Argentine citizenship for British citizens: residence and the no-travel rule

A week back in Britain can change the date on which a British resident becomes eligible for Argentine citizenship. Under Ley 346 as amended by DNU 366/2025, ordinary naturalisation requires two continuous years of legal residence immediately before the application, with no departure from Argentina during those two years. Temporary residence counts, so there is no need to wait for permanent residence. A visitor stamp, however, is not the residence status required by Migraciones.

The application now begins with Migraciones' RaDEX citizenship service while the applicant is physically in Argentina. Adults need a resident DNI, an Argentine criminal-record certificate and proof of lawful work or means of support. The two-year mark permits an application; it is not a decision date or a promise of a passport. The filing route itself rests on a decree that courts have questioned, as the section on the court challenge below explains.

Where the two-year clock begins

Article 2(1) of the updated Ley 346 defines continuity as remaining in Argentine territory for the entire two years before filing, without any exit abroad. A short trip to the UK during that window breaks the law's literal no-exit condition, even if the person's temporary residence permission remains valid. This nationality test should not be confused with the physical-presence rules attached to permanent residence.

Migraciones' service addresses foreigners who have obtained temporary or permanent residence. A tourist arrival, extension or succession of visitor entries therefore offers no qualifying resident DNI. Nor should a digital nomad permission or a pending application be treated as an approved qualifying residence category. The published law and checklist do not establish that the clock starts on a tourist's first day in the country or resolve how a precaria, a provisional residence certificate, affects a particular case. The residence grant and immigration record determine what can be documented.

Residence comes before the citizenship file

The first immigration decision is which residence category fits your circumstances. Documented employment, study, a family relationship, a pension or eligible passive income may provide a temporary-residence route. Under the 2025 migration changes, the family route for a spouse or parent of an Argentine begins with temporary residence. Marriage by itself confers neither a citizenship certificate nor a shared residence grant for both partners. Argentine visa routes for British citizens explains those starting points, while renewing temporary residence covers keeping that status in force.

A coherent nationality record connects the approval notice and resident DNI with any renewals, address records and evidence of work or income. Migraciones' official entry-and-exit record shows whether the intended two-year window was uninterrupted. An earlier passport that covers part of it can help reconcile identity and travel history if a passport has been replaced. Resident status should remain valid while the citizenship request is considered.

The documents serve distinct purposes, so the useful set is fairly specific:

• Identity and residence: resident DNI, valid British passport, residence decisions and renewals, with earlier passports covering the period retained.
• Travel history: the Migraciones entry-and-exit record for the claimed two years.
• Livelihood and identity number: relevant payslips, employment, pension or recurring income evidence, plus the CUIT or CUIL certificate listed in Migraciones' filing announcement.
• Criminal history: a current Argentine certificate from the Registro Nacional de Reincidencia, named in the citizenship requirements.

The RaDEX application and its costs

Migraciones' published procedure starts with a RaDEX citizenship user account. The applicant completes the form and uploads the requested documents from within Argentine territory; the agency emails the next steps once the file meets its initial requirements. It calls the procedure semipresencial, or partly in person, and says applicants can handle it without a paid gestor. Original records or additional evidence may be requested later.

The service lists an expression of the wish to become Argentine alongside the age, residence, DNI, livelihood and Argentine criminal-record requirements. Migraciones' separate announcement also names a CUIT/CUIL certificate. There is no published fixed decision date or passport turnaround in these instructions. New ordinary applications go through Migraciones rather than the old federal-court petition route, and the Migraciones status portal is available for case progress.

Article 6 of Ley 346 gives Migraciones the carta de naturalización, or naturalisation certificate, and provides for RENAPER to issue the corresponding DNI after notification. Article 10 makes the certificate and proceedings free. Residence application charges, obtaining records and preparing foreign documents sit outside that naturalisation fee rule.

The court challenge to the Migraciones route

DNU 366/2025 moved the granting of naturalisation from federal judges to Migraciones. On 30 June 2026 the Cámara Nacional Electoral declared the decree null in "Yang, Liping s/ nacionalidad y ciudadanía", holding that citizenship is tied to political rights, a field the Constitution bars the President from regulating by decree, and notified all federal electoral judges. Other courts have ruled the same way on parts of the decree. The government says the ruling is not final and that it will go to the Supreme Court, which has not ruled on DNU 366/2025 as of 4 October 2026.

Lawyers disagree on scope: some say Migraciones can no longer grant naturalisation, while others say the nullity binds only that case and the decree stays in force for others. The no-exit wording described above also comes from the decree. Before relying on the RaDEX route, ask an Argentine lawyer which filing route is being accepted on the date you apply. The separate investment route, covered in our citizenship by investment guide for UK citizens, rests on the same decree. For help with that programme, we recommend Lucero Legal's investment citizenship service.

Preparing any UK records the agency requests

Foreign-issued documents used in the citizenship process need the appropriate apostille or consular legalisation. English-language records require a Spanish translation by a national public translator, whose signature is then legalised by the Colegio de Traductores. Migraciones calls for original documents. A UK document may therefore take longer to prepare than the RaDEX upload suggests.

The citizenship checklist specifically requires an Argentine criminal-record certificate; it does not demand a new UK police certificate from every applicant. If the residence route or Migraciones asks for a UK record, ACRO issues the named police certificate for England and Wales, while Scotland uses Disclosure Scotland and Northern Ireland uses AccessNI for their respective disclosures. A full UK birth or marriage certificate may also be needed to reconcile names in a particular file.

In September 2026, GOV.UK listed a standard paper apostille at £45 per document plus return postage or courier, with processing usually taking up to 25 working days before delivery. The £35 e-Apostille cannot be used for General Register Office civil certificates or ACRO police certificates. Those documents require planning for the paper route and, where applicable, the Argentine sworn translation. These are document-preparation costs, not a naturalisation filing fee.

What changes after naturalisation

The UK permits dual citizenship, so a British applicant can keep British nationality and a British passport. GOV.UK says British diplomatic assistance is unavailable to a British dual national while that person is in their other country of nationality. For travel after approval, the Argentine passport requires its own application: Migraciones grants naturalisation and RENAPER issues the corresponding DNI after notification.

Children have other routes. Under Article 1 of Ley 346, a child born in Argentina generally acquires nationality by birth, subject to the diplomatic-family exception, and follows birth registration rather than an adult two-year application. The law also describes an option for a child of a native Argentine born abroad. A passport alone does not determine tax residence in either country; the two-year residence record here is about citizenship eligibility.