Argentina Citizenship: Residency, Investment, and Requirements

Argentine citizenship comes through one of three routes: birth on Argentine soil, descent from an Argentine parent, or naturalization after two continuous years of legal residency. Since a 2025 overhaul, naturalization applications are filed online with the National Directorate of Migration (DNM) rather than through the federal courts, and Argentina lets you keep your original nationality when you naturalize.

Who Qualifies

Law No. 346, Argentina’s foundational nationality statute, sets out three ways to become a citizen.¹

Anyone born within Argentine territory is automatically a citizen, regardless of the parents’ nationality.
Children born abroad to at least one native Argentine parent can claim nationality by “option,” either at an Argentine consulate or at a civil registry office inside the country. The paperwork centers on an apostilled birth certificate, the Argentine parent’s birth certificate, and identity documents for you and the transmitting parent.²³
Foreign residents who meet the age and residency thresholds can naturalize. This is the path the 2025 reform reshaped.

The Two-Year Residency Rule

To naturalize you must be at least 18 and have lived in Argentina continuously and legally for the two years immediately before applying.¹ You need temporary or permanent residency status during that period. The Constitution allows authorities to shorten the wait for applicants who have rendered services to the country.

The 2025 reform tightened the definition of “continuous.” Under the new rules, the two years count as continuous only if you did not leave Argentina at any point during that period. Courts had previously tolerated short trips abroad; that flexibility is gone. If you are counting down to eligibility, plan travel accordingly.

Exemptions That Waive the Wait

Law 346 lists circumstances that let you skip the residency requirement entirely: serving in the Argentine armed forces, introducing a useful invention or establishing a new industry, working as a teacher, operating a railroad enterprise, or settling in frontier territories.⁴ Marriage to an Argentine citizen also qualifies. The 1869 text refers to marrying “an Argentine woman,” but in practice the provision is applied regardless of the spouse’s gender, consistent with Argentina’s 2010 marriage equality law.

A widely repeated claim online is that having a child born in Argentina waives the residency requirement. It does not. An Argentine-born child may help your case in practice, but it is not one of the statutory exemptions.

How to Apply Under the 2025 Rules

Decree 366/2025, issued on May 29, 2025, moved naturalization out of the federal courts and into the DNM, the same agency that handles residency.⁵ The online platform launched in October 2025. The old edictos, prosecutor review, and judicial hearing no longer exist for new applications.

File online through RADEX, the DNM’s Remote Processing of Foreigners’ Residency system. You must be physically in Argentina when you submit.
The DNM reviews your file and may ask for additional documentation.
If approved, the DNM issues the naturalization letter (carta de naturalización) and coordinates directly with Renaper, the National Registry of Persons, to update your records and issue a citizen-status DNI.⁵

If you filed under the old judicial system before the decree took effect, your case stays with the court where it was assigned. You do not restart through the DNM.⁵

Documents You Will Need

The DNM lists four core documents to open the application:⁶

Your DNI, the identity card issued when you obtained residency.
A criminal record certificate from the Registro Nacional de Reincidencia, under the Ministry of Justice. Provincial or local police certificates are not accepted.⁷
Proof that you can support yourself, such as a CUIT or CUIL certificate, employment records, or evidence of self-employment.
Your CUIT or CUIL tax identification certificate, listed as its own requirement.

The DNM can request more during review. Older guidance and the previous judicial process also relied on an apostilled and translated birth certificate, passport copies, and proof of domicile, so it is sensible to have those ready. Foreign criminal certificates are not currently listed for the DNM naturalization process, though you may have supplied them earlier for your residency application. Keep copies.

What Can Disqualify You

Several situations under Argentina’s immigration framework can block a citizenship application: a criminal conviction carrying a sentence of three years or more, an active criminal prosecution, fraud or forgery in your immigration documents, and involvement in terrorism, war crimes, or crimes against humanity. Entering Argentina by evading immigration controls or misrepresenting your reasons for entry can also disqualify you.

Your record abroad matters as well as your record inside Argentina. A foreign conviction can surface during the background review even if it did not come up when you first obtained residency.

The Investment Route

Decree 366/2025 created a separate pathway to citizenship through a “relevant investment,” with no residency time requirement.⁵ A new Agency for Citizenship by Investment Programs, under the Ministry of Economy, designs and evaluates the programs and recommends approval or rejection to the DNM, which makes the final call. As of early 2026, the qualifying investment thresholds and categories have not been fully detailed in public regulations. If this route interests you, watch for updates from the DNM and the Ministry of Economy.

After Approval

Once the DNM grants citizenship, it coordinates with Renaper to issue a new DNI reflecting citizen status.⁵ With that DNI, you can apply for an Argentine passport through Renaper. Fees change frequently with inflation, so check Renaper’s website before booking an appointment. The passport gives visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to more than 170 countries.

Dual Citizenship

Argentina does not require you to renounce your original nationality when you naturalize. Whether your home country permits dual citizenship is a separate question you will need to answer on your own end.

For dual U.S.-Argentine citizens, the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires states the travel-document rule plainly: enter and leave the United States on your U.S. passport, and enter and leave Argentina on your Argentine passport. Carry both when you travel. Children born in Argentina to foreign parents are Argentine citizens by jus soli from birth, and Argentine authorities require them to depart the country on their Argentine passport.⁸

Obligations That Come With Citizenship

Becoming Argentine triggers tax residency. Under Section 119 of Argentina’s Income Tax Law, anyone who is Argentine by nationality or naturalization is treated as a tax resident, which means Argentina can tax your worldwide income rather than only what you earn inside the country. Naturalized citizens living abroad may lose tax resident status after 12 continuous months outside Argentina or by obtaining permanent residency in another country, but the rules for reestablishing residency depend on factors like where you keep a home and where your closest personal ties sit.⁹ Consult a tax advisor before assuming you are outside the system.

Voting is compulsory. Once you are a citizen you are legally required to vote in national elections. Failing to vote without a valid excuse, such as being more than 500 kilometers from your polling place or having a medical issue, can bring a fine and a three-year bar from holding public office. Register your address with the electoral authority and track election dates, especially if you divide time between countries.

1
United Nations Legislative Series. United Nations Legislative Series – Argentina Citizenship
2
Consulado General y Centro de Promoción en Miami. How to Obtain Argentine Citizenship by Descent
3
Embassy in Sweden. Option for Argentine Citizenship
4
InfoLEG – Ministry of Economy and Public Finance. Law 346 – Citizenship Law
5
Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina. Decreto 366/2025
6
KPMG. Argentina – New Online Process for Obtaining Citizenship by Naturalization
7
Consulate General in Montreal. Criminal Records Certificate
8
U.S. Embassy in Argentina. Passport Services
9
OECD. Argentina – Information on Residency for Tax Purposes