No visa for 90 days for most visitors, but everyone must file the sworn agricultural declaration at ingresoachile.cl. Keep the tourist card you are given: it takes 19% off your hotel bill.
- Most visitors get 90 days on arrival with no visa, including the EU, UK, US, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. Malaysia and Singapore get 30 days.
- Everyone must file the sworn agricultural declaration at ingresoachile.cl before travelling. It takes five minutes and produces a QR code; the paper form on the plane means a slower queue.
- Fruit, seeds, nuts, honey, meat, cheese and wooden handicrafts must be declared or binned. An undeclared apple means a fine, and the dogs at Santiago are good at their job.
- Photograph the tourist card immigration gives you - it is money. Shown with your passport at check-in, it takes the 19% IVA off your hotel bill, and hotels do not volunteer it.
- Ask for the exemption when you check in, not when you check out, and hand the card back when you leave. If you lose it, the PDI replaces it free.
The visa part, which is simple
- Most visitors get 90 days on arrival with no visa, including citizens of the EU, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China, Russia and Taiwan.
- Malaysia and Singapore get 30 days.
- India, Cambodia and Saudi Arabia need a visa in advance, although Chinese and Indian nationals holding a valid US or Canadian visa with at least 6 months to run may enter without a Chilean visa for up to 90 days.
- Your passport must be valid for your stay and there is no six-month rule.
- Reciprocity fees are gone. The old charges for US, Canadian and Australian passports were abolished years ago; anyone quoting one is out of date.
The declaration everyone forgets
Every traveller must file a sworn declaration - the Declaracion Jurada - about what food and plant material they are carrying. This is not optional and it is not the same thing as immigration.
- File it online at ingresoachile.cl, up to a day before you travel. It takes five minutes and produces a QR code.
- You can also fill in the paper form on the plane, but the queue at Santiago moves on the digital one.
- Chile is an agricultural island in practice - desert to the north, ice to the south, ocean and Andes on the sides - and it protects that with real enforcement.
- Fruit, seeds, nuts, honey, meat, cheese, wooden handicrafts and plants must be declared or surrendered in the bins before the checkpoint.
- An undeclared apple or sandwich means a fine, and the dogs at Santiago are good at their job. Eat it or bin it before the hall.
The tourist card, which is money
- Immigration issues a tourist card (tarjeta unica migratoria) when you enter. Photograph it immediately.
- Show it with your passport at hotel check-in and the 19% IVA comes off your room bill, because foreign visitors paying in foreign currency are exempt.
- Hotels do not volunteer this. Ask for the "exencion de IVA para turistas extranjeros" when you check in, not when you check out.
- The tax authority has told hotels they may not insist on dollar cash for the exemption; a card charged in a foreign currency qualifies.
- You must hand the card back when you leave. Lost it? The PDI replaces it online or at any office, free.
Where your nationality lands
| You hold | What you need |
|---|---|
| USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Japan, South Korea, China, Russia, Taiwan | Nothing. 90 days |
| Malaysia, Singapore | Nothing. 30 days |
| India, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia | Visa in advance - unless Indian or Chinese with a valid US or Canadian visa |
- Extensions of 90 days are possible through the immigration service for a fee, in person and slowly. Most people leave and come back instead.
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