Recently, we had big news for anyone building a Plan-B. For the first time, a G20 economy in the Americas is getting ready to offer citizenship by investment (CBI). Economy Minister Luis Caputo stated on October 2, 2026, that eligible foreigners would be able to apply during the fourth quarter of 2026. With that quarter already underway, I expect the remaining details soon.
He announced it at Argentina Week in Paris, in front of European investors. Milei created the program by decree back in May 2025, and adverse court rulings and missing implementing rules have held it up ever since. Taking the program to Europe tells me the government thinks the worst of those legal obstacles is behind it.
In this article, I explain how the program reached this point and what it could mean for expats and foreign investors.
Milei signed a decree on May 28, 2025. It amended the Citizenship Law so that foreigners could naturalize through a "relevant investment" without the usual two years of residence, and it moved the decision from federal judges to the National Directorate of Migration.
The government first created the Agency for Citizenship by Investment Programs (APCI) within the Economy Ministry to vet applicants. A second measure followed on July 31, 2025, establishing the procedure for processing citizenship-by-investment applications. For well over a year, nobody could tell you how much you had to invest. A $500,000 USD figure floated around the press in mid-2025 without ever showing up in an official document.
On June 18, 2026, a federal appeals court in Buenos Aires found the decree's citizenship changes unconstitutional. The court argued that there was no emergency to justify bypassing Congress. The National Electoral Chamber subsequently declared the whole decree void on the ground that citizenship is an electoral matter and the president does not have the authority to legislate on that by decree.
The government has continued to proceed under the decree despite the appeals court rulings, while the legal effect of those decisions remains contested. That leaves the program exposed to further judicial review. The risk is that any program built on a decree that appeals courts have twice refused to uphold could easily be overturned by a future court or a new administration.
Congress could reduce that risk by enacting the reform through ordinary legislation, but it has shown no interest, and Milei's government has pressed ahead with the decree it already has, taking the program's terms to Paris.
Argentina announced two citizenship-by-investment routes in Paris, starting at $350,000 USD, along with family costs and due diligence requirements
The main applicant would choose between two routes, both of which Caputo called simple and transparent. One is a non-refundable contribution to the National Treasury starting at $350,000 USD. The other involves purchasing a government security worth $800,000 USD that was created for the program. It is reportedly a seven-year bond that pays no interest.
Families pay additional amounts. Spouses and unmarried children aged 18 to 25 who have no children of their own each add a $100,000 USD Treasury contribution, and children under 18 add $25,000 USD. According to IMI Daily, the bond covers only the principal applicant, so dependents would make the same Treasury contributions on either route. For a couple with two children under 18, the totals would look like this:
|
Route |
Principal applicant |
Spouse |
Two children |
Family total |
|
Treasury contribution |
$350,000 USD |
$100,000 USD |
$50,000 USD |
$500,000 USD |
|
Government bond |
$800,000 USD |
$100,000 USD |
$50,000 USD |
$950,000 USD |
The bond deserves a harder look than it got in Paris. If the reported terms are confirmed, an investor who parked $800,000 USD with the Argentine Treasury for seven years at zero interest would give up whatever that money could have earned elsewhere. At a 4% compound annual return, the opportunity cost would be roughly $253,000 USD over seven years. The investor also takes on the risk of lending to a government that has defaulted on its sovereign debt nine times.
APCI would lead each review alongside the State Intelligence Secretariat and the Financial Information Unit, with the Security and Interior ministries also taking part. The checks would cover identity and the lawful origin of funds as well as criminal and immigration history. Caputo said due diligence would follow the standards of the OECD and the Financial Action Task Force. Every payment would have to pass through the formal banking system, and the National Directorate of Migration would make the final call.
Important details are still missing. The government is expected to publish its criteria for certifying agents in about a month (early November 2026). Nobody has said when a child’s age is measured, and a family with a 25-year-old needs to know whether eligibility is fixed on the day they apply or the day the file is decided.
Argentine citizenship comes with a passport that ranks 16th in the world in 2026, with visa-free access to 169 destinations, the Schengen area among them. The U.S. is the notable gap. Argentines still need a visa to visit, and although the U.S. ambassador in Buenos Aires says he is working to bring Argentina back into the Visa Waiver Program, no date has been set.
The bigger advantage lies closer to home, but naturalized citizens will have to wait for it. Under the Mercosur Residence Agreement, people who acquire Argentine citizenship through naturalization become eligible for its residence provisions after holding that nationality for five years. They can then apply for residence in Brazil, Chile and several other South American countries, with the right to work. The agreement generally provides temporary residence for up to two years, with a pathway to permanent residence, although Brazil also offers a separate permanent residence route for eligible Argentine citizens.
Argentina does not require you to give up your current citizenship, though your country of origin might, so check its rules first. Tax implications also deserve attention, but becoming Argentine through investment does not automatically make you an Argentine tax resident.
Argentina is a developing nation with Milei in the driver’s seat, pursuing deregulation and reforms intended to facilitate investment. That is why this CBI program may represent a unique opportunity to plant a flag in a Latin American economy full of potential.
