unconstitutional in another; a federal court in Esquel did the same in August. None of those cases concerned an investor, and the government has appealed to the Supreme Court, but the investment route sits in the same part of the decree. Opposition deputies have also filed bills to repeal it.
One tax point is already settled. The 2026 labour reform, Law 27,802, added a paragraph to article 116 of the income tax law: a foreigner naturalised on the basis of a relevant investment does not become an Argentine tax resident merely because of that naturalisation. A passport bought this way would not, by itself, pull the holder’s worldwide income into Ganancias, Argentina’s income tax — though someone who already holds permanent residence stays a tax resident.
Law and practice: Law 346, arts. 2, 2 bis and 6, as amended by DNU 366/2025, arts. 37–39; DNU 366/2025, arts. 40–43 (APCI); Decree 524/2025 (Boletín Oficial 31 July 2025); Ministry of Economy announcement of 2 October 2026; Law 27,802, amending art. 116 of the Ganancias law.
Argentine residence comes in three kinds under Law 25.871: residencia transitoria (visitors), residencia temporaria (temporary, up to three years at a time, renewable) and residencia permanente. Foreign investors and people of independent means normally enter through one of two temporary subcategories.
Inversionista
A productive, commercial or service investment “of interest to the country”. The regulations still state a minimum of ARS 1.5 million, a 2010 figure that inflation has made symbolic; what is assessed is the project. The investor files the plan with the DNM, proves the origin of the funds and brings them in through a bank authorised by the BCRA, the Central Bank. The industry ministry gives a non-binding opinion and the DNM sets a binding deadline to complete the investment.
Rentista
Someone who lives on income from assets abroad or in their name: rents, dividends, interest, business income. Since 2023 the minimum is five times the SMVyM — the national minimum wage — which at the November 2026 level of ARS 398,000 means about ARS 2 million. Employment income does not count, and the funds must enter Argentina through BCRA-authorised banks.
Pensionado
A pension from a government, international body or foreign employer, also at five minimum wages a month.
Mercosur nationality
Nationals of Mercosur and associated states — including Paraguayans — qualify for temporary residence by nationality alone, with no investment or income test.
The file is filed online through RaDEX, the DNM’s remote platform, from inside Argentina: passport, birth certificate, criminal records from Argentina and from every country where you lived more than a year in the last three years, all apostilled and translated by a sworn translator. The fee is ARS 100,000 for non-Mercosur nationals. While the file is pending you receive a residencia precaria, valid for 90 days and renewable, which lets you work and travel but, since 2025, does not count towards permanent residence or citizenship.
Permanent residence follows three years of continuous temporary residence, or two for Mercosur nationals. Since DNU 366/2025, the applicant must also show sufficient economic means and a clean criminal record. Status can be lost: the DNM cancels a temporary residence after six months abroad, and a permanent one after a year, unless the absence was authorised.
Law and practice: Law 25.871, arts. 20, 22, 23 and 62(e), as amended by DNU 366/2025; Decree 616/2010, arts. 22(c) and 23(b) and (d); DNM Disposition 1732/2023 (rentista and pensionado at five SMVyM); minimum wage under Consejo del Salario Resolution 4/2026.
Argentina has long been known for naturalisation after only two years of residence. The 2025 reform kept the two years but tightened what they mean. Article 2 of Law 346 now requires two years of continuous and legal residence immediately before the application, and defines continuous as staying in the country for the whole period “without any departure abroad”. Time on a residencia precaria does not count.
Applications have been filed with the DNM online since 6 October 2025, through RaDEX, from inside Argentina: DNI, an up-to-date certificate from the Registro Nacional de Reincidencia (criminal records), proof of occupation or means of support, and the CUIT or CUIL tax number. The court rulings described above have muddled this: in some cases judges have disapplied the decree and taken the file back into a federal court under the old rules. Until the Supreme Court decides, the route — DNM or court — is a matter for case-by-case advice.
In practice, then, a non-Mercosur investor with a clean file reaches Argentine citizenship in a little over two years from the grant of temporary residence — but only by spending those two years entirely in Argentina. For a founder who runs a business across borders, that condition alone usually decides the question.
Law and practice: Law 346, art. 2(1) and art. 6, as amended by DNU 366/2025; DNM online filing from 6 October 2025.
Since April 2026, Paraguay’s Investor Pass lets the Ministry of Industry and Commerce certify a qualifying investment within five business days, and the certificate supports direct permanent residence with the cédula identity card. The thresholds are US$70,000 in a business that creates five jobs, US$150,000 in a tourism project, or US$200,000 in securities or income-producing property. Citizenship can be applied for three years after permanent residence.
Without an investment, the general route still works: temporary residence first, then conversion to permanent residence with documented economic solvency under the migration authority’s 2026 rules. Paraguay has no rule against travelling during the qualifying period of the kind Argentina now applies; what matters is that the residence is real and that absences do not exceed a year at the conversion stage. The full sequence is in our Paraguay residence guide, and the same route is compared with Ecuador in Ecuador vs Paraguay.
