Chile Forum

I want to leave the US permanently and just go somewhere and be anonymous. Can I do that in Chile?

Here in the US I have a bachelor's degree that cost more (and still costs me) than it was worth. Am middle aged and don't really have any prospects due to my bad credit & past mistakes. I am running, but I'm not running from any child support or alimony obligations. I won't be going to Chile to hurt people or commit crimes - except possibly ignore their immigration laws/rules. I will be taking my savings with me and would teach English - I've done this before in Spain.

For the nonjudgmental with personal experience in Chile please give me your opinion. I don't want help breaking any laws. I do want advice on what will happen to me if I go to Chile & don't follow their rules on getting a resident permit. Also would like to know about daily life and privacy in Chile. For example, how many times a day, week, or month are any of you stopped by authorities & asked for your visa or passport (especially walking or on public transport; I won't be driving in Chile.) Or how many of you have rented an apartment in Chile & had your US background checked or credit report checked.

Can I just live my life & be left alone in Chile?

The short answer is no.

I think Spang is correct. Chile is organized by Latin standards and has information-sharing treaties with US. If information is asked, Chile would have and provide, albeit on a Latin schedule.

John Hyre

I disagree, and think it could be done....


I dont think it would be easy, but it wouldn't be impossible,

but i really dont see a reason to do it when you just take a bus to Argentina every 3 months for the weekend.... all you will have to do is call the US embassy every x amount of years to get a new passport!

other than your boarder crossing and passport renewal you would never be bothered by anyone!

The disappear thing will be harder than following the simple rules.

Ever heard of get lost in the crowd?

nwdiver is correct, go with the flow and don't do anything high profile and stupid.

I've been here on a tourist visa since 2001. I've renewed my passport once in Santiago. My paper trail in the US has thinned down to the minimal around year three being away from there. No RUN or RUT means you officially and practically do not exist in Chile. Never been stopped or asked for my ID in the streets or been visited by any official. I rent an apartment and no one renting is gonna be checking your US credit records.

Everything else is read between the lines and taking responsibility for any path you take.

I agree with Spang. The short answer is no.

You need to show ID for things like renting a place, getting a job, hiring a hotel room, seeing a doctor etc. and since your proposed plan will leave you with no option than showing your US passport, you will need to get this renewed when needed, thus not successfully hiding from anything. To legally be in Chile, you will need to cross borders every three months to update your tourist visa, if you choose not to do this, you will be illegal. If you choose to be illegal, you could potentially get away with it, provided you don't need any of the services I mention above. You can't get any sort of credit without showing photo ID.

Try Mexico, from what I see in the movies, it's the location of choice for shonky Yanks who need a hiding place:) I'm sure they have a whole industry based on your criteria, including fake identities. Or, you could always marry a Chilena.

PS. EEUU, but you renewed your passport and presumably will need to do so again (to do the border run), which doesn't 100% effectively hide you from your government. For interest sake, did you need to show ID when renting your dto? I have never heard of anyone signing a lease agreement without having to show a form of photo id. In our case, it was passports for all paperwork until we obtained our carnets.

I'll amend a bit: Disappear legally, hard to do. Not impossible, and it has its limits. Easier with Chilean significant other or local cat's paw, if everything is done through them and in their name. That does creates some limits in terms of activity, and creates vulnerabilities, especially where trust is concerned - I have seen "let's do it in your name" go very, very badly in both US and Chile, both in my professional and personal capacities. Also, the need to renew the passport is a potential Achilles heel. One that perhaps has not caused an issue so far, but gives either government the leverage to track, if they really thought they needed to. Given the size and ethnic composition of the US, I think it is much easier to disappear here, as say an illegal Mexican (or a legal citizen), than it would be in Chile, as say an illegal American.

Disappear by, umm, "playing the game"? One can do that in the US. Get a birth certificate from a deceased infant born about the same time as you, get SSN, get driver's license, etc? I know it has been done. And being not very well informed on such things, I'm sure there are other, perhaps more effective ways to create a "new" identity. Of course, I do think it easier to disappear where one fits in, as opposed to where one sticks out.

I'm not sure that I'd conflate "I've been low-profile and left alone to date" with "They can't find me". Off the radar for now and the radar not working strike me as two different things.

Just some rambling thoughts. I'll stick with initial answer of "no, overall", with the caveats above added.

John Hyre

Tombi wrote:PS. EEUU, but you renewed your passport and presumably will need to do so again (to do the border run), which doesn't 100% effectively hide you from your government. For interest sake, did you need to show ID when renting your dto? I have never heard of anyone signing a lease agreement without having to show a form of photo id. In our case, it was passports for all paperwork until we obtained our carnets.

From what my husband sees in his work, there are people out there that rent apartments our houses out without checking ID. He sees this because when the renter doesn't pay rent, they come to his office for help and when he asks their name or RUT, all they can say is, "her name is Juanita, she seemed very nice so I didn't ask for ID." However, this happens in places like La Pintana or Puente Alto, not a place most people would want to live if they can help it.

Tombi wrote:PS. EEUU, but you renewed your passport and presumably will need to do so again (to do the border run), which doesn't 100% effectively hide you from your government. For interest sake, did you need to show ID when renting your dto? I have never heard of anyone signing a lease agreement without having to show a form of photo id. In our case, it was passports for all paperwork until we obtained our carnets.

Passport renewal overseas was not a problem and still is quite common for those who travel a lot. Yes they ask for an address to send the new passport to, yes they insist you "register" for your own good and yes they may even "converse" with you as you file the paperwork. The guy seemed very satisfied with my revelation that I'm just living my life with my native girlfriend as a tourist visa resident in Chile.

I never said I never showed a passport for renting, I said they are not going to be checking your US credit record. The question was do the police make stops on the street and ask for ID. The answer IME after 10 years is NO.

I never said anything about disappearing off the radar, the whole point is not pinging back an odd or suspicion return on that radar sweep.

The OP appears to be running from student loan debt. With the new laws, that will be difficult as all government services might be linked to that debt. OP must understand there is a TISA with Chile and thus Chile may not be the correct choice unless the Uncle Sam monster dies or becomes too busy focussing inwards rather than outwards.

Listen to eeuu, he knows what he is talking about.

My general advice(not Chile specific), it's possible to live just about anywhere outside the US/Canada and be off the radar. Off the radar is probably what you want in terms of disappearing. Deal cash only wherever you go, keep your visas up to date and you'll have no real problems. And Uncle Sam won't know much of anything.