Naturalisation in Argentina after the reform: two years, no trips abroad

For a long time Argentina was seen as the country where residence leads to a second passport fastest. The reform has not changed that: the requirement is still two years. What has changed is how those two years are counted, who decides on your application and which shortcuts no longer exist. How Argentina compares with the other countries that naturalise through residence is shown in the guide Naturalisation abroad.

What the 2025 reform changed about naturalisation

Argentine citizenship rests on the Ley de Ciudadanía N° 346, a law from 1869. The government reshaped it with the Decreto de Necesidad y Urgencia 366/2025, an emergency decree published in the Boletín Oficial on 29 May 2025 and in force the same day. Among other reasons, the government says the decree is meant to prevent abuse of citizenship and to protect its value in the eyes of other states.

Set the original text beside today's version and you see what has moved:

Three changes matter most for you.

First: the two years are meant literally. Art. 2 of Ley 346 now requires that you have lived in the country "en forma continua y legal" for the two years before applying, and it states that your stay only counts as continuous if you did not leave the country during that time. The decree's recitals expressly call it necessary to set out clearly when a stay counts as continuous.

Second: the agency decides, no longer the judge. Until the reform, applicants declared their wish to be naturalised before a federal judge, and the court issued the Carta de ciudadanía. Today, under Art. 6 of Ley 346, the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones grants the Carta de naturalización and coordinates with RENAPER, the national registry of persons, which then issues your Argentine identity card, the DNI. Under Art. 45 of the decree, cases filed in court before 29 May 2025 stay there and are decided under the law in force at the time.

Third: the old special routes are gone from the law. The original version listed services that allowed naturalisation however long you had lived in the country, among them marriage to an Argentine woman, setting up a new industry or teaching. A single route has taken their place: the relevant investment. The old implementing decree also spared two groups the two years: spouses of Argentines and parents of an Argentine child (Art. 3 f Decreto 3213/84). The decree removed that exemption, and the agency applies the decree; whether the exemption returns is now open before the Corte Suprema. If you want to reach a passport faster through a spouse, the countries where that works are in the article Naturalisation through marriage.

Argentine citizenship: the requirements at a glance

To naturalise through residence, Ley 346 and the application page of the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones ask five things of you:

1. Age: you are at least 18 years old.
2. Legal residence: you hold a Residencia temporaria or a Residencia permanente, and have done so for more than two years.
3. No trips abroad: you have not left Argentina once in the two years before applying.
4. Lawful means: you show what you live on and that this income is legal, for example with your last three payslips, your registration with the tax authority ARCA, invoices or tax payments.
5. Declaration: you declare before the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones that you wish to become Argentine.

What is not on the list matters just as much. Neither the statute nor the application page mentions a language test, a test on history and civics or a minimum amount of wealth. Nor does Ley 346 ask you to give up your current nationality. How other countries handle language, tests and the oath of allegiance is covered in Language, test, oath of allegiance.

And naturalisation itself costs you nothing: Art. 10 of Ley 346 makes the Carta and the procedure free of charge. Your costs lie in the documents, the translations and above all in two years of living in the country.

Two years without leaving: what counts as continuous residence

The clock only starts once your stay is legal. In practice that means from the day you hold a Residencia temporaria or permanente. For Germans, the options are categories of the Migration Act, Ley 25.871, such as Rentista, Pensionado or Inversionista. Which category suits you and how the application works is explained on the page on temporary residence in Argentina.

What does not count

The Residencia precaria, which you can get while an application is pending and which is valid for up to 90 days at a time, is expressly not a valid residence for proving your roots in the country under Art. 20 of Ley 25.871. The weeks you spend waiting for your Residencia temporaria therefore bring you no closer to naturalisation. Leave them out of your planning.

Time as a tourist does not count either. The agency requires a Residencia temporaria or permanente that has existed for more than two years. Bridge the period with visits as a tourist and you collect not a single week towards naturalisation.

