Becoming a Bolivian Citizen
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Argentina on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Argentina to Bolivia · Becoming a citizen
Bolivia naturalises after three continuous years of residence, or two for the spouse, parent or substitute child of a Bolivian and for anyone who has done Bolivian military service. There is a written examination on elementary Bolivian history, set by the migration directorate and waived only for children up to twelve. The three-year route costs 4050 UFV and is granted by the President by Supreme Resolution; the two-year routes cost 2050 UFV and are granted by the migration directorate itself.
At a glance
- Ordinary residence requirement
- More than 3 continuous years
- Spouse, parent of a Bolivian child, or substitute parents
- 2 years
- Military service in Bolivia
- 2 years
- Examination
- Written, on elementary Bolivian history
Waived only for children up to twelve years of age.
- Fee, residence route
- 4050 UFVas of 2026-09-27
- Fee, family and military-service routes
- 2050 UFVas of 2026-09-27
- Fee for refugees
- 100 UFVas of 2026-09-27
- Who grants it
- The President by Supreme Resolution on the residence route; the migration directorate on the others
- Effect of authorised absence
- Does not break continuity
Requirements
- More than three continuous years of legal residence - or two, on the family and military-service routes
- Pass the written examination on general knowledge of elementary Bolivian history
- A letter to the Minister of Government, on the residence route, stating your wish to naturalise
- A sworn declaration form opening the procedure
- A birth certificate, legalised or apostilled by the foreign ministry, with a translation if needed
- A passport or national identity document valid at least six months
- A current foreigner's identity card issued by the identification service
- Certificates showing no criminal record, and an Interpol certificate if you have been out of Bolivia for three months or more
- A sworn declaration of your occupation, with documents behind it
- A certificate from the civil registry service that you hold no Bolivian birth record
How the process runs
- Step 1
Complete the residence period
Bolivia
More than three uninterrupted years on the ordinary route, two on the family and military-service routes. Departures the migration directorate expressly authorised do not break continuity.
- Step 2
Sit the history examination
Migration directorate
A written test of general knowledge of elementary Bolivian history, administered by the migration directorate. Children up to twelve are exempt.
- Step 3
File the application
Migration directorate
At the central office or a departmental administration, with the letter, the sworn declaration form, the legalised birth certificate, the identity documents, the record certificates and the proof of occupation.
- Step 4
Wait for the grant
Presidency or migration directorate
On the residence route the President signs a Supreme Resolution. On the family and military-service routes the migration directorate grants it itself.
In detail
Three years is short, and the exam is the filter
Three years of residence is among the shortest qualifying periods in South America, and permanent residence is not a precondition - the regulation accepts either a permanent permit or more than three years on temporary ones. What Bolivia adds instead is a written history examination administered by the migration service itself, with no published syllabus and no published pass mark.
Two ranks of decision
Naturalisation by residence is granted by the President of the State by Supreme Resolution; naturalisation by marriage, by having Bolivian children or by military service is granted by the migration directorate. The family routes are both cheaper and decided at a lower level, which tends to mean faster.
Country-level policy
Bolivia does not set migration fees in money. It sets them in Unidades de Fomento a la Vivienda, an inflation-indexed unit whose value in bolivianos is published daily, and you pay the boliviano equivalent on the day you pay. Every figure on this country's pages is therefore a number of UFV: quoting it in bolivianos without saying so would be publishing a number that goes quietly stale.
Bolivia cancels a residence permit for absence, and the test is different at each level. A temporary permit allows 90 days a year out of the country, counted whether the days are consecutive or scattered. A permanent permit allows two continuous years. The two are not the same kind of rule: the temporary one is an annual quota, so four separate trips of a month each breach it, while the permanent one only bites on an unbroken absence.
Whatever route you take, the migration directorate attaches the same condition to it: you have to file a sworn statement of your current address on its online platform. The notice appears word for word on every residence procedure Bolivia publishes, from a 30-day tourist extension to naturalisation, and it names the decree that introduced it.
On 30 March 2026 Bolivia created a government-wide deregulation programme called Tranca Cero. It builds a single national catalogue of procedures and provides that, once that catalogue is fully in place, no requirement outside it may be demanded. The migration directorate has put a notice at the top of its own procedures page saying its published requirements are the ones currently in force and that the changes coming out of the programme will be added when the implementing rules appear. Everything on Bolivia's pages should be read against that.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Argentina
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Contar con permanencia en el país por tres (3) años continuos.»Our translation - not official
To hold a stay in the country for three (3) continuous years.
