Chile: ordinary naturalisation
SERMIG's ordinary adult route combines five years of qualifying residence with a currently valid permanent-residence permit, identity and background documents, and economic and tax evidence. Grant is an official decision.
Five-year guidance plus current permanent status
SERMIG lists age 18 or older, valid Residencia Definitiva and five or more years residing in Chile. Its clock starts with the electronic stamp for the temporary residence that led to the current permanent status—not five years holding permanent residence.
Identity and background documentation
Applicants supply passport identity details or an accepted identity/nationality alternative and a legalised or apostilled origin-country criminal-record certificate, translated where needed. A PDI travel certificate substitutes only for the specified applicants who entered as minors and cannot obtain the origin-country record.
Activity and tax compliance evidence
Current activity in Chile must be documented. Individuals provide SII tax-compliance documentation and a Treasury debt certificate; company partners must also provide the specified documents for each participating company. Supplying evidence does not determine approval.
Apply inside Chile; grant by decree
Applications are submitted through SERMIG's digital portal using ClaveÚnica, and the service is available only from Chile. Nationality is conferred through a ministerial decree by order of the President, not by residence or online submission alone.
Loss of Chilean nationality is a separate issue
Voluntary renunciation of Chilean nationality requires prior acquisition of a foreign nationality. Cancellation of a naturalisation certificate is a separate loss ground. These loss rules do not, by themselves, establish whether an applicant must renounce an existing nationality when becoming Chilean; that inbound issue remains unresolved here.
Language and civic standard not established
The reviewed current service does not establish a standardised Spanish-language or civic test, a numeric language level, or test exemptions. This omission is not treated as evidence that no interview, assessment or language requirement can apply.
Scope and limitations
- The current statutory portal returned only an application shell. An Interior Ministry archived 2016-version decree says more than five years, whereas current SERMIG guidance says five or more; the exact anniversary boundary and permissible absences are not independently resolved.
- Existing-nationality renunciation remains unresolved: an archived decree prints a renunciation clause while an official administrative directory describes naturalisation without renouncing origin nationality. Neither is promoted into a definitive current inbound rule.
- The qualified family route has two-year continuous-residence and relationship requirements; it is not the ordinary five-year route. Current processing times, comprehensive disqualifications and individual eligibility are outside this candidate.
Next review due . An official update can change these requirements sooner.
Official sources
- Nacionalidad, updated 22 December 2025Chile, Servicio Nacional de Migraciones · Retrieved 2026-09-17 · ES
- Renuncia a la nacionalidad chilenaConsulate General of Chile in Amsterdam · Retrieved 2026-09-17 · ES