Chile Forum

Dagny wrote:

admin wrote:
As I was writing this, I stopped to go watch the acceptance speech of Pinera. He did something I have never heard from any of the politicians in Chile before. Pinera said, "Chile is not the biggest country, the richest country, or the most powerful country in the World but we can be the best country in the World."

Viva Chile!!!

Love the quote; I can't add much, but I will mention that as of tonight, Pinera's win is the #3 story on Drudgereport.com... that says it all for me. Wish I was there...

That was a good speech

I think an entrepreneur businessman who is proactive will be good for Chile and he will get things moving instead of sitting on his laurels. Chile has come a long way but any government - or coalition - that's been there for too long can get stale and has increased chances of growing not only in power but in corruption through cronyism etc. The freer the market and the less government intervention the better.

admin wrote:What will it mean for expats?
I think a Harvard graduate billionaire that owns an international airline (well use to own) and drops quotes from Deng Xiaoping in to casual conversation at the helm speaks for itself.

Uhm, that is not very comforting at all. Thaksin Shinawatra, the former PM of Thailand, was a billionaire Harvard graduate, owner of the largest telecom in Thailand, part owner of an international airline, and dropped quotes from Deng Xiaoping. What did he do? He put through laws that restricted foreigners in Thailand. He made it harder for foreigners to do business in Thailand.

I know Pinera is not another Thaksin, just saying that your quote isn't comforting.

yea, I intended that to be ambiguous. That can be read it in an infinite number of ways.

At least he was an economics major and not a buisness school graduate.

Gotta love your business. Better have contingency plans to add on to the visa processing staff and start sending the feelers out to the potentially new honchos at Extranjería.

On further thought, this is a concern. All spec at this point but WHAT IF the new intent is to "crackdown" on the easy immigration policy towards other South Americans and the mafia run Eastern European and other immigration rings? As Chilean law is supposed to apply equally and blindly more or less, we developed world foreigners will again be directly or indirectly affected by this new policy (UNLESS there are one-time exceptions like the outrageously generous amnesty and auto residency given a couple of years ago to illegal Bolivians and Peruvians).

I could see a crackdown on the low income labor pool such as maids and labors from Peru and Bolivia to help domestic unemployment situation, but I do not expect a whole lot to change in regards to the foreigners looking to retire and live. They can very easily get harder on the income requirements and other things, without changing the law or even being discriminatory under the law regarding foreigners without money to live in Chile.

On the other hand, you need to remember that a lot of wealthy influential families in Chile have Peruvian cooks and maids (kind of a status symbol). They are not about to give them up. So, very little might change. They might however get hard on background check requirements. There is a whole mess of laws on the immigration books that are simply not enforced by the current administration, and why immigration is in such hot water right now politically and is being blamed for the high rise in crime and drug trafficking. It is fairly easy for drug dealers to apply for investor visas and retirement and income visas the way immigration is currently run.

Big changes will likly come at the consulate level. I could see the right gutting the foreign services staff and replacing them with their own people at all levels (or at least I hope they do). Those positions under the left are political perks to peoples kids that want to travel the World on the government's dime, and the consulates have almost no oversight as to how they operate or spend money. An overhaul of the foreign ministry is way way overdue.

Just wondering about international relationships. Alan Garcia seems to be willing to be open to a better "understanding" with Pinera. But the Pacific War syndrome will always be a deterrent to really become "friends". Evo Morales already seems to be concerned with the future of the "13 points agenda", in which one of them to be discussed is the right to "salida al mar". I do not see Pinera approving this situation. Any thoughts?....

Last word I had was Alan Garcia was likly not going to be around for long. He got caught with his hands in the cookie jar again (again). The Peruvians in general I have found to be blissfully ignorant of what their own government is doing or even who is in their government. I have a well educated and well traveled Peruvian friend that was surprised to find out that Fujimori was Japanese. She said they didn't know. I asked how could you not know when his last name is obviously Japanese and he has duel citizenship. I still have no explanation for that.

Chile has been in negotiations for a long time to give Bolivia like a train track to the ocean. Unfortunately the political instability of Bolivia makes it impossible for them to decide anything. Even if they do, a new revolution inside the country every week makes it impossible to implement any decisions. Besides, not having Chile to blame for all the domestic political problems would likly lead to the complete collapse of the neighboring governments inside a week.

[[[[......WHAT IF the new intent is to "crackdown" on the easy immigration policy...]]]]

A very good reason to get residency now.

Think about it like shopping at Costco. You go in. You find something you like. Better buy a bunch now, because they might not have it again.

Same same. Get that residency now while it's easily available. It might not be there next month. (seriously, you never know)

Hey, if something doesn't stop the USA Congress from disassembling the USA economy, there are going to be poverty striken USA citizens trying to flee to countries where they can earn a living. If that happens, nobody will take us. You are welcome when you are bringing money. You aren't welcome when you are hoping to go on welfare.

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:On further thought, this is a concern. All spec at this point but WHAT IF the new intent is to "crackdown" on the easy immigration policy towards other South Americans and the mafia run Eastern European and other immigration rings? As Chilean law is supposed to apply equally and blindly more or less, we developed world foreigners will again be directly or indirectly affected by this new policy (UNLESS there are one-time exceptions like the outrageously generous amnesty and auto residency given a couple of years ago to illegal Bolivians and Peruvians).

Remains to be seen but, from what little I know about the new President, I'm pretty confident he can distinguish between immigration policy that benefits Chile and immigration policy that does not benefit Chile. I didn't get that feeling from the Bachelet camp. (amnesty for illegals, etc.)

Probably some new immigration rules are coming and it probably will be quite confusing at first until it's sorted out. But I'm thinking/hoping it wont change too much or be too onerous for gringo's.

Currently immigration is doing very little to nothing. We honestly would prefer they did something. Even a bad something, so at least we could get something done.

admin wrote:My suspicion is that we will get the best the right has to offer and they will stay on their good behavior, because they got one chance to not piss everyone off and show they can do it or it will be another 20 years before they get elected again.

Probably a good point and even somewhat reassuring given that the country is pretty benign today.

On the other hand, given that a president can't be re-elected when his or her term finishes (even the first time around), one has to wonder what personal political incentive he or she actually has for doing a good job. The UK system allows the deluded long-term prime minister to go on thinking he can be re-elected indefinitely, whereas in reality the public kick him out without constitutional assistance when they're fed up . Of course their ability to do a good job does tend to be time limited in practice.

James.

I think that needs to be clarified. Chilean presidents can be elected as many times as they and the country can stand, just not consecutively. So for example, Frei was president before. There is a high expectation that Bachelete will be up again in the next race, and everyone on the left is kind of crying in their beer that Lagos did not run again and we got stuck with Frei as the left candidate.

oregon woodsmoke wrote:[[[[......WHAT IF the new intent is to "crackdown" on the easy immigration policy...]]]]

Compared to many expat "destination" countries, Chile has few restrictions on immigrants other than they show minimal financial responsibility and they have no criminal baggage. Look at places like New Zealand -- they basically require immigrants to provide a full resume and there must be a demand for their skill set in the economy before they will consider residency. Maybe a little tightening would be a good thing long term.