Argentine bill would declare any investment citizenship invalid

Two bills published in Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies this month would end the citizenship-by-investment route under which the government announced a programme on 2 October. One, signed by Agustín Rossi and Kelly Olmos of the opposition Unión por la Patria, goes further than a Senate bill entered in August: it would declare invalid any citizenship granted under the route and treat applications without a final decision as withdrawn. Both bills have been referred to committee.

What the Rossi–Olmos bill says

The bill, file 5254-D-2026, appears in the chamber’s parliamentary record No. 148, dated 2 October; it was not listed in the chamber’s database when The Legation Times searched on 4 October. It would repeal the provisions that Decree of Necessity and Urgency 366/2025 added to the Citizenship Law, Law 346, to allow naturalisation for a relevant investment. It would add a rule that investments, payments, donations or purchases of securities can never be a ground for naturalisation, a substitute for residence or a reason to shorten the residence period set by article 20 of the Constitution, and that contributions of money or property do not count as “services to the Republic”.

Three articles bear directly on investors. Applications based on the investment ground that have no final decision when the law takes effect “se tendrán por desistidas de pleno derecho”, that is, would be deemed withdrawn. Citizenships granted on that ground, if there are any, “carecen de validez”, lack validity; the bill’s stated reason is that they were issued on a matter article 99(3) of the Constitution bars the executive from regulating by decree. The migration directorate and the national registry would cancel the documents issued. And the state would be barred from issuing public debt whose terms give the holder a right to apply for citizenship or any migration benefit.

The bill would also end any contract the state has with firms hired to design, promote or manage such a programme, and require the executive to report to congressional committees within 30 days on, among other things, applications received, amounts collected, the terms of any bond and contracts with investment-migration firms. It would take effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

A second, shorter bill

A second bill, 5263-D-2026, signed by Florencia Carignano and Paula Penacca, also of Unión por la Patria, appears in parliamentary record No. 149, dated 5 October. It would repeal the same provisions of Law 346 and Decree 524/2025, which regulates them, and contains no rule for pending applications or for any citizenship already granted.

Both bills were referred to the chamber’s Constitutional Affairs and Population and Human Development committees, according to the chamber’s project database, searched on 7 October.

How they differ from the Senate bill

A bill by Senator Jorge Capitanich, S-1441/2026, entered on 24 August and reported by The Legation Times on 4 October, would also end the route. It would require applications without a final decision to meet the requirements of Law 346 as that bill would amend it, and it states that citizenships granted by final acts before it takes effect are not affected. The Rossi–Olmos bill is harsher on both points: pending applications would be deemed withdrawn rather than made to meet the ordinary requirements, and granted citizenships would be declared invalid rather than preserved.

The programme the bills target

On 2 October the government announced that the programme would take applications during the fourth quarter of 2026, for a non-refundable contribution of USD 350,000 to the Treasury or the purchase of a USD 800,000 bond created for the programme. The route rests on Decree 366/2025, which the National Electoral Chamber declared void in one case on 30 June 2026, citing the same constitutional limit on decrees; the effect of that ruling beyond the case has not been established.

What is not established

Whether any citizenship has been granted under the investment route; when, or whether, the committees will consider the bills; and how a court would treat a law that declares citizenships already granted invalid.