What resets the clock

Any trip abroad. A quick hop to Uruguay, a business meeting in São Paulo, a friend's wedding in Germany: under the wording of Ley 346, any journey abroad interrupts the two years. The agency's application page highlights exactly this point. So plan like this:

• Travel before you start. Anything you do not want to miss over the next two years goes before your period begins.
• Invite the family instead of flying out. Whoever comes to see you in Buenos Aires interrupts nothing.
• Fix the day you apply. The two years are counted backwards from the application. So you count your days to the exact day and apply before you travel again.

How periods of residence are counted in other countries and how you prove them is covered in the article Proving years of residence.

Do not lose your residence

Naturalisation requires your residence to exist the whole time. Under Art. 62 of Ley 25.871, a temporary residence is cancelled if you spend six months or more outside the country, a permanent one after a year. While you work towards naturalisation you are in the country anyway, but long travel before you start puts the foundation at risk. Other reasons why Argentina withdraws a residence are set out under when Argentina revokes a residence.

Applying for Argentine citizenship: step by step

According to the application page of the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, the process runs partly online and partly in person. You must be in Argentina when you apply.

Step 1: prepare your documents

The agency asks for these documents, all as originals:

• Your Argentine DNI
• Proof of your CUIT or CUIL, your Argentine tax or social security number
• Your birth certificate, legalised
• Criminal record certificate from Argentina, issued by the Registro Nacional de Reincidencia
• Criminal record certificate from your country of origin confirming that you have no convictions and no pending proceedings, legalised
• Proof of your lawful means

Germany has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 1966, so your German documents need an apostille instead of legalisation by the consulate. Anything not in Spanish is translated by a Traductor Público Nacional, and the Colegio de Traductores legalises the translation. Arrange your German criminal record certificate so that you do not have to travel to Germany for it: a trip would break your period.

Step 2: apply through RaDEX

You register in RaDEX, the online system of the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, fill in the form and upload your details and documents. If you meet the requirements, you receive an email with the next steps for your in-person appointment. The agency may ask for further documents.

Step 3: Carta de naturalización and DNI

If the agency approves your application, you receive the Carta de naturalización. The agency then coordinates with RENAPER, which issues your DNI as an Argentine citizen. The agency gives no fixed processing time for the residence route.

Agency or court: the dispute over jurisdiction

The reform did not come as a law passed by Congress but as a presidential emergency decree. That is fast, but open to challenge, and naturalisation is exactly where the dispute has flared up.

On 30 June 2026, in the case Yang, Liping, the Cámara Nacional Electoral, the national court of appeal for electoral matters, declared Decree 366/2025 void in a single naturalisation case. An applicant had appealed against a refusal by a federal court of first instance. Judges Alberto Dalla Vía and Daniel Bejas found that the decree had exceeded the powers of the executive, because it aimed at a permanent change and there was no genuine urgency. At the same time they confirmed that the electoral courts have jurisdiction over citizenship matters, because naturalisation confers political rights. The Ministerio Público Fiscal, Argentina's public prosecution service, reported on the ruling on 2 July 2026. The government lodged an extraordinary appeal; the chamber admitted it on 24 September 2026, and the Corte Suprema has not yet ruled.

The official text of Ley 346 still stands in the version created by the decree, and the application page of the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones still describes the procedure under that version. For you, this points to clear planning:

• Plan for the strict reading. If you live two years without leaving, you meet the requirements under whichever version is being applied.
• Keep your documents court-proof. Complete records of your residence, your means and your criminal record certificates hold up before the agency and before a court.
• Do not rely on a single route. A decree can fall; a second passport from another programme stays.

Naturalisation or investment: two routes to an Argentine passport

With the same reform, Argentina set out the second route: naturalisation for foreign nationals who show a relevant investment, expressly regardless of how long they have lived in the country. On 2 October 2026 the Ministry of Economy announced the amounts: USD 350,000 as a non-refundable contribution to the Tesoro Nacional or USD 800,000 in a government bond created for the purpose, with applications in the fourth quarter of 2026. The programme is not open yet, and no official threshold has been published in the Boletín Oficial. The details are in the article on Argentina's investment programme.

