Some American elites are already moving to Argentina. One example is billionaire entrepreneur and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, who has temporarily relocated his family to Buenos Aires and purchased a $12 million mansion in the Argentine city. Philippe Amarante, who leads government advisory at the passport-planning firm Henley & Partners, called Thiel’s Argentine bet “a bit of a proof of concept” for the new program, according to ABC News.
What $350,000 actually buys you
There are two routes open to applicants. $350,000 is the cheaper one and is non-refundable. The more expensive route, Reuters reported, is an $800,000 commitment to a public bond. The bond pays no interest and will be locked up for seven years, essentially making it a loan to the Argentine government in exchange for a passport. If you are applying with your spouse and kids, it will cost an additional $100,000 per person, although children under 18 incur a lesser fee of $25,000, according to the Associated Press.
Payment does not guarantee citizenship, as the government must first conduct due diligence before granting approval. Any money paid into the citizenship-by-investment program moves through institutions cleared by Argentina’s central bank, and intelligence agencies vet each applicant’s identity, criminal record and source of funds before anyone is approved, according to Fragomen, a global law firm that specializes in immigration services.
The payoff, however, is eye-catching. Argentina’s passport ranks among the world’s top 20, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to more than 170 destinations, including Europe’s Schengen zone, according to the Henley Passport Index, plus settlement rights across the South American trade bloc Mercosur.
Citizenship-by-investment programs may be getting scarce
Buying citizenship has been getting harder across the globe. In April 2025, the European Union ruled Malta’s golden passport program unlawful, stating that the scheme “amounts to rendering the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction,” BBC reported. Following this, the EU’s top court effectively shut down the last path to buying citizenship outright in the EU. Cyprus had also cancelled its own golden passport scheme a few years back in 2020, according to The Guardian, after outcries that it was being used to facilitate criminal activities like money laundering.
An alternative to citizenship-by-investment programs is residency-by-investment, which some countries refer to as a “golden visa.” And while some countries have started shutting down theirs, as Spain did in 2025, you can still access a golden visa in some European countries. Eight European countries still grant wealthy investors residency in 2026.
