Argentina on Friday announced a plan to offer citizenship to wealthy foreigners in exchange for either a cash contribution to the Treasury or an investment in a new government bond, part of President Javier Milei’s effort to secure dollars for the debt-laden nation.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo unveiled the so-called “golden passport” scheme at an investor event in Paris, saying applications are expected to open before the end of the year.
Applicants would choose between two options: a nonrefundable $350,000 contribution to the Argentine Treasury or an $800,000 purchase of a new government bond that must be held for seven years. Officials said contribution amounts would increase with family size; a family of four is expected to pay $500,000.
Securing dollars is a key priority for Milei as he prepares to seek reelection next year. Argentina’s Treasury faces nearly $25 billion in foreign-currency debt payments due in 2027. Having paused a return to international bond markets, the government is looking for alternative revenue sources.
A consortium of investment firms advising the government estimated the paid-citizenship program could raise up to $2.5 billion if it attracts the expected number of applicants.
Citizenship with global reach
“Golden visa” programs—residency or other privileges in exchange for one-off investments—have grown more common among cash-strapped countries; about 60 nations now offer residency-for-investment options. Citizenship-for-investment programs go further, granting full citizenship and a passport, and are currently active in roughly a dozen countries, mainly small Caribbean states. Argentina would be the first South American nation to offer such a program.
“The Argentine passport is highly valued, accepted in more than 140 countries,” Caputo said, referring to destinations Argentines can visit without obtaining a visa in advance, including China, Russia, Europe’s Schengen area and most of Latin America.
Kristin Surak, a London School of Economics professor and author of The Golden Passport: Global Mobility for Millionaires, said Argentine citizenship could simplify travel and international business for wealthy people from countries with visa restrictions.
“It’s not only the benefits that you get within Argentina,” she said. “You also get benefits globally in terms of where you can go.”
A second passport as a Plan B
Industry experts say the clientele for such programs shifted after the COVID-19 pandemic, with more Americans and Europeans—whose passports already allow broad visa-free travel—seeking a foothold abroad as a potential escape hatch amid growing geopolitical uncertainty.
“The Southern Cone of South America is the ultimate Plan B destination. It’s not on the way to anywhere strategically important. It’s a region that’s always staying out of global armed conflict,” said Christian Nesheim, editor of Investment Migration Insider. “It’s self-sufficient when it comes to food, to energy.”
Argentina’s history of military coups, debt defaults and high inflation might make it an unlikely refuge for investors seeking stability. Yet Milei has been recasting the country as attractive to foreign capital by slashing public spending, dismantling regulations and courting investment in oil and mineral resources.
Caputo said the idea for the citizenship-for-investment program emerged during Milei’s July 2024 visit to Sun Valley, Idaho, where tech executives reportedly expressed interest in obtaining Argentine citizenship.
Milei, who has described himself as an “anarcho-capitalist,” has cultivated ties with libertarian tech billionaires such as Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of Milei’s plans to shrink government. Last year, Musk publicly displayed a chainsaw gifted by the Argentine leader as a symbol of his campaign to cut government spending.
Peter Thiel, a co-founder of Palantir who temporarily moved his family to Buenos Aires in April, is another ideological ally. Corporate records obtained by The Associated Press show a company linked to Thiel Capital owns a $13.5 million mansion in Buenos Aires’ upscale Barrio Parque. Thiel previously secured New Zealand citizenship in 2011 via a special exemption from residency rules.
“I think that this ‘Peter Thiel in Argentina’ story is maybe a bit of a proof of concept (for the citizenship program),” said Philippe Amarante, managing partner and head of government advisory at Henley & Partners. “He stands for this idea that independent, wealthy, successful people do have choices around the world. And if you provide the right environments and right habitats, the right ecosystem, they might choose you.”
The risks of selling citizenship
Golden passport programs have drawn criticism for vulnerability to corruption. The Financial Action Task Force has warned that criminals can exploit citizenship and residency programs to conceal identities, launder illicit funds and evade justice.
In April 2025 the European Union’s top court ruled Malta’s golden passport program unlawful, finding that EU citizenship could not be sold. Other countries have ended cash-for-residency schemes over concerns ranging from money laundering to housing affordability.
Caputo pledged to guard against such risks, saying intelligence and financial oversight agencies will vet applicants’ identities, criminal records and sources of funds to protect “the international standing of Argentine citizenship.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.
Source: fortune.com
