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Passport & Mobility

The case for a Latin American Plan B

Most families buy a second passport for a day they hope never comes. The question is which country you would actually want to stand behind you on that day. Latin America has a stronger answer than its reputation suggests.

Updated 8 min readSourced from official announcements

Key facts

  • A Plan B passport is insurance: it should work when your first passport, bank or government does not.
  • The Argentine passport opens about 170 destinations, including the Schengen area, the UK (ETA), Japan and China.
  • Argentina allows multiple nationality, and citizenship alone does not create tax residence.
  • Mercosur residence follows, for naturalised citizens, after five years.
  • Main limits: a US visa is still required, and the investment route is under appeal at the Supreme Court.

A Plan B passport is not a travel convenience. It is insurance against events you cannot control: a war, a coup, a sanctions regime, capital controls, a sudden change in the treatment of people like you. The right second passport keeps working when the first one is a liability.

Latin America does not always feature in that conversation. It should. For many families the region offers a better mix of access, distance and liveability than the island programmes that dominate the market.

What a Plan B passport must do

Before choosing a country, define the job. A useful Plan B passport should:

  1. Let you leave and arrive. Wide visa-free access, especially to the financial centres where you hold assets.
  2. Give you somewhere to live. A real country with schools, hospitals, an economy and a culture you could accept for years, not weeks.
  3. Stay out of your home country’s problems. A different geopolitical alignment, different sanctions exposure and a different risk profile.
  4. Last. Legal stability, and a low risk that third countries will withdraw visa-free access.
  5. Not create new burdens. No surprise tax, no military service, no forced renunciation of your first nationality.

Measured against those five tests, a large Latin American democracy scores well on most and poorly on few.

Access: wider than expected

The Argentine passport opens about 170 destinations. The Henley Passport Index ranked it 16th in July 2026, with 169. Brazil (170) and Chile (174) sit in the same band. All three passports give visa-free entry to the Schengen area for 90 days in any 180, to the UK with an electronic travel authorisation, and to Japan. Argentina and Brazil also have 30-day visa-free entry to China under a policy that runs to 31 December 2026.

By comparison, the five Eastern Caribbean CBI passports range from 143 to 157 destinations, and two of them now need visas for the UK. See Argentina vs Caribbean passports and where the Argentine passport opens doors.

Distance: a geopolitical advantage

Latin America is a nuclear-weapon-free zone under the Treaty of Tlatelolco, and it is far from the main theatres of current conflict. Most of its states are not targets of broad international sanctions, and its largest economies trade with the United States, China and Europe at the same time.

Investors have noticed. Henley & Partners reported in June 2026 that nearly 27% of applications from US nationals targeted programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean.

That matters in a Plan B. A passport from a country aligned with one bloc can become a problem in another bloc’s territory. A Latin American passport is, for most border officials and banks, a neutral document.

Liveability: a country, not only a document

Argentina covers 2.78 million square kilometres, the eighth-largest land area in the world, with a population of about 46 million. It has a single time zone (UTC−3), which overlaps with both European afternoons and North American mornings. Buenos Aires has international schools, private hospitals and a deep professional class.

A Plan B that you would never actually use as a home is only half a Plan B. Ask yourself honestly whether you could spend a year in the country that issues it.

Regional rights: a medium-term benefit

Argentine nationals can use the Mercosur Residence Agreement to live and work in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. For naturalised citizens, including citizens by investment, the Agreement applies only once they have held the nationality for five years. From day one, however, the Argentine DNI works as a travel document in those eight countries. See Mercosur residence rights.

Dual nationality and tax

Argentina permits multiple nationality, and naturalised citizens do not have to give up their first passport. Whether your home country allows it is a separate question. See dual citizenship.

Argentina taxes people on residence, not on citizenship. Naturalisation by investment does not by itself make you an Argentine tax resident. Living in Argentina does, under the ordinary rules. For a Plan B that sits in a drawer until needed, this is the right design: the passport carries no annual tax cost.

The next generation

Plan B thinking is often about children. Three points matter for Argentina:

  • A child born in Argentina is Argentine by birth, whatever the parents’ nationality.
  • The option route for children born abroad covers children of native Argentines, not children of naturalised Argentines. A child born abroad after you naturalise will not automatically inherit Argentine nationality through you.
  • Those children can, however, obtain permanent residence in Argentina as children of Argentines, and could later naturalise.

Also note Spain. Spain offers nationality after two years of legal residence to nationals of Ibero-American countries, but only to those who hold that nationality by origin. A naturalised Argentine does not qualify. A child born in Argentina does. See family members.

The limits, stated plainly

A Latin American Plan B is not perfect:

  • The United States. Only Chile is in the US Visa Waiver Program. Argentines need a B1/B2 visa. See the US visa waiver status.
  • Macroeconomic history. Argentina has a long record of inflation and capital controls. A passport is not a bank account. Keep your assets where your adviser recommends, not necessarily in the country that issues your passport.
  • Legal risk. The investment route rests on DNU 366/2025, which the Cámara Nacional Electoral declared unconstitutional on 30 June 2026. The government has appealed to the Supreme Court. See the legal status briefing.
  • Only one investment route. Elsewhere in the region, citizenship needs years of residence. Brazil requires four years and Portuguese. Paraguay offers permanent residence for a US$70,000 business investment (SUACE), followed by ordinary naturalisation.

Is it right for you?

If your first passport already carries strong access and low political risk, a Plan B may add little. If it carries sanctions exposure, conflict risk or political uncertainty, a Latin American passport is one of the few options that offers access, a home and distance at the same time. A qualified adviser can test it against your family’s facts. For a start, see Argentina citizenship by investment and the cost.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Why choose a Latin American passport as a Plan B?

It combines wide visa-free access, including the Schengen area, the UK and Japan, with a real place to live, regional residence rights and geographic distance from many current conflicts. Several countries also allow multiple nationality.

Which Latin American countries offer citizenship by investment?

As of 2 October 2026, Argentina is the only South American country with an announced citizenship-by-investment programme. Other countries in the region offer investor residence, followed by ordinary naturalisation after several years.

Does a Latin American passport help with the United States?

Usually not directly. Chile is the only Latin American member of the US Visa Waiver Program. Argentine citizens need a B1/B2 visa, although Argentina is seeking to rejoin the programme.

Will my children inherit Argentine nationality?

It depends where they are born. A child born in Argentina is Argentine by birth. The nationality option for children born abroad covers children of native Argentines, not children of naturalised Argentines, although those children can obtain permanent residence in Argentina.

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