About this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«podrán adquirir la nacionalidad boliviana las personas migrantes extranjeras que residan legalmente por dos (2) años en el país y se encuentren en una de las siguientes situaciones:»Our translation - not official
foreign migrant persons who reside legally for two (2) years in the country and are in one of the following situations may acquire Bolivian nationality:
About this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«Podrán adquirir la nacionalidad boliviana por naturalización, las personas extranjeras en situación legal, con más de tres (3) años de residencia ininterrumpida en el país, bajo supervisión del Estado, que manifiesten expresamente su voluntad de obtener la nacionalidad boliviana y cumplan los siguientes requisitos:»Our translation - not official
Foreign persons in a lawful situation, with more than three (3) years of uninterrupted residence in the country, under State supervision, who expressly state their wish to obtain Bolivian nationality and meet the following requirements, may acquire Bolivian nationality by naturalisation:
The statute says three continuous years; the regulation says more than three years of uninterrupted residence. The difference is small and real, and the counter applies the regulation.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«Haber aprobado el examen escrito de conocimientos generales referidos a historia elemental de Bolivia, aplicado por la Dirección General de Migración. Este requisito se exceptúa a niñas y niños hasta los doce (12) años de edad cumplidos;»Our translation - not official
To have passed the written examination of general knowledge concerning elementary Bolivian history, administered by the Directorate General of Migration. This requirement is excepted for girls and boys up to twelve (12) completed years of age;
The exam is set by the migration directorate rather than by an education body, and its syllabus is not published anywhere we could find.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«costo: 4050 UFVs»Our translation - not official
cost: 4050 UFV
About this source
The migration directorate. Runs the migration system and publishes the requirement and fee catalogue for every procedure, differentiated by the applicant's nationality - which is how the difference between an Andean, a Mercosur and an ordinary applicant becomes visible at all.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of any instrument: it paraphrases and mis-titles them, calling SEGIP's counterpart the "Dirección Nacional de Migración". Cannot be cited for the visa-group lists, which it never publishes, nor for how tourist requirements differ by nationality - its tourist rows are identical for every country and demand a consular visa even of visa-exempt ones, which contradicts Decision 878. Two of its requirement fields ship with developer placeholder text still in them. The citable text is a JSON feed on a non-standard port, so a publisher-origin match will not find it.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«costo: 2050 UFVs
PARA PERSONAS REFUGIADAS: 100 UFVs»Our translation - not official
cost: 2050 UFV. For refugees: 100 UFV
A refugee pays one twentieth of what anyone else pays on the same route.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The migration directorate. Runs the migration system and publishes the requirement and fee catalogue for every procedure, differentiated by the applicant's nationality - which is how the difference between an Andean, a Mercosur and an ordinary applicant becomes visible at all.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of any instrument: it paraphrases and mis-titles them, calling SEGIP's counterpart the "Dirección Nacional de Migración". Cannot be cited for the visa-group lists, which it never publishes, nor for how tourist requirements differ by nationality - its tourist rows are identical for every country and demand a consular visa even of visa-exempt ones, which contradicts Decision 878. Two of its requirement fields ship with developer placeholder text still in them. The citable text is a JSON feed on a non-standard port, so a publisher-origin match will not find it.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Naturalisation for services to the country is granted by the legislature by Law, and the migration directorate only supplies technical reports on request.
The syllabus, format and pass mark of the history examination are not published. We looked at the migration directorate's procedure catalogue and its site.
The regulation requires proof of either more than three years of temporary stay or a permanent stay, so the three years do not have to be spent as a permanent resident.
- reportsLey N° 370 de Migración de 8 de mayo de 2013 (Gaceta Oficial, via ILO NATLEX)
Gaceta Oficial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (copy held by ILO NATLEX)
About this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
- reportsDecreto Supremo N° 1923 - Reglamento de la Ley N° 370 de Migración (Gaceta Oficial, via ILO NATLEX)
Gaceta Oficial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (copy held by ILO NATLEX)
About this source
A labour-law database that holds national gazettes' own PDFs. Used here only where a country's gazette and consolidator were both unreachable, so that the artefact quoted is still the gazette's own file even though the host is not the gazette.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the law as currently in force. A record is created once and holds the text as enacted; later amending instruments are not reflected in the file, so anything taken from it must be checked against a consolidator before being treated as current. Its own page rendering also splits words inside sentences, so quotations must come from the attached PDF rather than from the page.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
- administersTrámites Migratorios Internacionales - catálogo general para personas extranjeras
Dirección General de Migración (Bolivia)
About this source
The migration directorate. Runs the migration system and publishes the requirement and fee catalogue for every procedure, differentiated by the applicant's nationality - which is how the difference between an Andean, a Mercosur and an ordinary applicant becomes visible at all.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of any instrument: it paraphrases and mis-titles them, calling SEGIP's counterpart the "Dirección Nacional de Migración". Cannot be cited for the visa-group lists, which it never publishes, nor for how tourist requirements differ by nationality - its tourist rows are identical for every country and demand a consular visa even of visa-exempt ones, which contradicts Decision 878. Two of its requirement fields ship with developer placeholder text still in them. The citable text is a JSON feed on a non-standard port, so a publisher-origin match will not find it.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source