Chile Forum

Hi I'm hoping someone might clarify things for me....

I've recently signed a contract for a private colegio starting in March. Have not yet started the visa application but the school has promised to help me with this.

I believe I qualify for either a visa sujeto a contrato or a visa temporaria. From my understanding, the visa temporaria has the advantage of not paying into the Chilean Tax System while the visa sujeto a contrato stipulates that the employer has to provide a return trip ticket at the end of contract (this is from what I've read on the extranjeria website under requesitos de visa, clausula de viaje).

Now I have never heard anyone mention about a final ticket at the end of contract--neither at interviews I've done, nor is it in my contract or just in talking to other people who are working. Is this a legally binding clause?

My situation is that the employer has stated in my contract there would be a 20% deduction which I was told was for health care and to pay into the tax system here but no offer of a plane ticket at end of contract. Is it within my rights to request either a plane ticket or to forgo paying Chilean taxes? I'd prefer the latter. I know technically if you can prove that you are paying into a Social Security system in your own country you can get around this, but since its a small school that generally doesn't hire a lot of foreigners, I'm not sure they'll know how to go about this. I was told by a previous employer that you just need a copy of your Social Security card.


Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

I think you misunderstood my post.

First of all, I am planning on getting a visa. The school is going to help me with this. Its just that I was wondering the advantages of a visa sujeto a contrato vs. a visa temporaria. From what I've read on the Extranjeria website, I understood that with the visa temporaria, you DID NOT have to pay taxes into the Chilean governement, the only deduction was for health insurance. Is this correct? With the visa sujeto a contrato, again if you look at the Extranjeria website under the visa requirements, it states that the employer must provide the employee a return trip ticket back to country of origin. But I've never heard of such a thing, and I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about this. I'm not asking if I need return ticket.

I've heard you can request a tax refund for the money you've paid into the chilean tax system at the end of the year, but that it involves filling out a lot of tedious forms. Where do you find these forms and has anyone had experience doing this, is it really that complicated?

Thanks...

Hi,
Don't know if this is coming after the fact - you may have already got this straightened out. I started work here a few months ago so have just gone through this same process. I currently have my "visa en tramite" with permission to work and am waiting for the official visa. It's correct that in order to work you MUST apply for the visa sujeto a contrato and deal with paying taxes. It's likely that the salary you've been quoted is liquido, meaning it's what you'll take home every month (ie. your offical salary is higher, school pays your taxes, and what they've agreed to pay you is your after tax salary), but you may want to confirm that to make sure there are no surprises! As far as the plane ticket clause goes, yes, it needs to be in the contract simply because that's what the government has decided. If they school has ever employed foreigners before, they should know that. Here at my office I signed something else saying that I wouldn't in fact hold them responsible for my ticket, although who knows how well that would hold up in court - I could probably sue them for it but have promised I won't! Hope this helps a bit, good luck with the visa and the job.
PS. Once you get your visa en tramite, you should also get the official permission to work. You pay a small amount (I think the amount is half of what your visa will cost, which depends on where you're from), and it means you're not illegal. It's worth it, according to several people I've talked to, so I did it.