Chile Forum

Hi all,
I’ve been reading this forum since I decided to move to Chile (from New Zealand) in February. I’ve been living in Antofagasta with my Chilean partner for just over a month now. Based on the advice I read here, I have entered the country on a tourist visa. I’ll probably go to Bolivia in October to extend my visa, but I also want to get on with getting a temporary residency visa. After reading my threads on this forum, I want to apply for the Retirement and Income Visa (Temporaria para Jubilados y Rentistas).

I have a couple of specific questions that I have not been able to find answers for on the boards. I’m hoping that someone who’s applied for & received this visa can shed some light on my questions. If not, I may be another client for Spencer Global. If there is indeed a thread that covers this topic, please send me in the right direction!

My first questions are about the types of documentation I can provide in order to prove my income. The official document on the extranjeria website says: “ Acreditar la condicion de rentista, a traves de la presentacion de certificados de dominio o contratos de arriendo que posea en Chile o en el extranjero, u otros documentos similares que indiquen la obtencion de recursos economicos.”

My situation is that I work on an ongoing basis with a small web design agency in New Zealand. I invoice on a monthly basis (I have a limited liability registered company in NZ, but I think that’s just complicating things), usually between $2,000 and $6,000 USD a month. I’ve been working like this for over 18 months. Would it be enough for the General Manager to write a letter explaining that I have an ongoing, unlimited contract for work with them? Would copies of my invoices for the last 18 months support this application, or just be overkill?

I also sold a rental property before coming to Chile, so I have about $90,000 USD sitting in a bank account in NZ. I plan to use this to buy a house here in the future, but in the meantime, would evidence of these funds help my application process? Would I need to show just a bank statement (easy) or evidence of the house ownership and sale to prove where the money came from (harder, since the documents are in storage in NZ, but not impossible).

The second question is regarding the process for getting and legalizing the documents. The extrajera website says: “ Cualquiera sea el documento, debe presentar fotocopia legalizada ante notario y fotocopia simple. Cualquier documento expedido en el exterior, debera ser legalizado en el consulado de Chile del pias de procedencia y traducido y legalizado por el ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile”.
Does this mean that I get the documents needed, send them to be Legalised by the Chilean embassy, then sent to the ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile for translation and legalisation, then when I get them, have two fotocopies done, and have one notorized by a notory here in Chile? Or do I have the documents first notorized in NZ, then sent to the Chilean embassy? I’ve also read in this forum (for the US) that documents need to be legalised by the foreign government. I can’t see a mention of this on the extranjeria site, but looking at the website for the NZ department of internal affairs, I wonder if I need to get them to sign the document(s) also.

All suggestions appreciated – thanks!

Rachel

I don't have time to get in to all the gory details, but the short version perhaps.

You need your primary source of recurring income legalized. So, in your case the contract from your employer will do fine. It needs to be either signed at the Chilean consulate directly, or pushed through the notarization chain locally up to the national level (New Zealand version of the State department or home office I believe), then finally signed by the Chilean consulate. It needs to go to the foreign affairs ministry in Chile for one more signature once it arrives in Chile. That contract should cover about the 14 months at least over the period you are applying for good measure.

Other documents that need to be legalized would be birth certificates for kids or marriage certificate if married. Most other supporting documents immigration is willing to take just printouts. For example, an online print of your bank statement. Any property titles or other assets you might be useful also.

End of the day you want to make the best case you can for why you are not going to be homeless bumb and a burden on Chile.

Admin is correct saying "End of the day you want to make the best case you can for why you are not going to be homeless bum and a burden on Chile." The problem in answering 'which documents" is it depends...on what immigration office and who you deal with there. The office we went to(central Chile, not santiago) has just one immigration person who likes gringos quite a lot. With her, the letter or anything showing an income from elsewhere or a bank statement showing the cash would be sufficient(and birth certificate, passport). We went first and talked to her and asked what was needed.

Also, we went to local immigration and filed and she passed things on from there. We did have to go to santiago at one point to finalize. but mostly. The local office can tell you what is needed. It varies so much as to documents needed.

Anyway, it sounds like you have all the qualifications so I believe you'll have no problems. The local immigration office has a lot of power to determine status and the specific documents needed.

Good luck!

rachelmarama wrote:Hi all,
I’ve been reading this forum since I decided to move to Chile (from New Zealand) in February. I’ve been living in Antofagasta with my Chilean partner for just over a month now. Based on the advice I read here, I have entered the country on a tourist visa. I’ll probably go to Bolivia in October to extend my visa, but I also want to get on with getting a temporary residency visa. After reading my threads on this forum, I want to apply for the Retirement and Income Visa (Temporaria para Jubilados y Rentistas).

