Argentine Citizenship by Naturalisation
Two years of residence sounds generous until you read what 'continuous' now means. Since May 2025 the law defines it as having remained in the territory for the whole period without making any departure abroad at all - not a short trip, not a family visit. A second route was added at the same time for those who make an investment the economy ministry considers relevant, with no residence period.
At a glance
- Residence required
- 2 years, continuous and legal
- What 'continuous' means
- No departures abroad whatsoeveras of 2025-05-29
Defined this way by Decreto 366/2025; before that the term was not defined in these words
- Minimum age
- 18
- Who decides
- Dirección Nacional de Migraciones
The same decree moved these applications to the migration directorate
- Alternative route
- A relevant investment, no residence period
What counts as relevant is set by the Ministry of Economy, which we have not sourced
Requirements
- Be 18 or over
- Have resided in Argentina continuously and legally for the two years before the application
- 'Continuously' means without having made any departure abroad during that whole period
- Declare your wish to naturalise to the migration directorate, which now decides these applications
- Or, as an alternative with no residence requirement at all, make an investment the Ministry of Economy has designated as relevant
In detail
The two years are stricter than they look
Almost every guide still says Argentina grants citizenship after two years of residence, and that much is true. What has changed is the definition of continuous. Since Decreto 366/2025 the law spells it out: you must have remained in the territory for the whole period without any departure abroad. On its wording there is no allowance for short trips, emergencies or work travel. Anyone counting on the two-year timeline should read that sentence before making plans that involve leaving, and should ask a lawyer how it is being applied in practice, because the gap between the text and the practice is exactly where this rule will be fought over.
A second door that does not involve living here
The same decree added a route for those who make an investment the Ministry of Economy designates as relevant, explicitly regardless of how long they have lived in Argentina. It sits alongside the new Agency for Citizenship by Investment Programmes created by the same instrument. What counts as a relevant investment is left to the ministry and we have not sourced it, so we state the route exists and not its price.
Where the file goes now
Naturalisation applications are decided by the migration directorate under the amended article, and several procedural articles of the 1869 law were repealed outright by the same decree. Guidance describing a judicial route is describing the position before May 2025.
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«Los extranjeros mayores de DIECIOCHO (18) años que acrediten haber residido en la REPÚBLICA ARGENTINA en forma continua y legal durante los DOS (2) años anteriores a la solicitud y manifiesten su voluntad de serlo ante la DIRECCIÓN NACIONAL DE MIGRACIONES»Our translation - not official
Foreigners over EIGHTEEN (18) years of age who prove that they have resided in the ARGENTINE REPUBLIC continuously and legally during the TWO (2) years prior to the application, and who declare their wish to become citizens before the NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF MIGRATION
About this source
The Ministry of Justice's legal information service, published under argentina.gob.ar/normativa and still signing its editorial notes "Nota Infoleg". It maintains the text of a law as amended, annotating each article with the instrument that substituted, incorporated or repealed it and its gazette date, and listing superseded wordings under "Antecedentes Normativos". This is where Ley 346 art. 2 can be read as it stands rather than reconstructed from Decreto 366/2025, and where the repeal of arts. 3, 4, 5 and 11 is visible at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: One instrument has two addresses here and they are not interchangeable: /actualizacion is the consolidated text, /texto is the text as enacted and carries no amendment annotation whatsoever. Not every instrument has a consolidated text, and its absence is not evidence that nothing has amended the original - Decreto 616/2010 is available here only at /texto, so its art. 22 reads as live while Decreto 366/2025 has overtaken what it provides. The consolidated pages also carry no date of consolidation: there is no "as at" line, so the page cannot tell you whether an amendment published last week has been worked in yet. And consolidation is the Ministry's editorial work rather than an enacted instrument - where it and the gazette disagree, the gazette is what took legal effect.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Se entenderá que un extranjero residió continuamente en el país cuando hubiere permanecido en el territorio durante todo el plazo al que hace referencia el párrafo anterior, sin haber realizado ninguna salida al exterior.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner shall be understood to have resided continuously in the country when they have remained in the territory for the whole of the period referred to in the preceding paragraph, without having made any departure abroad.
