How I Got an Argentine Passport by Having a Baby There
Why the Argentine passport is one of the best in the world
Pretty much anyone can get an Argentine passport — here's my story 🇦🇷
The perks, in one line: visa-free access to the EU, the UK, Japan, and 172 other countries, great steaks, genuinely fast and simple citizenship on another continent, and a nice mushroom on the passport cover. A fine addition to my collection!
Giving birth abroad as a citizenship strategy
So what earns you fast-track citizenship? As the old Jewish wisdom goes, a child isn't a luxury — it's a means of transportation. There are plenty of countries that hand a passport to a newborn. Some throw one in for the parents too. Let me walk through the criteria I used to pick a country for my son's birth.
Why Argentina is the best choice for giving birth and getting a passport
The choice was simple. Realistically, there are 8 decent countries for giving birth abroad: the US, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Chile, and Ecuador.
Canada and Portugal need to be planned way ahead — the parents have to already be residents before the birth.
Giving birth in the US means risking a hospital bill the size of a small aircraft, parents only get a green card, and the kid grows up with banking headaches worldwide. No thanks, I'd rather just buy the aircraft.
In Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador, parents have to live there for several years before qualifying for citizenship.
That leaves only Argentina!
How to get an Argentine passport through your child's birth
How does it actually work? You enter on your Russian passport with your pregnant wife, and once the baby is born, they get their Argentine documents (permanent residency + passport) within a week. The parents can file for citizenship right away. The fastest court rulings come through in about six months; the slowest can drag on for 5 years.
Can you speed it up? Send the right requests to the court on time and show up to cheer on the clerks so they don't forget about you. Hola, señores, cómo andan? Just don't try it with bad Spanish. Our team has great experience with this — say the code word capybara and anyone who's read this far gets a discount.
Argentine healthcare and having your partner in the delivery room — what to expect
Healthcare in Argentina is excellent — my wife was very happy with it. For about $4k, you can give birth in a Lapino-level maternity hospital, with a private two-room suite and your own English-speaking doctor. Argentines are also very supportive of partners being present at birth — they handed me a goofy protective gown and let me straight in to be with my wife, no questions asked.
It works without kids too — just a couple of years slower
For those who'd rather not give birth in Argentina, the citizenship process is nearly identical, just about 2 years longer 🙂 Although with the recent changes, the timelines for parents and non-parents may end up converging.
Argentina — a country you want to come back to
I've already written about the other joys of life in this country — links in the comments. I'll just say Argentina pleasantly surprised me: it's a place you look forward to returning to every time another European winter rolls around. And now, officially, I'm coming home.
Vamos, Argentina!