What's Changing in Chilean Immigration

This page tracks confirmed SERMIG legal and procedural changes, newest first, each with its source. A separate section below covers a notable development the data documents in detail but without a single confirmed date.

Chile immigration news

Dated entries below track confirmed SERMIG legal and procedural changes, ordered from most recent to oldest, each with its own citation. Below the dated log, an undated section covers a notable legal change the data documents in detail but without a single confirmed date: the Civil Registry's 2026 circular on birth citizenship.

2025-12-01: SERMIG digitizes nationality renunciation, recovery, and pronouncement filings

Since December 1, 2025, three SERMIG nationality procedures move fully online through the SERMIG Digital Services Portal, accessed with ClaveÚnica or a personal account. Renunciation of Chilean nationality for people who have naturalized abroad, removal of a pre-2005 loss-of-nationality annotation from a birth certificate, and requests for a formal pronouncement on nationality status all now file digitally instead of in person.

^[1][2]

2025-06-06: Residencia Temporal e-stamp auto-activates by email after payment for in-Chile filers

Since June 6, 2025, applicants who filed their Residencia Temporal request from inside Chile receive their Estampado Electrónico (e-stamp) automatically by email as soon as they pay the applicable fee. Before this change, in-Chile filers had to wait 10 days after payment and download the e-stamp themselves from the Digital Procedures Portal. Filers who applied from abroad are not affected and continue to retrieve their e-stamp from the portal inbox.

2024-12-13: Residencia Temporal correction requests move online only

Since December 13, 2024, SERMIG accepts Residencia Temporal rectification requests, corrections to a subcategory, residence quality, term dates, stamp number, or personal data on an Estampado Electrónico, only through its digital portal. Paper or in-person rectification requests are no longer accepted for this procedure.

Undated notable changes

Circular DN N°014/2026: birth-citizenship exclusion for children of tourist-permit parents

Circular DN N°014/2026 operationalizes the constitutional exclusion of Chilean nationality for children born to extranjeros transeúntes (foreign transients). ^[4] Under Ley 21.325 Article 47, an "extranjero transeúnte" is now legally defined as anyone on a permanencia transitoria (tourist/transitory-stay) permit. ^[5] Civil officers must verify the parents' migration status from their passport entry stamp or the Tarjeta Única Migratoria. If the birth occurs during the parents' permanencia transitoria, the child is registered as "hijo de extranjero transeúnte" and does not acquire Chilean nationality. This replaces the prior Circular DN N°46/2019 and removes interpretive ambiguity that existed under the repealed DL 1.094/1975. ^[6]

In a "situación especial" (special-situation) provision, the Circular further establishes that when the Oficial Civil cannot determine whether the parents were tourists or held another migration status, the default registration is also "hijo de extranjero transeúnte." Nationality exclusion applies in cases of doubt. Parents can appeal to SERMIG under Ley 21.325 Article 157 N°9 for a formal status determination and a subsequent rectification of the birth certificate. ^[5]

This is a high-impact change for anyone planning to have a child in Chile without prior residence. See Chilean citizenship by birth for the full rule, the two constitutional exceptions it applies to, and the appeal mechanism.

Affects: Tourist visa

References

1. [1]
   SERMIG — Pérdida de Nacionalidad (Spanish)
2. [2]
   SERMIG — Nacionalidad: Solicitud de Pronunciamiento (Spanish)
3. [3]
   SERMIG — Residencia Temporal: Estampado Electrónico (Spanish)
4. [4]
   Constitución Política de la República de Chile, texto refundido, coordinado y sistematizado (Spanish)
5. [5]
   Ley 21.325 — Ley de Migración y Extranjería (Spanish) [law text]
6. [6]
   DL 1.094/1975 — Ley de Extranjería, derogada (Spanish)