A foreign company's local branch, made simpler

What changed

The Inspección General de Justicia (IGJ, Argentina's corporate registry) simplifies the registration of companies incorporated abroad (Articles 118/123 of Law 19,550). It repeals 12 articles and amends another 13 of the previous regime (IGJ General Resolution 15/24). Two central changes: (1) it accepts the resolution of the corporate body approving the registration in digital format reproduced on paper, with a Hague Apostille, instead of requiring notarial or consular certification; (2) it enables 'joint processing': when a foreign company registers in order to take part in a newly formed local company, both filings —the registration of the foreign company and the incorporation of the local one— are submitted and processed in a single case file, rather than two sequential ones. verif · May 26, 2026 ↗

In force

May 27, 2026, the date the resolution itself sets (published in the Boletín Oficial on May 26, 2026). verif · May 27, 2026 ↗

Who it affects

Foreign companies seeking to invest in Argentina by forming or taking part in a local company (the typical vehicle of a foreign investor, including the VPUs and dedicated branches that RIGI projects set up), and the professionals who handle their registration before the IGJ. It cuts the cost, the time and the number of sequential filings needed to stand up the local corporate structure of a foreign investment. verif · May 26, 2026 ↗

The norm

Resolución General 4/2026 of the Inspección General de Justicia (IGJ, the corporate registry), issued on May 22, 2026 and published in the Boletín Oficial on May 26, 2026 (notice 342361), in force since May 27, 2026. It repeals and amends the regime of RG IGJ 15/24 on companies incorporated abroad. verif · May 26, 2026 ↗

Corporate deregulation aimed squarely at the administrative bottleneck of investing from abroad: the digital signature plus apostille replaces the notarial/consular round trip, and joint processing removes the need to wait for the foreign parent's registration before incorporating the local company that executes the project. It is the same filing that any VPU or dedicated branch of a RIGI project goes through, at a different scale — part of the State-simplification agenda of the Sturzenegger programme, applied this time to the entry point of foreign capital. thesis

Setting up the local subsidiary of a foreign company gets faster and cheaper

What changed and who it applies to

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