Visiting
Canadian citizens need no visa to enter Chile. You get a stay of up to 90 days with no fee, and you can extend it once for up to 90 more for US$100, about CA$142. A visitor may not do paid work. Whether doing your own job remotely for a foreign employer counts is unknown, so ask SERMIG in writing.
- You must show lawful means to support your stay. The Government of Canada gives the amount as US$46 a day and says customs officials may ask for proof. SERMIG sets the legal amount by resolution.
- A narrow exception lets speakers, advisers, technical experts and similar one-off workers ask SERMIG for an authorisation. It costs 150% of the paid-activity residence fee for your nationality, which is unknown.
- Paid work without authorisation carries a fine of half to five monthly tax units.
- You cannot apply for residence from inside Chile on a visitor permit, except in cases such as family ties to Chileans or permanent residents.
Staying a year or longer
Decreto 177 lists sixteen subcategories of temporary residence and none is for remote workers. The paid-activity subcategory covers a Chilean employer, a formal job offer or a self-employed contract with a Chilean or a permanent resident. Retirees and rentistas have their own subcategory, and Canadians aged 18 to 35 can apply under the youth mobility agreement. Residence lasts up to two years and can be extended for up to two more.
- For retirees and rentistas, income must meet at least your basic needs by the Ministry of Social Development and Family's indicators. The decree states no amount, so the test is unknown.
- For scale, the ministry's September 2026 poverty line per equivalent person was CLP 255,422 (about CA$372) for households that do not rent and CLP 378,098 (about CA$551) for households that rent.
- Youth mobility lasts up to a year, takes no dependants and needs full medical insurance. Canada's page describes taking part once and Chile's says a stay can be repeated, so which applies is unknown. Ask SERMIG for the current quota and fee.
- Whether an employee of a foreign company working remotely fits the paid-activity subcategory is unknown. Ask SERMIG.
More detail
A job offer from a Chilean person or company gives a 90-day permit first, with 45 days after you enter to file the notarised contract and its electronic registration. A self-employed contract must cover services lasting more than 90 days and be signed before the competent consulate before you enter.
A pension file needs a certificate of the pension's amount and duration and proof of the last payment. A rentista file needs a certificate of ownership, the contracts under which property income is paid, and proof of the income, apostilled or legalised unless the asset is in Chile.
Youth mobility has four categories. A job or internship is needed for post-secondary graduates and for work placements, and not for the study-exchange or working holiday categories. Permanent residence generally needs 24 months of temporary residence, can be shortened to not less than 12 months in listed cases or lengthened to up to 48, and is revoked if you are away for more than two years in a row unless you ask for an extension first.
Documents, fees and timing
A temporary-residence file asks for a passport valid for at least a year and, for adults, a criminal record certificate from your country of origin or from where you lived in the last five years. Foreign public documents must be apostilled or legalised, and English documents need no translation. The fee depends on your nationality, and the amount for Canadian nationals is unknown, so check it in SERMIG's portal before you pay.
- Documents from public bodies must be issued no more than 60 days before you file, and from private bodies no more than 30 days.
- Which Canadian criminal record certificate SERMIG accepts is unknown. Ask whether it takes the RCMP's certified fingerprint check before you order it.
- Canada has been party to the Apostille Convention since 11 January 2024. Global Affairs Canada authenticates federal documents at no charge, and some provinces apostille their own.
- The processing time for temporary residence is unknown.
More detail
SERMIG may ask for more documents, and a Chilean consulate may collect further information, including an interview. Before any refusal you have ten working days to answer the reasons.
After a grant from abroad you have 120 working days to download the electronic stamp and then 90 calendar days to enter Chile. For the paid-activity subcategory the permit counts from the day you enter. Book the identity card within 30 days of the permit taking effect.
For the youth mobility visa, the Embassy of Chile asks for a clean criminal record, a medical certificate and proof of funds. Confirm the list in the SERMIG portal.
Tax
You become a Chilean tax resident on the day you pass 183 days in any 12 months. A foreigner who sets up domicile or residence is then taxed only on Chilean-source income for the first three years from entry, and on income from any origin afterwards. How this applies to pay for work you do in Chile for a foreign employer is unknown, so ask a Chilean adviser. Canada keeps its claim if you keep significant ties there, and the Canada-Chile treaty decides which country counts you as resident if both do.
