Argentine citizenship for foreigners?

[French jurist]

Well, the discussion on this forum took place after july 1st, that might be one of the reasons

 

[davepba]

The Immigrations Law No 25.871 provides the 12 or so forms of temporary or permanent visas that someone could reside in Argentina while they pass the 2 years requirement.

Furthermore, even a one year temporary rentista visa which you renew each year will not meet the requirement as it is not uninterrupted ! Each time you renew the visa is an interruption.

Temporary visas that are renewed every year are sufficient to meet the 2 year requirement so long as they are renewed before their expiry date and therefore are uninterrupted.

The Supreme Court basically says that immigration categories established by the immigration law and regulations do not apply to citizenship requests (this is a simplification). Thus, following this ruling, you would just need to be 2 years in the country, regardless of the migratory status, to fulfill the requirement for citizenship.

Please note that under Argentine law court rulings are valid only for the specific case where they were made, and do not have the general binding force that they have under common law. They are, however, a very important precedent that can be used to argue a case.

Finally I agree with Attorney in BA that following a ruling of the Supreme Court legal residency is not a requirement and that simply residing in Argentina for two years would be sufficient.

Though I add that this would be a last resort only if someone didn't fit into any of the provided categories, because I doubt that the application for citizenship would be sucessfull at 'primera instancia' and possibly have to go all the way to the Supreme Court. This is due to the absence of binding precedent in the judiciary system.

Cheers

 

[steveinbsas]

Well, the discussion on this forum took place after july 1st, that might be one of the reasons

I'm still surprised it wasn't mentioned before, especially as there has been a lot of recent discussion/debate in related threads about laws that have been obsolete for some time. I do know one expat who started the process of applying for Argentine citizenship last year and he was never told about this condition by his lawyer.

Since other posts have followed, French Jurists and I are referring to this:

Up until the 1st of July 2010 it was a requirement to renounce your citizenship of origin.

However the judiciary ruled in Expte. No 2275/2010.- "Zunino Ignacio s /Peticion" that it was no longer required to give up your other citizenship on a side note nor is it any longer a requirement to state your religion.

cheers

 

[gunt86]

Up until the 1st of July 2010 it was a requirement to renounce your citizenship of origin.

However the judiciary ruled in Expte. No 2275/2010.- "Zunino Ignacio s /Peticion" that it was no longer required to give up your other citizenship on a side note nor is it any longer a requirement to state your religion.

The requirement to renounce citizenship in country of origin was irrelevant, so the law change of July 1, 2010 is trivial. It was irrelevant because it is impossible to confirm if the renouncement was ever done. The USA has a similar process for naturalization in that it requests applicants to renounce all foreign allegiances and citizenship: however as the renouncement is done before a US official it has no legal weight in the country of origin. The only way to renounce citizenship is to renounce it before an official of your country of origin. All that was happening in both the USA and Argentina cases is that the renouncement was happening before an official not of the country of origin, but instead before an official of the adopted country of naturalization.

 

[French jurist]

The only way to renounce citizenship is to renounce it before an official of your country of origin.

Well it depends what is your country Gunther, gruß (sorry, Gruss since the reform)

 

[French jurist]

Anyway, out of pure intellectual curiosity, how this nationality renouncement could ever had been enforced ?
Impossible to renounce a nationality before, and if not renounced afterwards, would the Argentinean nationality had been given under suspensive conditions (kind of similar problem to apostasy related to religion) ?!

 

[gunt86]

Anyway, out of pure intellectual curiosity, how this nationality renouncement could ever had been enforced ?
Impossible to renounce a nationality before, and if not renounced afterwards, would the Argentinean nationality had been given under suspensive conditions (kind of similar problem to apostasy related to religion) ?!

Singapore has a strict single citizenship model where proof of renouncement must be produced to Singapore authorities before Singapore citizenship can be granted. The process involves visiting the embassy of the country of origin in Singapore, renouncing before the official, receiving document of renouncement from official, presenting renouncement document to Singapore official. Notice that for a very short period of time between the renouncement of the country of origin and the conferment of Singapore citizenship, the applicant is stateless. Obviously no travel is allowed in the process!

 

[mini]

Well, the discussion on this forum took place after july 1st, that might be one of the reasons

No. It still wasn't relevant for US citizens before this 1 July ruling. Even if you renounced your citizenship to an Argentine official the US would not accept this "renunciation" and you would still, in the eyes of the US be a US citizen. Also, there was an agreement between Argentina and a hand full of countries that allowed dual citizenship between the two countries.

 

[gunt86]

No. It still wasn't relevant for US citizens before this 1 July ruling. Even if you renounced your citizenship to an Argentine official the US would not accept this "renunciation" and you would still, in the eyes of the US be a US citizen.

In case you haven't noticed, this thread is not only for US citizens. Thanks for your US-centric post once again.

Also, there was an agreement between Argentina and a hand full of countries that allowed dual citizenship between the two countries.

That agreement is for Argentine born citizens who naturalize as Italians or US or whatever else is on the list. It is not the other way around.

 

[fedecc]

Well, our foreign relations minister Héctor Timmerman has or had US and argentinian citizenship, so its certainly possible to have both.