An Argentine Senate bill would abolish citizenship by investment

Argentina’s citizenship-by-investment programme, which Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced in Paris on 2 October with a non-refundable US$350,000 contribution or a US$800,000 bond as the routes, faces a Senate bill that would abolish it. The bill, by Senator Jorge Capitanich and entered in August, would also make pending investment-only applications meet the ordinary requirements. Página/12 reported early on 4 October that Unión por la Patria had presented a second bill, signed by Agustín Rossi and Kelly Olmos.

What the Senate bill says

Bill S-1441/2026 states that investments, capital contributions, donations, purchases of government securities or property, and any other benefit of economic value are not, in themselves, “service to the Republic” under article 20 of the Constitution and cannot shorten or waive the residence required for naturalisation. It would rewrite article 2 of Citizenship Law No. 346 so that naturalisation follows two years’ residence, a period the bill allows to be shortened where the applicant shows relevant services to the Republic, and which money, assets or donations cannot by themselves shorten.

The bill would repeal the provisions of Law 346 that Decree 366/2025 inserted to create the investment route, together with Decree 524/2025, and dissolve the Agency for Citizenship by Investment Programmes. It would bar national public bodies from running such programmes, setting minimum amounts, or hiring firms to design, market or manage them. It leaves Congress free to keep or create investor residence schemes, provided they do not grant citizenship automatically, do not by themselves reduce the naturalisation requirements, and meet conditions on fund traceability, money-laundering controls, provincial competences and rural-land limits.

Applications pending when the law takes effect

Article 12 governs applications still pending when the law takes effect. Applications based solely on an investment that have no final decision when the law takes effect would have to conform to the requirements of Law 346 as the bill amends it: in practice the two-year residence rule, with the shortening for relevant services described above. The bill does not say how a pending file would be converted, and “final” (“firme”) means a decision no longer open to challenge. Citizenships already granted by a final act would not be affected. The law would take effect the day after its publication in the Official Gazette. The text on the Senate website is marked as a preliminary version subject to correction.

Where the bills stand

The Senate file shows the bill entered on 24 August 2026 (the Chamber of Deputies’ database dates it 20 August), was referred on 4 September to the committees on Constitutional Affairs, General Legislation, and National Economy and Investment, and its entry was announced to the chamber on 17 September. No committee opinion is recorded.

Both Rossi and Olmos signed a Chamber of Deputies bill in June 2026 as Unión por la Patria members, according to the Chamber’s project database. A keyword search of that database on 4 October for “ciudadania inversion” returned no bill entered between 1 and 4 October, so TLT has not read the text of their bill. Página/12 reported that it seeks to repeal the government’s initiative.

The legal ground under the programme

The programme rests on articles that Decree 366/2025, a decree of necessity and urgency, inserted into Law 346, and on Decree 524/2025, which the bill would also repeal. On 30 June 2026 the National Electoral Chamber declared the decree void in one case (file 8843/2023/CA1). The Senate’s file on the decree, as captured by TLT on 26 September, showed it before the Permanent Bicameral Committee since 10 June 2025 with no committee opinion. Separately, article 194 of Law 27802, passed on 27 February and published on 6 March 2026, provides that naturalisation through the investment ground of Law 346 does not by itself make a person a tax resident under the nationality test, while those who were already permanent residents remain resident; it does not refer to Decree 366/2025.

As of 4 October TLT found no change to the plan announced on 2 October. TLT reported the amounts on 3 October.

What this article does not establish

Whether either bill will be debated or passed, the content of the deputies’ bill, and whether the government will change the programme in response.