- The SII counts every day you are physically in Chile, including arrival and departure days, and leaves out days in transit.
- The treaty's tie-breaker looks at your permanent home, then your centre of vital interests, then your habitual abode, then your nationality. Pensions are taxable only in the country they arise in. Whether CPP and OAS count as pensions under it is unknown.
- Leaving Canada can mean a deemed sale of most property at fair market value on the day you leave, with exceptions such as Canadian real estate, RRSPs, TFSAs and pensions. Form T1161 applies above CA$25,000 of property.
- Employees pay a monthly tax that is exempt up to 13.5 monthly tax units and then rises in seven bands to 40%.
More detail
The social security agreement covers the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security, and Chile's pension system. An employee is covered where the work is done, a self-employed person where they ordinarily live, and an employee sent temporarily by their employer stays in the home system for up to 60 months. Whether a remote employee working from Chile for a Canadian employer counts as sent there is unknown. Quebec Pension Plan contributions are not covered.
The annual tax that applies to self-employed and investment income, the additional tax rate for non-residents, and the treaty's rates for dividends, interest and royalties are unknown. CPP is payable abroad, and OAS abroad needs 20 years in Canada after age 18. Form T1135 is due while you are a Canadian resident if foreign property cost more than CA$100,000 at any time in the year.
Setting up
The Civil Registry issues the foreigner's identity card, which carries your RUN, once you hold a residence permit. Health cover is either Fonasa, the public insurer, or an Isapre, a private insurer, and your Canadian provincial plan may end or limit cover when you leave. Isapre plan prices are unknown.
- Book the identity card within 30 days of the permit taking effect. It costs CLP 4,270, about CA$6, and takes around 20 working days.
- Fonasa takes 7% of taxable pay up to a legal cap of 90 UF. You cannot belong to Fonasa and an Isapre at once. A Canadian pensioner living in Chile can join Chile's health plans on the same conditions as Chilean pensioners.
- Ontario can keep OHIP for up to two years away if Ontario stays your primary home, while British Columbia ends MSP at the end of the month you leave Canada. Do not count on provincial cover in Chile.
- You can drive on a Canadian licence for up to 90 days. Chile's licence exchange agreements do not include Canada, and residents must apply for a Chilean licence from their municipality.
More detail
To start activities as a self-employed resident, you declare them to the SII online within two months. The tax key is free and you request it on the SII website with a valid Chilean identity card. Once you have started second-category activities you can issue electronic fee invoices (boletas de honorarios) online.
BancoEstado's CuentaRUT needs your identity card and has no opening or maintenance cost, but charges 1.9% on international transactions. Which documents other banks ask for is unknown, so ask the bank.
Living in Santiago
At the Santiago station, January averages a high of 30.1°C and a low of 13.3°C, and July a high of 15.3°C and a low of 3.9°C, with about 342 mm of rain a year, roughly 270 mm of it from May to August. The Metropolitan Region holds 60% of Chile's foreign-born residents. Casen 2024 puts the average monthly rent or mortgage payment of its households that pay one at CLP 462,078, about CA$673. The rent for a specific home is unknown.
- The Government of Canada says driving in central Santiago is restricted from May to September to combat winter pollution.
- It says armed assaults and robberies have increased in recent years, and tourists have been attacked even in daytime.
- Demonstrations occur frequently in Santiago and can disrupt public transport, and Santiago had severe flash floods on 8 and 13 October 2026. Public transport is the most used way of getting to work in the region, at 51.3%.
- By income fifth, the average rent or mortgage payment runs from CLP 290,711 to CLP 627,491 a month, and 33.1% of occupied homes in the region are rented.
More detail
Other living costs such as building charges, utilities, groceries and transport are unknown. For scale, the ministry's basic food basket was CLP 92,833 per person in September 2026, about CA$135.
Other places
Viña del Mar and Valparaíso are on the coast. Their region counted 100,655 foreign-born residents in Census 2024, 5.3% of its population, and 24.5% of occupied homes there are rented. Households in the region that pay rent or a mortgage spend CLP 350,927 a month on average, about CA$511. The rent for a home in either city is unknown, and so is the climate.
- The Government of Canada names both among the larger cities where you should be especially vigilant about petty crime.
- In the region, public transport is the most used way of getting to work, at 41.8%, ahead of a private car at 36.5%.
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