How to Become a Chilean Citizen: Residency, Documents, and Costs

To become a Chilean citizen, most foreigners follow the naturalization path: hold Chilean permanent residency, live in Chile continuously for five years (or two if you have close Chilean family ties), file an application with the Servicio Nacional de Migraciones (SERMIG), pass an interview, and take an oath of allegiance. Chile’s Constitution recognizes three other routes as well — birth on Chilean soil, descent from a Chilean parent, and a rare honorary grant by Congress — but naturalization is the route available to adults who moved to Chile as foreign nationals.

How Long You Have to Live in Chile Before Applying

Chile offers two residency tracks toward naturalization, and which one applies to you depends on your family situation.

The Standard Five-Year Track

The standard path requires five or more years of continuous residence in Chile. The clock does not start on the day your permanent residency was granted. It starts earlier, from the date of the temporary residency stamp (Estampado Electrónico) that led to your current permanent residency permit.¹ Miscounting from the wrong date is a common mistake.

You must hold a valid Residencia Definitiva (permanent residency) at the time you apply, and you must be at least 18 years old. Minors aged 14 and older can also apply if they hold permanent residency, meet the same five-year residency requirement, and have notarized authorization from a parent or legal guardian.²

The Accelerated Two-Year Track

Under Article 85 of Ley 21.325, permanent residents with certain Chilean family ties can apply after just two years of continuous residency. You qualify if any of the following describes you:¹

You have been married to a Chilean citizen for at least two years, the marriage is registered in Chile, and you have been living together during that period.
You are a blood relative of a Chilean citizen up to the second degree — parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling — or you were adopted by a Chilean citizen.
Your mother or father lost Chilean nationality before you were born.

The two-year period is counted the same way as the five-year path, from the temporary residency stamp that led to your permanent residency.

What Else You Need to Qualify

Beyond the residency requirement, both tracks share the same eligibility rules. You need a clean criminal record in Chile and in your country of origin, plus any country you have lived in during the past five years. You also need to show enough income to cover your basic living needs in Chile, verified through tax records from the Servicio de Impuestos Internos (Chile’s tax authority).²

There is no standardized written Spanish or civics exam. Instead, an interview with SERMIG officials assesses your ability to communicate in Spanish and your integration into Chilean life. Applicants who cannot hold a basic conversation in Spanish or show no familiarity with the country may struggle at this stage.

Documents You Will Need

The application is filed online, and you upload scanned copies of everything. Gather these before you start:³

Passport identification page, or a national ID from your country of origin, or a consular certificate confirming your identity and nationality if you have no passport.
Chilean identity card (Cédula de Identidad), both sides, valid and legible.
Criminal record certificate from your country of origin, apostilled or legalized, and translated into Spanish if needed. This is required if you have traveled to your home country as an adult.
Tax folder (Carpeta Tributaria Regular para Créditos), downloaded from the tax authority website using your RUT and taxpayer password or ClaveÚnica.²
Family tie documentation, for the accelerated path: birth or marriage certificates proving your relationship to a Chilean citizen.

Apostille and Legalization

Foreign documents such as birth certificates and criminal records must be authenticated before Chile will accept them. Chile has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since August 2016, so documents from other member countries only need an apostille.⁴ For U.S. documents, the apostille comes from the relevant state’s Secretary of State office. Documents from non-member countries must go through the traditional legalization chain, which runs through the issuing country’s foreign ministry and Chile’s consulate.

How to File the Application

Applications are filed through SERMIG’s Digital Procedures Portal at tramites.serviciomigraciones.cl. You will need a ClaveÚnica login or an account created through the portal.² The portal walks you through uploading each document and answering questions about your history and ties to Chile.

After you submit, SERMIG schedules an interview. If the application is approved, a decree is issued by the Ministry of the Interior by order of the President.⁵ You then take an oath of allegiance to Chile at a formal ceremony, and you are a Chilean citizen from that moment.

