Moai on Rapa Nui, Chile.

Traveler-specific preparation

Chile Entry Requirements

Build an entry file for your nationality, passport, route, and purpose of travel. Verify it with Chilean authorities and your carrier shortly before departure instead of relying on another traveler's checklist.

Requirements depend on: Traveler and route
Food and products: Declare when uncertain
Final authority: Current official guidance

General information, not legal advice

Resolve eligibility before building the arrival file

Start with the passport and purpose of travel, then check the full route. Chile's migration service explains the visitor category; the consular authority publishes nationality-based prior-visa requirements. Declarations and island procedures are additional steps, not substitutes for permission to enter Chile.

01
Identify your exact case
Write down nationality, document type, residence, purpose, dates, transit points and any exit followed by re-entry.
02
Find the responsible authority
Use the consular visa table and procedure for prior authorization, SERMIG for migration categories, SAG for agricultural declarations, and the operating carrier for boarding.
03
Recheck before departure
Save the authority's answer for your case, then recheck it if the document, purpose, dates or route changes.

A snow-capped volcano in Chile

Passport and visa

Check the document and visa rule for your trip

Start with the passport and purpose of travel. SERMIG's visitor guidance describes Permanencia Transitoria as temporary entry without an intention to settle, including tourism and certain business visits. Some nationalities require prior authorization through the consular authority.

Open the current consular visa and fee table and its linked table. Find the nationality of the document you will present, then read the prior-visa column and relevant footnotes. Use the live table: a copied country list can omit document exceptions. If authorization is required, follow the official visa procedure.

Nationality, residence and the country where you apply are different facts. Residence elsewhere does not settle the Chilean visa question. For an emergency passport, a nonordinary document, a possible identity-card exception or an unclear purpose, ask the responsible Chilean mission before treating entry as resolved.

Give the authority your nationality, document type, residence, travel purpose, dates, arrival point, connections and any exit followed by re-entry. Keep its answer with your bookings. Check the full route with the operating carrier and transit authorities, then recheck if the document, purpose, dates or route changes; a ticket seller cannot decide whether an exemption covers you.

Costanera Center and the Mapocho River in Santiago.

Prior authorization

Apply through the official consular procedure

If the nationality check requires prior authorization, begin at Servicios Consulares en línea, the official portal linked by the consular procedure. It offers a new application, completion of an existing one and a status check. A paid intermediary is not the mandatory application route.

The official requirements include the travel purpose and period, a photograph, the valid passport's identification page, economic evidence and, where relevant, evidence of residence or status in the country of application. The consulate can request further documents or an interview. Follow the complete current instructions for your case, including formats and additional requirements.

If issued electronically, the consular authority requires the visa to be printed and carried with the valid travel document. A pending application or receipt is not an issued visa, and a visa does not guarantee admission.

Plan around the actual decision. Ask the responsible consulate about the process before buying travel that cannot be changed; processing times, fees, approval and boarding cannot be assumed from this summary.

Painted stairway between street buildings in Valparaíso, Chile

Painted stairway in Valparaíso, Chile.

Purpose of travel

Match the activity to the permission

A holiday without intending to settle starts with the nationality and document check and SERMIG's visitor guidance. For meetings or another business visit, describe the actual activity and supporting evidence to the consulate or SERMIG, including any service you will provide.

Paid services, performances, consultancy and remote work need a specific answer from SERMIG. Its work guidance says holders of Permanencia Transitoria are not authorized to undertake remunerated activities; certain specific, sporadic activities can seek an exceptional permit, including remuneration or economic benefit in Chile or abroad. A foreign employer or client therefore does not settle the question. Explain your duties and payment arrangement before relying on visitor permission.

If moving to Chile or planning a stay around residence, confirm the residence category and where the application must begin. A holiday booking does not establish that an in-country change of status is available.

If the holiday leaves Chile and returns, ask the consulate, border authority and carriers whether the authorization covers the planned entries and the new crossing. That is a separate decision from choosing the route.

Santiago skyline beneath the Andes, Chile.

Supporting travel file

Check the stay granted

Visa, border and island checks can require different evidence. Keep approvals, travel, accommodation and contact records securely available offline, with originals or printouts where required. SERMIG's visitor guidance requires sufficient economic means; confirm suitable evidence for your circumstances.

Permanencia Transitoria allows up to 90 continuous days from entry, limited by the identity document's validity. PDI supplies the Tarjeta Única Migratoria (TUM), which records the period actually granted. Check it and retain a secure copy with your passport and applicable visa: “up to” does not promise the maximum. See SERMIG's TUM guidance.