I have a couple of specific questions that I have not been able to find answers for on the boards. I’m hoping that someone who’s applied for & received this visa can shed some light on my questions. If not, I may be another client for Spencer Global. If there is indeed a thread that covers this topic, please send me in the right direction!

My first questions are about the types of documentation I can provide in order to prove my income. The official document on the extranjeria website says: “ Acreditar la condicion de rentista, a traves de la presentacion de certificados de dominio o contratos de arriendo que posea en Chile o en el extranjero, u otros documentos similares que indiquen la obtencion de recursos economicos.”

My situation is that I work on an ongoing basis with a small web design agency in New Zealand. I invoice on a monthly basis (I have a limited liability registered company in NZ, but I think that’s just complicating things), usually between $2,000 and $6,000 USD a month. I’ve been working like this for over 18 months. Would it be enough for the General Manager to write a letter explaining that I have an ongoing, unlimited contract for work with them? Would copies of my invoices for the last 18 months support this application, or just be overkill?

I also sold a rental property before coming to Chile, so I have about $90,000 USD sitting in a bank account in NZ. I plan to use this to buy a house here in the future, but in the meantime, would evidence of these funds help my application process? Would I need to show just a bank statement (easy) or evidence of the house ownership and sale to prove where the money came from (harder, since the documents are in storage in NZ, but not impossible).

The second question is regarding the process for getting and legalizing the documents. The extrajera website says: “ Cualquiera sea el documento, debe presentar fotocopia legalizada ante notario y fotocopia simple. Cualquier documento expedido en el exterior, debera ser legalizado en el consulado de Chile del pias de procedencia y traducido y legalizado por el ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile”.
Does this mean that I get the documents needed, send them to be Legalised by the Chilean embassy, then sent to the ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile for translation and legalisation, then when I get them, have two fotocopies done, and have one notorized by a notory here in Chile? Or do I have the documents first notorized in NZ, then sent to the Chilean embassy? I’ve also read in this forum (for the US) that documents need to be legalised by the foreign government. I can’t see a mention of this on the extranjeria site, but looking at the website for the NZ department of internal affairs, I wonder if I need to get them to sign the document(s) also.

All suggestions appreciated – thanks!

Rachel

Yea, the list I gave you is the minimal official documentation. You might get an immigration official that will accept less, but if they ask for more documents then it can be a real time killer to try and chase them down and submit them after you are already in the application process. Best to have them all on hand, and give the bureaucrats no cover to complicate your life.

Let's see if I have this right....

We get to Chile with a sheaf of documents, including:

1. pension paperwork (inc. showing several months deposit into bank account)
2. marriage cert
3. birth certs for all 5 of us
4. bank statements
5. passports
6. health cert?
7. police report?
8. ??????

I can't get this stuff once I leave the states- has to be brought with us. Is the list inclusive?

Also, does any of it need to be legalized at the nearby Chilean consulate prior to travel?

My plan is to travel in Chile first (we'll be there Nov 22), and if we decide to seek residency, we can contact spencer then and go for it without having to go back and gather the documents. It's way too expensive trying to do that with a family- best to try to make just one trip, if possible.

Yea, a little more complicated than just that.

Forget the health certificate and police report. They are of little use for immigration inside Chile. That is gibberish you get from the Chilean consulates and bunch of out dated web sites.

Marriage and Birth certificates have to go through the legalization process, and that involves more than just a quick trip to the consulate. Among other things it needs to be authorized up the chain of authority (e.g. local, state, federal) through whatever your country's equivalent is to the State Department / Foreign ministry then the Chilean consulate. That has to be authorized again in Chile.

Chilean immigration is now cracking down on verification of documents, and is asking for all primary documents to be fully legalized. Among other things they are requiring legalization of such things as certification that the corporation issuing contracts, pensions, or whatever be authenticated as being legally in effect. Essentially the articles of incorporation or State certification that the company is currently in existence. Best to have those documents and not need them type situation. Bank statements they are still accepting so far without legalization.

I'll disregard the po-lice and health certs.

I'm familiar with the apostille process at the State dept level (ie thru the capitol in our state). I can't recall if I first had to get things notarized, but that's no problem. And the consulate is only a couple hours down the road in San Francisco.

Going thru those processes is time consuming but not too difficult. My concern is making sure I have all the necessary documents.

The pension is thru the fed government (past employee). A sketchy outfit indeed! There's always the chance a certification process would find it to not be legitimate.

Two questions related:

1) What level of income are they looking for in order to give the rentista visa for me and my family?

2) Do legalizations expire? Ie do they have to be used within a certain time frame. I am about a year from moving to Chile, but I'd just as soon start getting documentation together right now.

They don't expire, as long as the document does not expire. Which most documents for immigration purposes should not. Perhaps if you have a contract, then it might need to be updated. Once you submit however you are good to go.

