Mercosur Citizenship-Based Residency
This replaces the general rule for you
Mercosur Residency by Nationality - Every Full Member Qualifies, Venezuela Included
Argentina's migration directorate publishes the nationalities this route is open to, and every full member of Mercosur is on it: Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela. Venezuela is there despite its bloc membership being suspended, and it is there for people who hold the nationality by birth only. The page carries a second, shorter list for people who acquired a nationality by naturalisation, and Venezuela is not on that one. The other condition on that second list is time: five years must have passed since the naturalisation, which is the same wait the Residence Agreement writes into its own definition of a national of a Party.
By default this route does not exist for a given applicant: it is open only to nationals of Mercosur member and associated states. If that is you, the conditions are set out below - and they are notably lighter than any other route into Argentina.
At a glance
- Duration
- Up to 2 years, renewable
Colombia grants its equivalent once only; Uruguay renews once
- Entries and exits
- Multiple, unrestricted
- Income test
- None
The migration directorate's own page for this route, quoted here, states who may apply and how long the residence lasts. The eligibility it publishes is nationality and nothing else; no income appears on it.
- Also open to
- Naturalised citizens of those countries, after five years
Someone born outside the bloc who naturalised in a member state at least five years ago qualifies
- Legal basis
- Ley 25.871 art. 23(l), Decreto 616/2010, Disposicion 1.637/2022
Article 23(l) of the law creates the category for Mercosur nationals; Decreto 616/2010 and Disposición DNM 1.637/2022 set the procedure the directorate applies.
Requirements
- Citizenship of a Mercosur member or associated state
- Without that, this route is closed and the income or employment routes apply instead
Country-level policy
A decree of necessity and urgency published on 29 May 2025 that rewrote parts of four laws at once - the Migration Law 25.871, the Citizenship Law 346, the Higher Education Law 24.521 and the National Education Law 26.206. It is modelled here as a country-level policy rather than inside any one topic because a single instrument changed entry conditions, healthcare access, university fees, permanent-residency requirements and the grounds for cancelling a residence permit simultaneously. If you hold or are applying for any Argentine residence permit, this is the instrument most likely to affect you.
What applies to you
Mercosur Residency by Nationality - Every Full Member Qualifies, Venezuela Included
Argentina's migration directorate publishes the nationalities this route is open to, and every full member of Mercosur is on it: Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela. Venezuela is there despite its bloc membership being suspended, and it is there for people who hold the nationality by birth only. The page carries a second, shorter list for people who acquired a nationality by naturalisation, and Venezuela is not on that one. The other condition on that second list is time: five years must have passed since the naturalisation, which is the same wait the Residence Agreement writes into its own definition of a national of a Party.
- Native nationality of Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia or Venezuela
- If the nationality was acquired by naturalisation rather than by birth: at least five years since the naturalisation, and the naturalisation must have happened in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador or Peru
- A person naturalised in Venezuela is not covered by that second list
- Identity proved by a valid passport, or by one of the documents listed in Annex I of the Mercosur travel documents agreement
- Argentine criminal record certificate, plus a record certificate from each country where you lived for more than a year in the last three
- Proof of address, and lawful entry
- No minimum income or savings requirement
What the law says
«Residencia Temporaria para ciudadanos de Estados Parte y Asociados al MERCOSUR, permite permanecer en el país por dos (2) años, prorrogables con entradas y salidas múltiples.»Our translation - not official
Temporary residency for citizens of Mercosur Member and Associated States, permitting a stay of two (2) years, renewable, with multiple entries and exits.
Renewable, unlike Colombia's equivalent, which the resolution grants 'por una sola vez'.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«Podes tramitar tu residencia temporaria por nacionalidad si sos nacional nativo de:»Our translation - not official
You can apply for temporary residency by nationality if you are a native national of:
The list that follows on the page is Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Surinam. It names Venezuela despite its Mercosur membership being suspended, and it is the list this site's origin groups are now built from.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
- administersObtener una residencia temporaria por nacionalidad - Mercosur
Direccion 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
- administersVisa by nationality section (mechanism partially confirmed; full country list not pulled directly)
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Internacional y Culto (Argentina)
About this source
Argentina's foreign ministry, which runs the consular network and publishes what consulates require of applicants abroad, including the nationality-based routes under regional agreements.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It describes consular practice rather than setting the underlying rule, and its pages are written for applicants rather than for citation - they rarely carry article numbers. The full list of nationalities qualifying under the Mercosur route has still not been read from a specific page here, which is why our own group membership remains unconfirmed on the Argentine side.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source