Welcome Avatar! It finally happened. Today, during Argentina Week in Paris, the Milei government officially launched Argentina’s citizenship by investment (CBI) program. Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Chief of Cabinet Diego Santilli presented it at the Argentine Embassy in Paris.
In previous articles like Argentina’s 5,000-Slot Citizenship by Investment Program, Argentina Picks its Citizenship Director and Argentina Just Killed the CBI Tender: Milei’s decree creating the citizenship by investment option in May 2025, a new CBI agency, and an international tender that was later cancelled in April this year by the Argentine government.
In between April and now there have been multiple local court rulings appealing individual citizenship cases where the entire legal basis of Milei’s decree (which was very ample and also included new naturalization rules) got stripped under unconstitutional claims (I discussed some examples in Argentina’s Citizenship Decree Ruled Unconstitutional and A Shopkeeper Who Broke Argentina’s Golden Passport). So far these have been individual cases and there has not been a nationwide adoption of the unconstitutionality claim of Milei’s complete decree that includes the citizenship by investment option.
Back in April, I wrote that no one should expect applications to be submitted before the fourth quarter of 2026, at the earliest. Well, the fourth quarter of 2026 began on Thursday… funny how things turn out.
The main conditions came in cheaper than what the Financial Times published in July ($350k for the donation and $800k for the bond, instead of $500k and $1M), discussed in The Empire Files Back.
I already heard that Milei would make an announcement in Paris this Friday regarding the CBI program, so this week I’ve been frantically checking the Official Gazette to see if any new regulations were published by either the Ministry of Economy or the sub agency that was created just for the CBI filings.
So far… crickets in the Boletín Oficial.
The real unknowns lie in the details: the actual duration and total cost of the bond option, who processes the applications, and whether the legal basis will withstand potential judicial scrutiny. That has not changed after Caputo’s verbal announcement today.
What Was Announced
Caputo presented two routes, according to the statement relayed to IMI Daily by members of AMIGO, the company formed by the five-firm consortium that advises the government on the program: a non-refundable contribution to the National Treasury starting at $350,000, or the purchase of an $800,000 government bond created for the program. Applications are set to open in the fourth quarter of 2026.
This is what we know right now, split between what the government confirmed and what is still reported or unknown:
Autist note — a zero-coupon bond pays no interest. Normally Argentine bonds can be attractive in two scenarios: 1) you buy them when the country’s Risk Index is through the roof like I did in 2022 for 25 cents on the dollar and you make a 2-3x when someone sensible gets elected, or 2) Risk Index is stable and you go for the higher interest. In the CBI case, the government asks you to buy one at face value as the price of a passport, and the interest you never receive becomes the real cost of the program. More on that behind the paywall.
Want to be first in line? If you are seriously looking at the Argentine Citizenship by Investment program, fill in the Argentina CBI Shortlist (two minutes, no commitment) and you will get every official update, the application checklist as soon as the rules are published, and a heads-up when the portal opens. Serious applicants only, please.
How we got here
A short timeline for the new readers who just found this page through a search engine:
May 29, 2025: DNU 366/2025 rewrites immigration rules, moves naturalization from federal judges to the immigration office (DNM), and opens the door to citizenship through a “relevant investment.” I covered it in Immigration DNU Fine Print.
July 31, 2025: Decree 524/2025 creates the Agency for Citizenship by Investment Programs (APCI) inside the Ministry of Economy.
December 2025: MECON launches an international tender to hire one firm to design and run the whole program. Details in Argentina’s 5,000-Slot Citizenship by Investment Program.
January 2026: six firms bid. See Argentina’s Citizenship Gold Rush.
March 2026: the labor reform removes automatic tax residency for investment citizens, the single biggest obstacle for wealthy applicants. See Argentina CBI Fiscal Residency Solution. The evaluation commission also recommends a winner.
April 14, 2026: Caputo signs Resolution 522/2026 and kills the tender.
April 28, 2026: Decree 285/2026 names Aixa Granara as Executive Director of the APCI, ad honorem (unpaid). The agency got a director, but still no rules, no amounts and no application procedure; I covered it in Argentina Picks Its Citizenship Director.
June 30, 2026: the Cámara Nacional Electoral declares DNU 366/2025 null for everyone. See The Shopkeeper Who Broke Argentina’s Golden Passport.
July 2026: the government files a recurso extraordinario and asks the Corte Suprema to revive the decree. I went through the brief in The Empire Files Back. The CNE conceded the appeal.
October 2, 2026: official launch in Paris.