Argentina (AR) — civil law.
Nothing on this page describes United States practice. There is no certificate sold to an investor, no administrative sale, and no post-sale redemption window in Argentina. If you arrived carrying US assumptions, read falsos-amigos first.
Zona de seguridad de fronteras
A real and enforceable restriction on foreign acquisition, and one that catches buyers looking at exactly the kind of scenic land they are most likely to want.
| Element | Position |
|---|---|
| Land border zone | Within 50 km of a terrestrial border |
| Maritime border zone | Within 100 km of the maritime border |
| Requirement | Prior authorisation from the Comisión Nacional de Zonas de Seguridad |
| Effect of proceeding without it | The transaction is null and invalid |
| Borders affected | Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay |
Practical reach
The affected band is wide and includes substantial parts of Patagonia, the Andean provinces, Misiones, Formosa, Chaco, Corrientes, Entre Ríos and the Atlantic coastal strip. Much of the land a foreign buyer finds attractive — lakes, mountains, coast — sits inside it.
At a subasta
The restriction is on acquisition, and a judicial sale is an acquisition. A foreign
bidder who wins a subasta on a parcel inside the zone, without authorisation, has a
serious problem: the constitutional and administrative validity of the acquisition, not
merely a delay in registration.
Check the parcel’s position against the zone before bidding, not after.
Constitutional debate
The restriction’s compatibility with the equal-treatment guarantees of the Constitución
Nacional — which extend rights to todos los habitantes — has been questioned in the
Argentine literature. That debate has not changed the operative requirement. Treat the
authorisation as mandatory.
Interaction with rural land
A parcel can be caught by both this regime and Ley 26.737. They are separate requirements with separate authorities; satisfying one does not satisfy the other.
Current procedure, timelines and the decree text governing the Comisión:
needs_verification.