Chile Forum

I am relocating to our office in Providencia at the end of the month with my wife and our 3 year old son. We have agreed to stay for two years. I wanted to share my plan for getting down there with everyone. Please feel free to shoot as many holes into it as possible. You would be doing me a favor. So here we go:
We will:
1) only bring what we can check on the plane
2) enter the country on tourist visas
3) immediately apply for a temporary resident visa (requisite health certificates, HIV tests, background checks, etc already in hand)
4) stay one month in a furnished apartment lined up by my company
5) find a more permanent furnished apartment that has the approval of my wife and is within walking distance of work
6) attempt, but not count on, obtaining a bank account with the help of my company
7) rely on public transportation until we get a better feel for the city
get paid by our Chilean office in pesos
9) rely on my US ATM and credit cards to survive until I know what to do with my Chilean paycheck
10) meet people and have fun

Again, if anyone reading this starts shaking their head while muttering "poor ignorant bastard", please chime in.

Thanks,
Aaron

1. requisite health certificates, HIV tests, background checks, etc already in hand <-- not required under the old government once you are in the country... soemone who has done there work visa laterly might be able to help with unpdated info....

2. Peso vs $US after being here a year, i wish i had a split, enough pesos to live on, and the savings in $US mainly because of the amount of fees you lose converting everything.... i havent seen this topic discussed for awhile, other people might have opinions on this....

3. make sure you keep on top of your company to make your work visa happen, i have had alot of friends with problems because there company was not handling the process correctly... my company choose to have there lawyer do everything rather than the office administrator, was far less problematic..... just keep an eye on the process

other than that it appears you have read alot of this forum and this is one of the best plans i have seen, appears your not expecting too much !!

Enjoy chile

double posted... server error

9) rely on my US ATM and credit cards to survive until I know what to do with my Chilean paycheck => don't forget to tell your US based credit card companies that you are going to be in CL. Just don't let them know that you don't have a US address or they might cancel your card. Which leads us to wondering how you are going to maintain a US address to continue to qualify for US banking.

More on this: bring several credit cards with ATM capabilities, cards that us foreign-use-friendly. Relying on one or two US based cards can be very disappointing. Experience with Citi differs but my experience with them suggests that the use of the guillotine be reinstated for removal of the executive management. And a big wad of cash for a backup when all else fails. And with financial affairs in Chile, failure is always an option.

zer0nz wrote:1. requisite health certificates, HIV tests, background checks, etc already in hand <-- not required under the old government once you are in the country... soemone who has done there work visa laterly might be able to help with unpdated info....

Will probably still need a PDI check even if new in country.

Others will undoubtedly "chime in", for both support and constructive criticism...
g~j can only say, in the most general sense...
Now, as ever, in life...
ALWAYS have a "Plan B"...
And maybe even a "Plan C"

patagoniax wrote:

zer0nz wrote:1. requisite health certificates, HIV tests, background checks, etc already in hand <-- not required under the old government once you are in the country... soemone who has done there work visa laterly might be able to help with unpdated info....

Will probably still need a PDI check even if new in country.

once you are here... nada de nada except a contract of work...., that was mine in july last year... the only thing im not sure of is if the new government has enforced the processes... if you read back on old posts you will see the additional paper work is required when applying outside the country via a embassy or consulate, and that process is recommended against as chances are it will never be approved, turn up on the tourist visa, apply here, you even get a permission to work and can get a rut on your first day in the country, my boss even handed me a couple of $100,000 pesos in cash and some how did an advance on the books, can even be paid by cheque and cash it at the servipeg desk with a copy of your passport all without the visa being completed...

See item 42

patagoniax wrote:including maximum cash allowable for each person to live on when you get annoyed of high ATM fees and foreign currency surcharges

I do better with my 1% or less, no per-use-fee ATM card than what one gets at a casa de cambio and without the risk of carrying $10,000 USD from point A to point B to point C etc.

patagoniax wrote:won't working whilst on tourist visa put you in violation of the law?

You can get an in-tramite permit the same time you apply for a Work Subject to Contract or TRV.

patagoniax wrote:why not apply for visa "sujeto a contrato"? Your company should be able to get this going legitimately right now, vs your illegitimate residency approach.

See above.

AaronM wrote:requisite health certificates, HIV tests, background checks

NOT REQUIRED WHEN APPLYING INSIDE THE COUNTRY

Refer to
http://www.extranjeria.gov.cl/visa_contrato.html
and TE-6 or TE-8
http://www.extranjeria.gov.cl/clasif_visa_temp.html

AaronM wrote:attempt, but not count on, obtaining a bank account with the help of my company

Yeah proabably a NO for a Cuenta Corriente but try for a Cuenta Vista which is what a BancoEstado CuentaRUT is.

patagoniax wrote:Which leads us to wondering how you are going to maintain a US address to continue to qualify for US banking.

I do and I maintain a UPS Store address in the USA just for that purpose. Fallback is a family address.

........and always expect to hit obstacles and have your plans change Max

Thanks for the feedback everybody. Looks like I still have some work to do on the ATM/credit card side of things. As far as a back-up plan, I believe stomping up and down Providencia Ave screaming "You can't do this to me! I'm an American!" should be sufficient.

AaronM wrote:Thanks for the feedback everybody. Looks like I still have some work to do on the ATM/credit card side of things. As far as a back-up plan, I believe stomping up and down Providencia Ave screaming "You can't do this to me! I'm an American!" should be sufficient.

If you do that, they really won't do anything.

There is none of the silly HIV, background checks, and so on in the new or old government immigration system when applying inside the country.

It is the foreign affairs ministry embassies outside the country that use that set of rules (and kind of make that up as they go along also). Immigration inside the country is under a different department, and they do not require any such checks.