Before you start

A ClaveÚnica or SERMIG portal account, created before you apply
For the dependent employment subcategory, a contract with an employer domiciled or with a branch in Chile
Passport, criminal record certificate legalised or apostilled, and supporting documents for your subcategory
An application lodged from outside Chile, unless one of the surviving in-country exceptions applies to you

Step-by-step

1
Pick the right subcategory before you touch the form
SERMIG lists distinct subcategories — dependent employment, international reciprocity for Mercosur nationals, students, seasonal work, international agreements — with different requirements and different rights to work. Valparaíso's four universities make the student subcategory a common route here, and it carries its own work restrictions.
OnlineWho: You
2
Apply from outside Chile through the Portal de Trámites Digitales
This is where people come unstuck. Applications originate abroad. The in-country change of category survives only for those who entered before 12 February 2022, for family ties to a Chilean or permanent resident, and on humanitarian grounds. Check whether one covers you before assuming you must leave, and do not rely on advice written before 2021.
OnlineWho: You
3
Enter Chile as a resident and register with the PDI
You enter on the granted visa rather than as a tourist, then register the visa with the Policía de Investigaciones. This registration gates the cédula application, so do it promptly.
In personWho: You
4
Get a provisional RUT from the SII without waiting for the cédula
Form F4415 with your passport and visa gets you a RUT provisorio before the cédula exists. It is what lets you sign a lease, open an account and take a phone contract. People wait months for the cédula not realising the number they actually needed was available on day one.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
5
Book the cédula at the Registro Civil for the Valparaíso comuna
The 'primera obtención extranjero/a' flow is booked online and you choose your region and comuna. The RUN printed on the card is your permanent identity number, and the physical card is what Chilean banks require — a passport will not do.
OnlineWho: You
6
Plan the step to Residencia Definitiva
Permanent residence follows a qualifying period of temporary residence and is applied for through the same portal. Keep every document, every contract and every entry stamp from the beginning; the entry stamps matter for your tax clock as well as your residence one.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Employment contract with a Chilean-domiciled employer, for the work subcategory
University enrolment documents, for the student subcategory
Criminal record certificate, legalised or apostilled and translated
Passport photographs and the SERMIG application fee

Things most newcomers don’t know

Valparaíso's cheapness attracts exactly the people the 2021 law shut out.

A low-cost, beautiful, student-heavy city is precisely where someone drifts in on a tourist stamp intending to sort out paperwork later. Ley 21.325 closed that route: applications originate abroad, and the in-country exceptions are narrow — pre-12 February 2022 entrants, family ties to a Chilean or permanent resident, and humanitarian grounds. The consequence of getting this wrong here is worse than in Santiago, because you will have signed a lease and built a life before discovering there is no path forward from where you are standing.

Source: SERMIG — Residencia Temporal application process; Ley 21.325

The provisional RUT is the unlock, and it arrives long before the cédula.

Form F4415 at the SII, with a passport and your visa, produces a RUT provisorio. That number is what a landlord, a bank and a phone company actually key on. Newcomers wait for the cédula because it is the impressive-looking document, and spend those months unable to transact. Do the F4415 in your first week — it is a counter visit, not a process.

Source: SII — form F4415 RUT registration

Being a student here is a common route and it carries real work limits.

Four universities in one small city make the student subcategory unusually well-trodden in Valparaíso, and it is a legitimate way in. But it is not a general work permit: the conditions attached to studying differ from those attached to employment, and taking paid work outside what the subcategory allows can affect a later application for permanent residence. Read the conditions rather than assuming a visa is a visa.

Source: SERMIG — temporary residence subcategories

Mercosur nationality is a materially easier route and people forget they have it.

Chile grants temporary residence by international reciprocity to nationals of Mercosur states with lighter documentary requirements than the employment subcategory. Dual nationals — an Argentine or Brazilian passport alongside a European or North American one — frequently apply on the harder route out of habit. If you hold one, it is almost certainly the better application.

Source: SERMIG — international reciprocity subcategory

Common mistakes to avoid

Arriving as a tourist intending to change status — that route closed in 2021 for all but narrow exceptions.
Waiting for the cédula instead of getting a provisional RUT in your first week.
Assuming any employer qualifies — the work subcategory requires a Chilean-domiciled employer.
Working beyond what a student subcategory permits and damaging a later application.
Applying on the employment route while holding a Mercosur nationality that would have been easier.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.