The step-by-step plan for Chile

In this step you learn how you may come to live in Chile. Chile has three kinds of stay:

• Permanencia transitoria. The stay as a tourist. With a Dutch passport you may stay for up to 90 days, and you can extend that once by up to 90 days.
• Residencia temporal. The temporary residence for whoever settles in Chile, valid for up to two years and renewable by two years at a time. With a residencia temporal you may work.
• Residencia definitiva. Permanent residence. You apply for it after you have held a residencia temporal for at least 24 months.

You apply for the residencia temporal online at the Servicio Nacional de Migraciones, the Chilean migration service, SERMIG for short. For most routes you do that from abroad. That's different from many other countries: you can't go to Chile as a tourist and arrange your residence as a retiree there.

Not retired yet? Whoever leaves before the AOW age looks at the income that exists then.

• Jubilado is only possible with a pension you already receive.
• Rentista suits whoever lives on rent from property or on investments.
• Actividades lícitas remuneradas suits whoever is going to work in Chile, with a contract or a job offer.

In this step you see what emigrating to Chile does to your tax, your AOW and your healthcare. With Chile there are two treaties with the Netherlands, and they make the difference.

The tax. The tax treaty of 25 January 2021 has been in force since 30 November 2022 and applies from 1 January 2023. In the Belastingdienst table your AOW, your pension and your annuity are in the Netherlands column. So the Netherlands keeps taxing. For the first three years Chile only taxes a foreigner who comes to live there on income from Chile. After that Chile also taxes your Dutch income, and deducts the Dutch tax from it. See steps 3.2 and 3.3.

The AOW. Chile is among the 36 countries with which the Netherlands has a social security treaty. So your AOW goes along in full. Whoever goes alone also keeps the AOW for single people.

Healthcare. Chile isn't on the list of treaty countries for healthcare. So there's no CAK. Your Dutch basic insurance stops when you deregister. But the social security treaty says: whoever receives a Dutch pension and lives in Chile is admitted to the Chilean healthcare system, on the same terms as a Chilean pensioner. See steps 3.1 and 5.2.

Your AOW build-up stops. Whoever lives outside the Netherlands is usually no longer insured. Each year until your AOW age then costs 2 percent of your later AOW. You can insure yourself voluntarily with the SVB. The application has to be in within one year.

In this step you choose where you want to live. Chile is more than four thousand kilometres long, from the dry northern border to the cold south. Santiago, Valparaíso and the regions around them are something else than the lake district or the north.

Look at three things in each place:

• The climate and the seasons. Chile lies in the southern hemisphere: summer falls in our winter. Live a few weeks in the place you choose, in the season you'll really be there.
• Healthcare. Ask in each place where the nearest hospital is, and which clinics work with the Chilean system.
• The counters. You apply for your cédula at an office of the Registro Civil that serves foreigners. Ask in advance where that office is near you.

Your scouting trip isn't an application. With a Dutch passport you may stay for up to 90 days, but you apply for your residencia as a retiree from the Netherlands. See step 2.7.

In this step you see what the move will cost you. On the application side Chile is affordable. A residencia temporal costs a Dutch national 192 dollars, for work 321 dollars. The cédula costs 4,270 pesos.

The money is in three other items:

• The move across the ocean. Your household goods are free of duties up to a value of 6,750 dollars, above that you pay.
• Healthcare until you're in the Chilean system, and after that 7 percent of your pension.
• The car, because a used car may not enter Chile. You sell it here and buy another one there.

In this conversation you decide together whether Chile fits, and when. Three things belong to this country that you need to see together.

• The language. At the counters, the bank and the doctor everything is in Spanish. Agree who will learn Spanish, and how.
• The distance. Chile is one of the furthest destinations on this site. You won't see family and grandchildren in the Netherlands in between. Agree how often you'll come back.
• The trips back. Long trips to the Netherlands in the first years lengthen the road to permanent residence. See step 5.7.

Choose the day you want to leave. The plan counts back from that date: when the papers from the Netherlands need to be in, when you submit the application and when you deregister.

Count three clocks. Your certificate of conduct may be at most sixty days old at the application. After the grant you have ninety days to enter Chile. And after arrival you have thirty days to apply for your cédula.