There is also a regional angle. A Paraguayan citizen is a Mercosur national, which opens temporary residence in Argentina by nationality, without an investment or income test and at half the fee. A founder who takes the Paraguayan route first keeps Argentina within easy reach.
Law and practice: Paraguay: Law 6984/2022; Resolution MIC 283/2026 (Investor Pass, from 28 April 2026); DNM Resolution 407/2026 (economic solvency); Constitution, art. 148 (naturalisation). Argentina: Law 25.871, art. 23(l) (Mercosur nationality).
A foreigner becomes an Argentine tax resident on obtaining permanent residence, or after more than 12 months in the country on a temporary status; foreigners posted to work in Argentina for up to five years are excepted. A resident pays Ganancias on worldwide income, at progressive rates up to 35%, and files with ARCA — the federal tax agency, formerly AFIP — under a CUIT tax number.
Residents also pay Bienes Personales, the personal assets tax, on their worldwide assets as at 31 December above a threshold of several hundred million pesos. Under Law 27,743 the rates are falling each year, to a flat 0.25% from 2027, and assets abroad now pay the same rate as assets in Argentina. Our guide to the 2026 tax reform covers what else has changed.
Paraguay taxes only Paraguayan-source income, with personal income tax at 8–10%, and has no wealth tax and no tax on money leaving the country. Tax residence generally follows more than 120 days in the country in a year.
A worked example. A founder who receives US$150,000 a year in dividends from a company outside both countries and holds US$2 million of investments abroad. As an Argentine tax resident, most of the dividends fall in the 35% top bracket, giving a bill of roughly US$45,000 a year before any credit for foreign tax, plus personal assets tax on the portfolio. As a Paraguayan tax resident, neither the foreign dividends nor the portfolio is taxed in Paraguay.
Law and practice: Ganancias law, art. 116 et seq. (residence of individuals), as amended by Law 27,802; Law 27,743 (Bienes Personales); Paraguay: Law 6380/2019 (IRP, territorial).
You will live in Argentina
Rentista or inversionista residence, then naturalisation after two continuous years.
You want a passport without moving, and can wait
Argentina’s investment route, once a published resolution opens it — at US$350,000 or more, and with the court cases in mind.
You want permanent residence now
Paraguay’s Investor Pass: from US$70,000, permanent from day one.
You travel for work
Paraguay. Argentina’s no-exit rule makes its two years hard to complete.
You have international income or assets
Paraguay’s territorial system usually wins by a wide margin.
You want both
Take Paraguay first; as a Paraguayan national you get Mercosur residence in Argentina later.
Tax residence follows life, not paperwork; both countries look at time and ties.
Investor Pass, Argentine rentista or inversionista, or wait for the citizenship programme.
Birth certificate and criminal records, apostilled; sworn translations in the destination country.
Bank trail for the funds — Argentina requires entry through BCRA-authorised banks.
In Argentina, two years without leaving for naturalisation; in both, no long absences.
File the exit properly where you are now, before the new residence starts.
Ministry of Economy: citizenship-by-investment announcement (2 October 2026) · DNU 366/2025 (ARCA library) · Law 346, consolidated text · Law 25.871, consolidated text (InfoLEG) · Decree 616/2010 (InfoLEG) · DNM Disposition 1732/2023 · DNM fee schedule · KPMG: Decree 524/2025 · Allende & Brea: Law 27,802 and tax residence · Chequeado: the court rulings · PwC: Argentina individual residence · Bruchou & Funes de Rioja: naturalisation at the DNM
The legal basis exists: DNU 366/2025 allows naturalisation for a relevant investment without residence, and Decree 524/2025 set the procedure. The amounts were announced on 2 October 2026, but as of November 2026 the programme is not yet accepting applications.
As announced: a non-refundable US$350,000 contribution to the Treasury or a US$800,000 government bond for the main applicant, US$100,000 for a spouse or adult child aged 18 to 25, and US$25,000 for each minor. Fees and bond terms have not been published.
Two years of continuous legal residence before applying. Since 2025 the two years must pass without any trip abroad, and time on a provisional residencia precaria does not count.
Yes, temporary residence as an inversionista for a productive investment approved by the DNM, or as a rentista with passive income of at least five minimum wages. Permanent residence follows after three years, or two for Mercosur nationals.
Not by itself. Law 27,802 amended the income tax law so that a foreigner naturalised for a relevant investment is not a tax resident merely because of that naturalisation. Permanent residence or more than 12 months in Argentina still creates tax residence.
Yes. It starts at US$70,000 in a business with five jobs, gives permanent residence directly, and leads to citizenship three years later, with no announced Treasury contribution.
Argentina taxes residents on worldwide income at up to 35% and on worldwide assets through Bienes Personales. Paraguay taxes only Paraguayan-source income, at 8–10%, and has no wealth tax.
Yes. Paraguayans are Mercosur nationals and qualify for Argentine temporary residence by nationality, without an investment or income test, and at half the non-Mercosur fee.
Temporary, permanent and citizenship, step by step.
Ending Argentine tax residence properly.
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