Nuri Katz, the consultant who helped design Argentina's new citizenship-by-investment program, expects it to become a status symbol among wealthy Americans.

"I expect that the Argentina program will become so popular with the American [high-net-worth individuals] that really wealthy Americans will be embarrassed if they do not have an Argentina passport," Katz, founder of investment-migration firm Apex Capital Partners, told Fortune on Friday.

Argentina's Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced the program in Paris, saying applications will open in the fourth quarter of 2026. It is billed as the first of its kind in South America. The Associated Press described it as the kind of "golden passport" scheme common in other markets, launched as Argentine President Javier Milei looks for ways to secure dollars for his debt-saddled country. Those markets have historically been much smaller ones: citizenship-by-investment programs cluster in Caribbean states and a handful of European jurisdictions, and the sector has drawn mounting regulatory scrutiny, with Cyprus scrapping its scheme in 2020 and the European Union's Court of Justice ruling in April 2025 that Malta's investor-citizenship program was contrary to EU law.

How the program works

The program offers two routes. The first is a non-refundable contribution of $350,000 for a single applicant, with a family of four expected to pay $500,000. The second requires an $800,000 investment in a government security created specifically for the program. The announcement provided no maturity, yield, or repayment terms for the bond, leaving that security the program's clearest open question until further details are published.

Each application will be assessed by the Agency for Citizenship by Investment Programs, working alongside the State Intelligence Secretariat, the Financial Information Unit, and the Ministry of Security. Vetting covers identity, source of funds, criminal and reputational records, and immigration history. Funds must flow through the formal financial system, and the National Directorate of Migration makes the final decision.

Katz's firm belongs to Argentina Mobility for Investment and Global Opportunity Limited, a consortium of five investment-migration firms that has advised the government on the program. Apex advises individual clients on second citizenship. Katz helped create Antigua and Barbuda's citizenship-by-investment program in 2013 and drafted Cyprus's investor legislation in 2011. In June, he told Fortune that Argentina was developing South America's first citizenship-by-investment program and that it would draw "significant American interest."

The pitch to American buyers

"Argentina, as the first G20 country, offers American HNWI the first opportunity to quickly and easily acquire a citizenship of a country that is both a safe haven and a huge business opportunity," Katz told Fortune on Friday.

He also pointed to demand. "The desire for jurisdictional diversification amongst wealthy Americans, as can be seen by our survey, is overwhelming. The question is where to go, and until now the choices were not really that great."

In June, Apex released a survey that polled 1,733 Americans with household incomes above $200,000. It found 61% would consider leaving the U.S. within five years. Cost of living and taxes ranked as the leading concern, cited by 68%, ahead of the political climate at 54%. Europe was the top prospective destination at 42%, followed by Canada at 18% and the Caribbean at 16%. The survey measured intent, not actual moves, and whether that intent turns into applications once the program opens is a key gauge of its early reception.

Katz, who was born in the U.S. and largely grew up in before moving to Moscow in 1990, now lives in Antigua. He has a wider argument about the U.S. itself: he expects the national debt to eventually force a choice between inflation and default, and believes wealthy Americans are too concentrated in dollar assets.

"I lived through hyperinflation," he told Fortune in June. "I don't think people understand how dangerous that is, once the lid comes off and they have to start printing money."

For Argentina, the near-term stakes are fiscal: each approved contribution or bond purchase is a dollar inflow of the kind Milei's government has been seeking.

Fortune journalists used generative AI as a research tool for this story; an editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.