The exact amount is a closely guarded secret of immigration to prevent people from gaming the system. It is not hard to figure out however.

The only guidance they give is that it should be at least the income of middle class Chilean family in the area of Chile you choose to live. So, for example in Los Condes in Santiago I would say you need about 1 million to 3 million pesos a month, or about the salary of a manager. That is about a $1,000 per person in a family mas o menos. You can get by with less, just those are safe numbers we have calculated based on our experience to insure immigration never ask any questions about income levels.

On the other hand down in the Patagonia, they will be happy with say 500,000 a month or perhaps less for a family of 3.

It also helps if you own your own home and are not paying rent. The house does not directly give you any right to immigration, but shows means to support yourself.

If you have a large family, be aware that we have had immigration ask about means of support for your children should something happen. Typically a life insurance policy or similar is sufficient.

thanks for the info.

Ok. Another question regarding birth certificates for my children and marriage license.

I was told previously that we need to have the place of birth and marriage mail out birth certificate up the chain of command until it reaches the Chilean Consulate. How do we begin that process? Do I call and state that I need the birth certificates and marriage license "officalized" and sent to the Chilean Consulate

I currently have a business in the states. I will be selling it, getting cash (somewhere around $50K US...worth more--damn recession) plus another $30-50K accounts receivable that I will get over the remainder of the year. I have a life insurance policy, a house, cars, etc. But I have no official recurring income. I could rent my house until I get permanent residency, but that would be a pain. My wife gets some recurring income from writing, albeit sparatic. And, I have a large family.

Being that I will be opening up another business in Chile (and will have several people signing a document stating they plan on using my services) and the aforementioned $/Assets be sufficient or what? What else can I be doing to make sure I will get temporary residency? The worst thing that could happen is that I spend $15K moving my family of seven down to Chile and 3 months later find out I can't get residency. I would have sold my business (which is very profitable) and have to spend more money to leave the country and open up another business in the states with $30K less than I had before I moved down.

I thought I would write up my visa experiences for the (potential) future help to other Kiwis (people from New Zealand, that is, not the small bird, or the fuzzy fruit). It will also help me remember for the next time I have to do it
After reading this forum & looking at my personal circumstances, I decided to apply for the retirement & income visa (jubilados y rentistas). I was self employed in New Zealand, working mainly for a small web agency as well as some other smaller clients directly. I have essentially continued to work exactly as I was working in New Zealand for time that I have been in Chile. I also sold my house in NZ, so I have an $$ investment that earns me interest every month as well.
Here's the process that I did for legalizing and translating:
First, I got the company I mainly contract to to give me a contract. We have always done things mainly by verbal agreement, but that won't cut it here. Luckily that was no issue. Then I found a Notary through Google. I had never heard of a Notary Public, but found out that some lawyers are also notaries. I was in Auckland, and I used Bob Eades at Wynyard Wood: http://www.notary.co.nz/default,auckland-contact.sm.
I had a 6 page contract plus 3 pages of information about my investments. IThis cost $110 NZD and took 3-4 days.
Then I sent the documents to the Department of Internal Affairs.
http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/w ... enDocument
This cost $65NZD, paid by credit card, and I had to include a courier bag to return it. This is in Wellington & I posted the document to them. They pass it on to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the next step and then send it back to you.
However, I called them and they had no issues sending it directly to the Chilean Consulate. I included a cover letter to them and to the Chilean Consulte, two courier bags, and paid the chilean fee ($17 from memory) over the internet, and included the payment confirmation in the bag. I left the country two days after sending, and the documents were sent back to my mother a week later.
Then, weeeeeeeeeeeks later they finally arrive in Chile.
The next steps of the legalization process HAVE to be done in person (by any person, just not by mail). I went to Santiago for this, and went to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile, address Augustinas 1320. Closest metro is Moneda, and it’s open 9-14 horas. First step is the legalization - stand in a queue, they stamp it (verifying that the stamp of the NZ consulate is valid). That's free. Then take a number for the translation. This they estimate and get you to pay half up front. I paid $45.000CLP and was told it would take 20 working days - a month, and given a receipt. They would not send it to me when it was done - again, needed to be picked up in person. Luckily, through friends I found someone who I could pay $15.000 to pick it up and send it to me in Antofagasta - much cheaper than flights to Santiago. The final amount ended up being less than the estimate $67.000CLP in total.
Then I went to Extranjeria. Again, through a pituto I managed to not have to wait in the very long queue outside (3-4 hours is average I think), and only had to wait an hour. I presented all my paperwork, answered the questions, got sent to the bank to pay about $50.000CLP (another hours wait) and I now "en tramite" and have to go back in October, but I have the paperwork that says I can work here if I wanted to.
Hope this helps someone, and I will update in October with next steps.
Also - I did not provide a Birth Certificate, police certificate, health certificate or anything.