Argentina appoints head of investment citizenship programs agency — two weeks after the tender was cancelled

Argentina’s President Javier Milei signed Executive Decree 285/2026 on April 27, appointing Aisha Granar as the Executive Director of Agencia de Programas de Ciudadanía por Inversión (APCI). The decree was published in the country’s Official Gazette on April 28.

The appointment takes effect on April 22 and is ad honorem — meaning Granar will perform her duties without a salary. This arrangement may suggest the decision is temporary: it is possible that a full-time paid post and formal leadership will be introduced later once the program begins operating and generating revenue.

Both the position and Granar’s professional background are closely linked to Economy Minister Luis Caputo. Previously, she held the role of sub-titular at the Unit for Strategic Articulation of Economic and Productive Areas (a temporary body within the Ministry of Economy), which she left in December 2024.

An agency, but no active investment citizenship program yet

APCI now has a leader. However, the agency currently has no operating Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program.

The legal foundation for CBI was laid by Decree 366/2025, signed in May 2025. The document amended Argentina’s Citizenship Law No. 346, allowing foreign nationals to obtain naturalization through “significant investments” regardless of their length of residence.

In the same decree, APCI was established as a decentralized body under the Ministry of Economy. Later, Decree 524/2025, published two months afterward, outlined a multi-step application review process involving multiple agencies.

At the same time, none of the decrees specified what exactly qualifies as “significant investments”. No minimum thresholds, no list of eligible sectors, and no clear rules for submitting applications were published. The government’s plan was to outsource these parameters — via an international tender to select a master agent.

That tender collapsed. On April 14, the Ministry cancelled the procedure. Under a decision decree, Decree 522/2026, signed by Minister Caputo, the procurement was declared completely invalid after two bidders filed formal objections. The trigger was the evaluation commission’s recommendation to award the contract to a consortium of four companies. As a result, no contract was signed and no compensation was paid to the participants.

Even so, the core decrees remain in force, and the amendment to tax residency rules adopted by Congress in February 2026 is still valid.

Granar’s appointment looks like a signal to authorities: they want to build the program’s substance domestically, rather than waiting for a new tender.

How the Ministry of Economy will proceed next — whether it will issue new regulations, restart procurement, or adopt a mixed approach — remains unclear.

Nevertheless, one thing is clear: Argentina’s investment citizenship program remains on the agenda, and work toward its launch is continuing.

The appointment of a head to Agencia de Programas de Ciudadanía por Inversión (APCI) in Argentina is a sign that the framework for citizenship by investment continues to take shape. If you’re exploring CBI/related residency options through investment and want to track how rules, timelines, and procedures evolve, the team at Digital Nomad can help you build a clear plan based on your goals.

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