[VIDEO] The NEW Best Citizenship by Investment Program?!! Argentina CBI 🇦🇷

Argentina put a price on its passport on October 2, 2026: a $350,000 donation to the national treasury, or $800,000 in government bonds. It’s the newest citizenship by investment (CBI) program in the world and the only one in South America, and applications are expected to open in Q4 2026.

I’ve lived in Latin America for nearly 12 years, so I sat down to work out what you get for the money…

For over a year the rumored number was about $500,000, so $350,000 came in cheaper than expected. The government announced the thresholds at Argentina Week in Paris. Fees and processing times are still pending, and so are most of the bond terms.

The 2 routes

Option 1 is a $350,000 donation to the treasury. That money is gone. Option 2 is $800,000 in zero-coupon Argentine government bonds. You earn 0% on it, and you get it back after 7 years. Passport brokers expect the donation to be the popular route.

What a family pays

A spouse adds $100,000. Kids under 18 add $25,000 each, and kids 18 to 25 add $100,000 each, on either route. A family of 4 with 2 young kids is $500,000 through the donation, or $950,000 through the bonds, with $800,000 of that coming back in 7 years.

You pay only after approval. Before that, Argentina runs the checks every serious CBI program runs: identity, source and traceability of funds, financial position, criminal and immigration history, sanctions, reputation. The EU scrutinizes CBI passports, and sloppy due diligence could hurt everyone already holding one.

What the passport gets you

You get visa-free travel to about 169 countries, the EU and UK included, plus Mercosur rights to live in 9 South American countries. The US and Canada aren’t on the list, though there are talks of visa-free travel to the US, which Chile already has. The Southern Cone countries, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay, are stable and feed themselves. They’re also about as far from geopolitical conflict as a person can get.

The 2 catches

Tax residency (11:36): citizenship does not automatically make you an Argentine tax resident. For a mobile investor, that might be the most important line in the video. There are rumblings of a wealth tax exemption for CBI passport holders, but nothing is confirmed. Talk to an Argentine accountant before you apply.

Legal uncertainty (13:03): Argentina’s citizenship rules have been changing fast, and some of those changes already face challenges in court over executive authority and how applications should be processed. The government is pushing ahead anyway. This deserves more attention than the $350,000 headline.

The verdict

Will it be the best CBI program in the world? Nobody knows yet. But no other program can match the country itself. You could live in Argentina year round and love your life, whether that’s Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Córdoba or Patagonia. You can’t say that about an island of 50,000 people.

I’m tracking this program as the details drop. Read the Argentina CBI Primer and get the updates by email.

Not legal or financial advice.