Resolve extensions or re-entry with the authority before changing dates. An Argentina side trip means an exit and another entry decision; it does not necessarily reset permission or cure expiry. The Chilean and Argentine Patagonia comparison covers the travel choice. For missing records, follow the lost-document steps and ask PDI or your consulate about replacement; hotel confirmations cannot substitute.

Valdivia's waterfront, Chile

Agricultural protection

Declare what you carry

Agricultural inspection protects Chile against pests and disease, separately from immigration permission. SAG's entry guidance requires truthful declaration of plant and animal products, including small, sealed or processed items.

Inspect every bag, including others' gifts or packed food: sandwiches, cheese, meat, honey, animal-ingredient snacks, fruit, dried fruit, seeds, herbs and spices. Check wood, plant and animal materials in souvenirs and crafts too. These examples are not an exhaustive admission list; use the packing guide.

SAG's Santiago airport instructions link the digital declaration and explain airport QR access. Complete it accurately before luggage inspection and keep it available. It is free and needs no printout.

Elsewhere, follow your airport or land border's instructions; if digital access fails, follow SAG's local directions. Tell the inspector about doubtful items and present declared products. Declaration does not guarantee permission to keep them.

The volcanic crater of Rano Kau on Rapa Nui

Rano Kau’s volcanic crater on Rapa Nui.

Island procedure

Prepare Rapa Nui's separate travel file

For a flight from Santiago to Rapa Nui, resolve your island category and permitted dates before purchase, including whether the accommodation or invitation arrangement meets current requirements.

LATAM Chile's tourist boarding guidance lists an appropriate identity document, a digitally completed Formulario Único de Ingreso, or FUI, its confirmation email for PDI, and SERNATUR-validated accommodation or an invitation from an island resident. It states a tourist maximum of 30 days, checked against the issued ticket. Confirm current government and carrier requirements for your category and journey.

After flights and eligible accommodation are arranged, complete the government FUI using the confirmed itinerary. Keep the confirmation, issued tickets and lodging records accessible for departure checks. The ticket must show departure within the permitted period; intending to buy one later is different evidence.

The FUI, national migration permission and national park visit are separate matters. A park ticket or guide booking does not complete entry. Once eligibility is resolved, use the Rapa Nui trip decision and five-day itinerary to organize the visit.

Hillside neighborhoods in Arica, northern Chile.

Individual circumstances

Resolve transit, child travel and document changes

A connection may involve a transit visa, changing airports or leaving an international transit area. Check the transit authority's instructions for your exact document, route and ticket arrangement, including separate tickets. Another passport holder's answer or an airside connection may not fit your journey.

For a child traveling alone, with one parent or with another adult, ask the responsible authorities about consent, relationship or guardianship evidence and any legalization, apostille or translation. Include departure, Chilean entry and exit, transit, and an island segment where relevant. The consular visa procedure has guidance for minors, but it does not create one universal parental-document checklist for every case.

After a passport replacement, reconcile approvals and carrier reservations with the new document and its name and number. Explain the change to the carrier and authority; do not assume a visa linked to the former passport transfers automatically. Resolve this while there is time to obtain an answer.

Finally, arrange the domestic flight, bus or other transfer to the first room and keep those bookings with the entry file. The first-time guide connects the arrival to the wider trip.

Build the entry file

Verify in the order authorities will see the trip

Before leaving, check the complete route against the document and approvals you will actually carry.

Identity

Confirm the travel document and visa

Resolve visa status and document validity with the responsible authority. If authorization is needed, complete the applicable process before travel.

Journey

Check carriers and transit points

Confirm every operating carrier's checks and transit-country requirements, including the effect of separate tickets or a replacement document.

Arrival

Prepare declarations and evidence

Use the current SAG instructions for your arrival point, prepare any Rapa Nui file and keep the applicable records accessible.

This is general planning information, not legal advice or permission to travel. Chilean authorities, transit authorities, and operating carriers determine the requirements that apply.

Migration, consular and agricultural sources

Official entry information

Use the links below to check visitor entry requirements, visa requirements and applications, SAG declarations, and LATAM’s boarding guidance for Rapa Nui. The requirements that apply to you depend on your nationality, travel document, purpose of travel and route. If these sources leave your situation unclear, seek case-specific clarification before you travel.

SERMIG — Permanencia Transitoria, work questions and TUM

SERMIG — visitor category and economic means

SERMIG — exceptional work authorization for visitors

Chile consular authority — current visa and fee table

Chile consular authority — prior authorization or visa procedure

MINREL — official Consular Online application portal

SAG — entry to Chile

SAG — Santiago airport declaration instructions

LATAM Chile — Rapa Nui boarding documentation