Argentine Citizenship: Two-Year Residency, Investment, and Ley 346

Argentine citizenship by naturalization is available to foreign nationals who are at least 18 and have lived in Argentina legally and continuously for the two years immediately before applying. Since Decreto 366/2025, the application is filed digitally with the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (DNM) rather than in federal court, and “continuous” now means you did not leave the country once during those two years. A separate investment-based track waives the residency requirement, but its implementing rules are still pending.¹

The Two-Year Residency Rule and What “Continuous” Now Means

Article 2 of Ley 346, as amended by Decreto 366/2025, sets two baseline requirements: you must be 18 or older, and you must have resided in Argentina continuously and legally for the two years right before you apply.¹ Legal residency is proven with a valid Documento Nacional de Identidad (DNI) reflecting your temporary or permanent status.

The word “continuous” carries much more weight than it used to. The 2025 decree defines continuous residency as remaining in the country for the entire two-year period without a single trip abroad.² Federal judges used to accept brief absences for tourism or family visits without restarting the clock. That flexibility is gone. A weekend across the river to Uruguay resets your two years.

If you have foreign-born children living in Argentina, they cannot naturalize until they turn 18 on their own. A parent’s naturalization does not extend to minor children.

How to Apply Under the New Digital System

For more than a century, naturalization ran through the federal courts. Decreto 366/2025 ended that. Exclusive authority to receive, evaluate, and grant citizenship by naturalization now sits with the DNM.³

Everything runs through RaDEX (Radicación a Distancia de Extranjeros), the same online platform used for residency permits. You register on the Migraciones website, complete the digital form, upload your documents, and pay the fee online. Once the DNM approves your file, it issues the carta de ciudadanía and coordinates with the Registro Nacional de las Personas (RENAPER) to produce a new DNI showing your Argentine nationality.²

The old judicial process commonly took 12 to 24 months, and some files ran three years. The government’s stated goal in shifting to an administrative system was efficiency; how processing times settle as the DNM absorbs the workload is still an open question. If you filed under the old judicial system before October 2025, check with your assigned court whether your case stays there or moves to the new digital track.

The 2025 decree also swept away the long list of Ley 346 waivers that once let applicants skip the two-year wait, including marriage to an Argentine, having Argentine children, military service, teaching, and establishing new industries.⁴ The new Article 2 leaves only two paths: the standard two-year track and the investment track.²

The Investment Pathway

Under the new Article 2, inciso 2°, a foreign national who makes a “relevant investment” in Argentina can apply for citizenship without meeting the two-year residency requirement.¹ Applications go to a dedicated body, the Agencia de Programas de Ciudadanía por Inversión, housed in the Ministry of Economy. The agency coordinates with the DNM and Argentina’s financial intelligence unit (Unidad de Información Financiera) to vet applicants.²

Here is the catch: the decree does not define “relevant investment.” It delegates that decision to the Ministry of Economy, which was supposed to publish qualifying projects and minimum thresholds. As of early 2026, those criteria had not been released. Until they are, the investment track exists on paper but cannot actually be used to file. Anyone eyeing this route should watch the Ministry of Economy’s regulations for the missing specifics.

Documents You Need to File

Moving the process online did not shrink the paperwork. Before the DNM will act on your file, you need to have the following ready:

A valid DNI showing your temporary or permanent residency. This is the anchor document for identity and lawful presence.
Your birth certificate from your home country, apostilled, and if it is not in Spanish, translated by a registered public translator (traductor público) in Argentina.
Two criminal background clearances: one from Argentina’s Registro Nacional de Reincidencia, and an equivalent certificate from every country where you have lived.
Proof of means of subsistence. Employment contracts, pension statements, Monotributo tax registration, or bank statements showing consistent income all work.
Proof of domicile. A police-issued certificate of domicile or a utility bill in your name confirms your registered address.

Foreign documents have to be authenticated before Argentine authorities accept them. If your country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, an apostille from the issuing authority is enough. If it is not, you go through consular legalization, which takes longer. Talking to the Argentine consulate in your country of origin or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before you start the application heads off the most common delays.

Every field on the application should match your documents exactly. A birth-certificate name that differs from your DNI, or employment records that don’t line up with tax filings, will trigger requests for clarification and stall the file. Fix inconsistencies before you submit.

Grounds That Will Block Your Application

Decreto 366/2025 lists impediments that bar entry, residency, and by extension naturalization. Any of the following will stop your application:

A criminal conviction, in Argentina or abroad, carrying a sentence of three years or more.
Forgery, omission, simulation, or fraud in presenting national or foreign documents.
Participation in genocide, war crimes, terrorism, or other conduct subject to prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
Involvement in terrorist activity, promotion of violence or of ideas contrary to the democratic system, or membership in organizations recognized internationally or under Argentine Law 23.077.
Entering or attempting to enter Argentina by evading migration controls, or misrepresenting the reasons for entry.
A conviction for promoting or facilitating illegal immigration for profit.
An active entry ban or a finalized extradition order.
Failure to meet the requirements for immigration regularization.

The three-year threshold is about the sentence, not the fact of conviction. A lesser offense abroad won’t automatically disqualify you, though it can still draw scrutiny. Being caught committing a crime in Argentina (flagrante delicto) is separately disqualifying regardless of any eventual sentence.

Dual Citizenship: What Argentina Does and Doesn’t Recognize

Argentina’s stance on dual nationality is narrower than many applicants assume. A bilateral treaty with Spain expressly permits dual citizenship between the two countries. Outside that treaty, Argentine law does not broadly recognize dual citizenship, though the naturalization process does not require you to formally renounce your prior nationality.

In practice, dual status functions for many nationalities. The U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires openly references “dual Argentine/U.S. citizens” and gives travel guidance for them.⁵ The travel rule to remember: Argentine authorities require dual nationals to leave Argentina on their Argentine passport, while U.S. law requires U.S. citizens to enter and leave the United States on their U.S. passport. Carry both.

If you are not Spanish or American, check your home country’s own rules. Some countries automatically strip citizenship when a national voluntarily acquires another. Argentina will not warn you about that; the responsibility is yours before you take the oath.

Rights and Obligations After the Oath

Once you hold the carta de ciudadanía, you have the same civic standing as native-born Argentines with a few specific differences.

Voting is compulsory for citizens between 18 and 70. Naturalized citizens start at 18, while native-born Argentines can vote from 16.⁶ Registration is automatic. Missing an election without a valid excuse can bring fines and administrative complications.

The Constitution imposes a general duty on citizens to bear arms in defense of the country but explicitly exempts naturalized citizens from military service for ten years after they receive their papers.⁷ Argentina suspended conscription in 1995 and now runs an all-volunteer military, so this exemption matters mainly in the event of a national mobilization.

Naturalized citizens have full political rights, can hold government jobs, and travel on an Argentine passport. The restrictions are narrow: you cannot run for president or vice president, offices the Constitution reserves for native-born citizens or the children of native-born citizens. Every other political and civic role is open to you.

1
Argentina.gob.ar. Argentina Code Ley 346 – Ciudadanía
2
Argentina.gob.ar. Decreto DNU 366/2025 – Poder Ejecutivo Nacional
3
Argentina.gob.ar. Ahora el trámite de ciudadanía argentina se podrá hacer de forma digital en Migraciones
4
United Nations Legislative Series. Laws Concerning Nationality – Argentina
5
U.S. Embassy in Argentina. Passport Services
6
ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. Argentina – Voter Registration
7
Constitute Project. Argentina 1853 (reinst. 1983, rev. 1994) – Constitution, Article 21