Argentina Citizenship Application Overview

Argentine citizenship application overview

1) The Argentine citizenship application is filed at Federal Courts where the client is domiciled and it takes from nine to twelve months approximately.

2) The Argentine law only requires that the applicant must be older than 18 years of age and that he/she has lived in Argentina for at least two years (except if you are married to an Argentine citizen or have Argentine children. In these cases you are waived the two years residency requirement).

3) To apply for the Argentine citizenship you will need the following documents:
– Birth certificate (with apostille, translated and legalized)
– Argentine DNI (in some cases it can be dispensed)
– Address certificate (addressed to the federal courts and with no more than three days). Please know that the judge will send the police to your address to corroborate you live there.
– Background check from the country you are originally from (with apostille, translated and legalized)
– Salary receipts or Pension receipts or Accountant Income Certification with your income.

All the documents must have an apostille or be legalized by the Argentine Consulate in your country. All documents in a language other than Spanish must also be translated by a public translator in Argentina and legalized.

4) The process starts by having a court house assigned to your application. Once it is assigned we go there and hand in all the documents aforementioned. Once the court has all documentation and it is approved, the judge will issue nine court orders with information requests to several agencies, two of which are to get your fingerprints taken and one is a publication in a newspaper stating that you have started this process.

5) The judge will ask you to take a Spanish language test. The level required is lower-intermediate.

6) Once all nine court orders aforementioned are replied and the Spanish test is approved, the judge will rule giving you the Argentine citizenship.

7) At last the judge will summon you to court to take an oath of loyalty to our country and will give you the Citizenship Certificate

8) With the Citizenship Certificate you can apply for an Argentine DNI and passport.

9) Your physical presence will be required at least four times–at the beginning of the process, when you need to get your fingerprints taken and when you are summoned to court to take the oath.

It is possible that your presence will be required at some other times, for instance for the Spanish language test.

10) Argentina will not require that you renounce your citizenship of birth BUT your country of origin may have some rules making you lose your citizenship of birth if you acquire a second one.

11) Spouses of Argentine citizens can NOT apply for Argentine citizenship through consular processing. They must do it in Argentina in Court.

If your situation doesn’t comply exactly with all the requirements – let us know the facts of your case. There is a chance to ask the federal courts to make an exception, based on current case law, which is more lax and more flexible in favor of the petitioners.

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Dr. Celano is a corporate immigration lawyer, founder and managing partner of
“Celano & Associates”, a young and dynamic law firm based in Buenos Aires (Argentina), that for over a decade has been representing emerging, midsize and multinational companies with Argentine immigration matters.  Celano & Associates undertakes not only immigration processing and compliance matters, but also immigration litigation. Mr. Celano is licensed to practice law in Buenos Aires Capital and with the Argentine Supreme Court. He is also a registered attorney at the Argentine Immigrations Department.