Of course, the Treasury needs the investment, and a proposed seven-year loan at 0% interest or a sizable state donation would be a gift to any finance minister. However, I care more about what the program says about Argentina. For most of the last 80 years, Buenos Aires treated foreign money as something to tax hard or take outright. Currency controls and import barriers kept the country shut. For nearly three years, Milei has pushed to open it up, freeing prices and courting investors in energy and mining. Asking people who own capital to become Argentines takes that same policy one step further.
Caputo made the case in Paris, calling Argentina "a beacon of freedom and investment in the world" and presenting the program as part of the country's opening to capital. The investors he wants would bring more than a one-off payment. Families who choose to settle in Argentina bring business experience and contacts abroad, and many will start companies or invest in local ventures that create jobs. A community of foreign investors with a stake in the country also raises the political cost of any future government returning to controls and confiscation.
That said, we should keep in mind that Argentina has a long history of statism. Peronist and Kirchnerist governments built their politics on suspicion of foreign money, and the program asks the world to trust a country that spent decades giving investors reasons to stay away.
Milei’s economic reforms, Argentina’s natural resources, and growing investor interest provide reasons for confidence in the country’s future
There are good reasons to believe in Argentina’s current trajectory. The CBI program fits the economic reform agenda Milei set in motion after taking office in December 2023. Since then, Milei's government has opened one closed door after another, and offering citizenship to investors reverses almost 80 years of Argentine hostility toward foreign capital.
I find it hard to think of a country that has wasted more of its economic potential. Argentina in 1913 was one of the ten richest countries on earth. Its people earned more on average than the French or the Germans, and millions of Italian and Spanish immigrants came to build lives there. Things took a sharp U-turn after the Great Depression, and Perón’s arrival in 1946 set off a long economic slide as he nationalized the railways and heavily taxed farm exports to fund the state.
The Kirchners picked up where he left off with currency controls, nationalizing private pension assets and expropriating a controlling stake in YPF, Argentina’s largest oil and gas company. When Milei took over at the end of 2023, he inherited inflation above 200% and a country where four in ten people were poor.
The country's natural advantages survived all of it. Argentina produces far more food than it consumes, and Vaca Muerta shale has made it a net energy exporter. It has abundant fresh water and sits far from the wars and shipping chokepoints that dominate risk planning in Europe and Asia. A country with those assets needs capital and the freedom to use it, and for most of the past 80 years it had neither.
Milei's reforms have started creating the conditions for both. Monthly inflation peaked at 25.5% in December 2023, Milei’s first month in office, before dropping to 1.7% by August 2026. However, an annual rate of 33.5% is a clear reminder of how much work remains. His government lifted most currency controls for individuals in April 2025 and set up a ministry whose only job is cutting regulations.
Large investors receive guarantees under the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI), including lower income tax rates and 30 years of tax and currency stability for qualifying projects requiring a minimum investment of $200 million USD, with higher thresholds applying to certain sectors. Investors are starting to put real money on the line. By the end of April 2026, 35 projects worth more than $81 billion USD had been submitted, of which 15 had been approved.
The citizenship program is believable because it extends that record. Investors who take up the offer will bring capital to an economy that needs it. Issuing a passport costs the state almost nothing, so few tools in Milei's reform program offer a better return.
Expats considering a move to Argentina should weigh the country’s tax obligations and the possibility that future governments could reverse Milei’s reforms
Acquiring Argentine citizenship through investment is one decision; actually moving to Argentina is another. For anyone considering relocation, the country's tax rules and the durability of Milei's reforms deserve careful attention.
If you actually move to Argentina, you should learn about the tax regime first. Residents can also be subject to Argentina’s personal-assets tax on worldwide taxable assets above the applicable exemptions and thresholds. Milei's 2024 tax package trims that wealth tax a little each year through 2027 without getting rid of it, and for a family with serious assets abroad, that still stings.
Politics is another factor to consider. Milei's party took just over 40% of the vote in the October 2025 midterms, a strong result for a party that started out as a small minority in Congress. However, the real test comes in October 2027. A Milei win would give the reforms four more years, but a returning Peronist government could start pulling them apart, and a citizenship program that rests on a decree would be an easy place to start.
Argentina’s proposed CBI program could open an exciting new path to citizenship and greater freedom for families building a Plan-B in Latin America
Argentina has spent decades alienating foreign investors and pursuing statist economic policies. However, the Paris announcement strongly suggests Argentina wants foreign capital back and is ready to open its markets to investors. That change in thinking matters more than any revenue forecast.
There is still work to do before anyone files an application. The Economy Ministry still needs to formalize the thresholds in a resolution and publish the rules for certifying agents.
I am optimistic nonetheless. If the program works, Argentina will gain citizens who bring money and have every reason to keep the country open, and those families will hold a passport from a G20 country that can provide facilitated residence rights across much of South America after they have held Argentine citizenship for five years. I will be watching each step, because a program on solid legal ground may give every family building a Plan-B in Latin America a serious new option. In the coming weeks, Expat Money will launch on-the-ground support to guide you through Argentina’s new Citizenship by Investment (CBI) application from start to finish.
In the meantime, Latin America already offers established residency and citizenship options worth considering. If you want to evaluate your options, you can download our free special report on Plan-B Residencies & Instant Citizenships.