Moving to Chile

South America's most orderly state — but since 2021 the paperwork starts at a consulate, not in Santiago.

Chile has the highest income per head in South America, functioning courts, a currency that behaves, and public institutions that broadly do what they say they will do. For a region where administrative unpredictability is the norm, that combination is the country's real selling point, and it is why Chile absorbed a large migration wave over the past decade.

The rules changed fundamentally in 2021. A new migration law reorganised the whole system, replaced the old Departamento de Extranjería with the Servicio Nacional de Migraciones, and — most importantly for anyone reading an older guide — closed the practice of flying in as a tourist and converting to a residence permit from inside the country. Most temporary residence applications are now lodged at a Chilean consulate abroad, before travelling.

What follows from that is a country that is easier to live in than to enter. Once resident, you get a RUT number that unlocks banking, contracts, and health cover, a choice between the public insurer and private plans, and a comparatively short road to permanent residence. Spanish, however, is not optional: Chile is not a country where English carries you through daily administration.

Region	South America
Capital	Santiago
Population	roughly 20 million
Foreign-born residents	around 8% of residents
Official language(s)	Spanish
Currency	Chilean peso (CLP)

Why people move to Chile

• Strong institutions and rule of law by regional standards, with low corruption scores and independent courts.
• The highest income per head in South America, and a stable, convertible currency.
• Temporary residence categories exist for employment, for professional and technical qualifications, for family ties, and for investment.
• A work contract no longer binds the holder to one employer, unlike the old visa sujeta a contrato it replaced.
• Permanent residence follows a qualifying period of temporary residence, and citizenship becomes possible after roughly five years of permanent residence.
• Mercosur-related arrangements give nationals of several neighbouring states a simplified residence route.

What to know before you commit

• Since the 2021 law most temporary residence applications must be filed at a consulate before you travel; arriving as a tourist and changing status inside Chile is no longer the normal route.
• Santiago housing is expensive relative to local wages, and the city is sharply segregated by comuna, so the cheap rent and the good schools are rarely in the same place.
• Spanish is essential, and Chilean Spanish is unusually fast and idiomatic even for confident speakers.
• Processing times at the Servicio Nacional de Migraciones have been long, with a large accumulated backlog from the transition to the new law.
• Chile is one of the most seismically active countries on earth, and the geography — a narrow strip between the Andes and the Pacific — concentrates almost everything into a few valleys.
• The economy still leans heavily on copper, so wages and the peso move with a commodity price you do not control.

The eight guides

Official sources

• Servicio Nacional de Migraciones
• Government of Chile portal
• Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación

Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.