Processing times vary widely. Some applications are resolved within several months. Others take two to three years. Incomplete documentation is one of the most common causes of delay, so getting the file right before submitting matters.

If Your Application Is Denied

SERMIG provides reasons for a denial, and applicants have the right to file an administrative appeal. The appeal should include documents that directly address the grounds for rejection. Common reasons include gaps in residency documentation, criminal record issues, or missing paperwork that can be corrected and resubmitted.

What It Costs

As of March 2026, SERMIG charges the following fees for the Carta de Nacionalización:⁶

General applicants: CLP $38,697 (roughly USD $45)
Applicants with a Chilean spouse, Chilean child, or adopted by a Chilean: CLP $7,740 (roughly USD $9)
Widowed spouse of a Chilean citizen: CLP $7,740

Budget separately for document authentication, translations, and any legal help you use. Those costs typically exceed the government fee itself.

If You Were Born in Chile or to a Chilean Parent

Naturalization is not the only route, and two shorter ones apply to specific situations.

Anyone born on Chilean territory is Chilean at birth, with two narrow exceptions: children of foreign parents in Chile on official government service, and children of “foreigners in transit,” a category that under current law covers tourists, border-zone residents, international transport crew, and other short-term visitors.⁷⁸ Children born in Chile who fall under those exceptions are not permanently excluded; they can claim Chilean nationality after turning 18, or at any time after 21, by petitioning the appropriate authority.

Children born abroad to a Chilean mother or father can claim Chilean nationality regardless of where they were born.⁹ Descent runs from parent to child only. If a grandparent was Chilean but your own parent never held or claimed Chilean nationality, you cannot claim citizenship by descent — though grandchildren and siblings of Chilean citizens do qualify for the accelerated two-year naturalization track. Chilean citizens born abroad who want to pass nationality to their own children born outside Chile should register their own Chilean nationality first; the specific process depends on whether the parent’s nationality was acquired by birth or by naturalization.

Dual Citizenship

Chile does not require you to give up your existing nationality when you naturalize. The Constitution provides that nationality is lost only through voluntary renunciation before a Chilean authority, and even then, renunciation only takes effect if you have already acquired another nationality. Whether your home country allows dual citizenship is a separate question worth verifying before you apply, since some countries revoke nationality when their citizens naturalize elsewhere.

How Chilean Nationality Can Be Lost

Once acquired, Chilean nationality can be lost only in four circumstances: voluntary renunciation before a Chilean authority (effective only if you already hold another nationality); provision of services to enemies of Chile or their allies during a foreign war, revoked by presidential decree; cancellation of the Carta de Nacionalización granted through naturalization; or revocation, by law, of an honorary grant made by Congress. Restoration after loss requires a special act of Congress, which is a high bar. Maintaining clean legal standing in Chile protects the status you worked to obtain.

The Governing Law

Chile’s four paths to citizenship come from Article 10 of the Political Constitution.⁹ The day-to-day process is governed by Ley 21.325, the Immigration and Foreigner Law, which took effect in February 2022 and replaced Decree Law 1.094 from 1975.¹⁰ The new law introduced the accelerated naturalization track for applicants with Chilean family ties and moved most processes online through SERMIG. Older guides that reference Decree Law 1.094 describe a framework no longer in force.

1
Servicio Nacional de Migraciones. Frequently Asked Questions – Nacionalización
2
Servicio Nacional de Migraciones. Chilean Citizenship
3
Servicio Nacional de Migraciones. Guide – Application for Carta de Nacionalización
4
U.S. Embassy in Chile. Authentications/Apostille
5
Servicio Nacional de Migraciones. Carta de Nacionalización – Solicitud
6
Servicio Nacional de Migraciones. Immigration Fees
7
The Americas Network on Nationality and Statelessness. Chile – The Americas Network on Nationality and Statelessness
8
Servicio Nacional de Migraciones. Transitory Stay
9
Constitute Project. Chile 2018 Constitution
10
Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional. Ley 21325 – Ley de Migración y Extranjería