This is the sentence that changes the route from demanding to close to impossible for most people. It admits no exception on its face - not a funeral, not a work trip, not a day across the river to Colonia.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Ministry of Justice's legal information service, published under argentina.gob.ar/normativa and still signing its editorial notes "Nota Infoleg". It maintains the text of a law as amended, annotating each article with the instrument that substituted, incorporated or repealed it and its gazette date, and listing superseded wordings under "Antecedentes Normativos". This is where Ley 346 art. 2 can be read as it stands rather than reconstructed from Decreto 366/2025, and where the repeal of arts. 3, 4, 5 and 11 is visible at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: One instrument has two addresses here and they are not interchangeable: /actualizacion is the consolidated text, /texto is the text as enacted and carries no amendment annotation whatsoever. Not every instrument has a consolidated text, and its absence is not evidence that nothing has amended the original - Decreto 616/2010 is available here only at /texto, so its art. 22 reads as live while Decreto 366/2025 has overtaken what it provides. The consolidated pages also carry no date of consolidation: there is no "as at" line, so the page cannot tell you whether an amendment published last week has been worked in yet. And consolidation is the Ministry's editorial work rather than an enacted instrument - where it and the gazette disagree, the gazette is what took legal effect.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Los extranjeros que acrediten ante la DIRECCIÓN NACIONAL DE MIGRACIONES, cualquiera sea el tiempo de su residencia, haber realizado una inversión relevante en el país.»Our translation - not official
Foreigners who prove to the NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF MIGRATION, whatever the length of their residence, that they have made a relevant investment in the country.
A citizenship-by-investment route with no residence requirement, introduced by the same decree that created the agency to run such programmes.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Ministry of Justice's legal information service, published under argentina.gob.ar/normativa and still signing its editorial notes "Nota Infoleg". It maintains the text of a law as amended, annotating each article with the instrument that substituted, incorporated or repealed it and its gazette date, and listing superseded wordings under "Antecedentes Normativos". This is where Ley 346 art. 2 can be read as it stands rather than reconstructed from Decreto 366/2025, and where the repeal of arts. 3, 4, 5 and 11 is visible at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: One instrument has two addresses here and they are not interchangeable: /actualizacion is the consolidated text, /texto is the text as enacted and carries no amendment annotation whatsoever. Not every instrument has a consolidated text, and its absence is not evidence that nothing has amended the original - Decreto 616/2010 is available here only at /texto, so its art. 22 reads as live while Decreto 366/2025 has overtaken what it provides. The consolidated pages also carry no date of consolidation: there is no "as at" line, so the page cannot tell you whether an amendment published last week has been worked in yet. And consolidation is the Ministry's editorial work rather than an enacted instrument - where it and the gazette disagree, the gazette is what took legal effect.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Time held on a temporary permit counts towards the residence requirement, but the immigration rule about absences and this citizenship rule are different tests with different thresholds - do not assume clearing one clears the other.
We have not sourced what the Ministry of Economy treats as a relevant investment, so no figure appears here.
Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the original 1869 law were repealed by Decreto 366/2025; anything citing them is out of date.
- consolidatesLey 346 - Ciudadanía, texto actualizado
Normativa nacional / InfoLEG - Ministerio de Justicia
About this source
The Ministry of Justice's legal information service, published under argentina.gob.ar/normativa and still signing its editorial notes "Nota Infoleg". It maintains the text of a law as amended, annotating each article with the instrument that substituted, incorporated or repealed it and its gazette date, and listing superseded wordings under "Antecedentes Normativos". This is where Ley 346 art. 2 can be read as it stands rather than reconstructed from Decreto 366/2025, and where the repeal of arts. 3, 4, 5 and 11 is visible at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: One instrument has two addresses here and they are not interchangeable: /actualizacion is the consolidated text, /texto is the text as enacted and carries no amendment annotation whatsoever. Not every instrument has a consolidated text, and its absence is not evidence that nothing has amended the original - Decreto 616/2010 is available here only at /texto, so its art. 22 reads as live while Decreto 366/2025 has overtaken what it provides. The consolidated pages also carry no date of consolidation: there is no "as at" line, so the page cannot tell you whether an amendment published last week has been worked in yet. And consolidation is the Ministry's editorial work rather than an enacted instrument - where it and the gazette disagree, the gazette is what took legal effect.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- administersObtener Ciudadanía Argentina por Naturalización
Dirección Nacional de Migraciones / Argentina.gob.ar
About this source
Argentina's migration directorate. It runs RaDEX, the online residency system, decides applications, and publishes the requirements for each residency category along with the fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Its service pages are the agency's own summary of the law it applies, not the law. They cite the underlying instruments - Ley 25.871, Decreto 616/2010, the relevant DNM Disposición - but paraphrase their content, and the agency can change what it asks for without any statute moving. Where the requirement matters, the instrument itself is the better source.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source