Citizeo
Pathway

Chile Employee Temporary Residence

Chile Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

Chile's employee route can start with either a signed contract from an employer based in Chile or a formal Chilean job offer. A job offer normally supports only a 90-day permit first; the worker must then provide the signed contract to continue the residence process.

Type
Temporary residence for dependent employment
Signed-contract route
Contract of at least 3 months; permit up to 2 years
Formal-offer route
90 days first, then final-contract filing within 45 days of entry
Where to apply
From outside Chile
Salary requirement
No fixed route-wide salary stated by Chile's National Migration Service
Job offer required?
Yes — signed contract or formal offer

Summary

Chile's employee temporary-residence category has two different filing tracks. One begins with a signed employment contract. The other begins with a formal job offer and gives only a 90-day residence permit at first. The documents, initial duration, and steps after entry are different, so an informal offer should not be described as if it were already a signed-contract case.

Both tracks require a Chilean employment connection and are filed from outside Chile. A contract-track employer must be an individual or legal entity with a domicile or branch in Chile. A formal offer must be issued through the Chilean process, protocolized before a Chilean notary, and accepted in writing by the applicant before the competent Chilean consulate.

The category replaced older descriptions of a “visa subject to contract,” but the current rules should be taken from SERMIG, Law 21,325, and Decree 177—not from an old consular checklist.

Pathway fit check

Eligibility

Signed employment-contract track. The applicant must have a Chilean-law employment contract with an individual or organization that has a domicile or branch in Chile. Decree 177 says the contract cannot be shorter than three months. When the employer's activity requires SII registration, that activity must be current and the job must be coherent with the activity declared to SII. The employer signs the contract before a Chilean notary, and the foreign worker signs before the competent Chilean consulate.

SERMIG says this track can produce temporary residence for up to two years. The period begins when the person enters Chile. The employer must still comply with Chile's written-contract and electronic-registration rules at the times required by the Labor Code.

Formal job-offer track. A Chilean individual or organization issues a formal offer and has it protocolized before a Chilean notary. The applicant accepts the offer in a written document completed before the competent Chilean consulate. If SERMIG approves the application, it first grants residence for 90 continuous days.

After entry, the applicant has 45 continuous days to submit an authorized notarized copy of the final employment contract and proof that the contract was registered electronically. The final contract must be with the same employer that issued the offer. SERMIG's current guidance describes a one-year extension after that filing. If the final contract is not completed, SERMIG can cancel the 90-day permit and order the person to leave Chile.

Employer evidence. In either track, the employer or offeror must prove its legal existence, signing authority, tax activity where applicable, and ability to pay. The exact file differs:

The applicant also provides a valid passport, current photo, and—if over 18—a criminal-record certificate from the country of origin or a country where the person lived during the last five years. SERMIG says the passport must have at least one year of validity for the outside-Chile filing and the criminal record must be no more than 60 days old. Foreign documents must be apostilled or legalized as applicable; documents in a language other than Spanish or English require the official translation described by SERMIG.

What This Route Allows

An approved holder may live in Chile and perform the lawful employment authorized by temporary residence. A full signed-contract permit can be valid for up to two years. A person using the offer track must remember that the first permission is only 90 days and remains tied to completing the final contract with the offeror.

After a person holds the ordinary employment-based temporary permit—not merely the special 90-day offer permit—ending the original job does not by itself revoke residence. Decree 177 and SERMIG state that the holder may change employers without notifying SERMIG. This is materially different from the old claim that every employer change requires a new visa. The person must still maintain lawful work and meet the extension rules.

For an extension, a dependent worker needs a current employment relationship when applying and evidence of lawful paid work under the Labor Code during at least 60% of the residence period. The applicant must also show enough economic support for the residence period.

Eligible family members may apply separately as dependents. The employment permit can also support a later Residencia Definitiva application. The default for recent temporary residents is 24 months in Chile. Work and income stability, absences, social-security and tax compliance, and other legal compliance are reviewed. Absences over two months can increase the minimum to 30, 36, or 48 months.

What This Route Is Not

This is not a general permit for remote work for an overseas company with no Chilean domicile or branch. A person providing independent services under a qualifying Chilean contract should examine the separate self-employed branch instead.

It is not enough to have an interview, verbal promise, unsigned letter, or ordinary email offer. Those may show future potential, but they do not satisfy the signed-contract or protocolized formal-offer documents needed to file.

SERMIG does not publish a route-wide minimum salary, degree threshold, occupation list, labor-market test, or skills ranking for this category. The salary and role must comply with Chilean law and match the employer's activity, and a regulated profession can require separate degree recognition or licensing.

The law does not make an employer-paid return ticket a mandatory clause for every contract. Decree 177 says the parties may agree voluntarily that the employer will finance return travel after the employment ends.

Finally, temporary residence is not automatic permanent residence or citizenship. A person must separately qualify and apply for each later status.

Next Steps

  1. Decide whether the file is a signed contract or a formal offer. Do not blend the two checklists or durations.
  2. For a signed contract, confirm at least a three-month term, the employer's Chile domicile or branch, current SII activity where required, and the required notarial and consular signatures.
  3. For a formal offer, arrange Chilean notarization of the offer and consular completion of the applicant's written acceptance. Calendar the 90-day permit and the 45-day post-entry contract deadline before traveling.
  4. Ask the employer for the records that match its type: legal existence, board or representation, SII activity, tax folder, and liquidity or solvency.
  5. Obtain the passport, photo, and time-sensitive adult criminal-record certificate. Authenticate and translate foreign records under SERMIG's live rules.
  6. File from outside Chile through SERMIG's Digital Procedures Portal. Do not begin Chilean employment before the immigration and labor steps lawfully permit it.
  7. After entry, make sure the employer completes Labor Directorate electronic registration. Keep contracts, pay records, AFP and health contributions, SII records, and travel dates for extension and permanent-residence review.
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