The residence route is the cheaper one and, in the long run, often the better one. You really get to know the country, build a life there and pay not a single peso for the naturalisation itself. But it asks for two years in which you cannot travel. If you run a business in Europe, have parents in Germany or travel for work, that is often more than you can give.

That is why naturalisation and investment are not an either-or. A passport from a programme that is open today gives you freedom now; a residence such as Argentina builds a second, genuine tie over the years. How to plan both together is covered in CBI and naturalisation. Which programmes issue passports today is shown on the Programmes page, and the amounts side by side in the programme comparison.

Dual citizenship: Argentina and Germany

The most important question for you as a German: do I lose my German passport? No. Since 27 June 2024, acquiring a foreign nationality on application no longer costs you your German one, and the retention permit has been abolished. On the Argentine side, Ley 346 does not require you to give anything up. You become Argentine and stay German. What this means for children, conscription and travelling on two passports is covered in the guide to dual citizenship in Germany and in the article Travelling with several passports.

Children and family

Children born in Argentina are Argentine by birth under Art. 1 of Ley 346, with a few exceptions such as the children of foreign diplomats. If you spend the two years in the country anyway and have a child during that time, your child gets an Argentine passport at birth. What has changed for parents from abroad is covered in Birth in Argentina. How the passport programmes include spouses and children is shown on the Family page.

Tax follows residence, not the passport

Two years without leaving means your life is firmly based in Argentina. In Germany, anyone with a home or habitual abode in the country is fully liable to tax, under section 1(1) of the Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz, EStG). Nationality plays no part in this, neither German nor Argentine. Before you start, read what residence in Argentina means for your taxes under Taxes in Argentina (in German). The ground rules on second passports and tax are on the Tax page.

What the Argentine passport gives you

A second passport is an insurance policy, and the Argentine one covers some risks particularly well.

• A right instead of a permit: your Residencia is a permit that can lapse after six months or a year abroad. As a citizen you have a right to your country, however long you have been away.
• Free travel to Europe: Argentina is listed in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806. Argentine citizens travel to the Schengen area without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180.
• A country to live in: the passport opens up a large country, from Buenos Aires to Córdoba and Mendoza, where you can work, invest and raise children without a residence permit.
• Two continents: with a German and an Argentine passport you are at home in Europe and in South America, and you do not depend on a single government.

The eight reasons people want a second passport in the first place are on the page Why a second passport.

Who the residence route is right for

It suits you if you want to move to South America anyway, your work is location-independent or based in Argentina, and you can spend two years in the country without a break. Retirees with a fixed income, digital entrepreneurs with clients around the world and families looking for a fresh start often find this easiest. If you want to stay, the path to permanent residence is under Permanent residence in Argentina.

It suits you less if you regularly need to be in Europe, care for your parents or run a business that needs you there. In that case you go for a programme that issues passports today and add Argentina as a later step. Which other countries naturalise after a short period is covered in the article on the fastest naturalisations in the world.

How to prepare

1. Sort out your residence: choose a category and apply for the Residencia temporaria. The clock only starts with legal residence.
2. Bring your travel forward: anything that would take you abroad in the next two years, you do beforehand.
3. Secure your documents from Germany: get your birth certificate with an apostille and work out how to obtain your criminal record certificate from abroad.
4. Document your means: keep your income and your ARCA tax registration in order from day one.
5. Count your days: note the day from which your residence is valid and you are in the country without leaving, and apply before you travel again.
6. Keep a second route ready: a programme or another residence route, so that your plan does not hang on a single decree.

Plan like this and you lose not a single day. And at the end of the two years there is no further visa waiting, but a passport.

Frequently asked questions