Dear future students going to Chile:
To legalize(register) the Chilean visa and to obtain the Chilean ID card is a mess!!!!
If you don't have all documents, or have an error in your name on your visa (in your passport), or if the immigration police at the airport did a poor job stamping the date you arrived- you won't be able to get the Chilean ID card unless you fix the problems.
To legalize your Chilean visa (in my case-student visa) you will have to go to the International Police department. There you have to show 3 documents: pass, visa, and the paper which you get on the airplane. You will get a document by the police, but make sure that your name is stated correctly and is the same as the one in your passport. (If your name has æ,ø,å or letters with accents etc. it also need to be in your name on the document)
Be sure to be there early: the later you go, the longer the lines and the more you have to wait..
After obtaining the document from the police, the next stop is to go the the Civil Registration place (to get Chilean ID).
Here you need copies of all the documents from above, and be sure to not have these errors, or you need to go back to the police station..
- Incorrect names on the document from the International Police
- Date poorly stamped by the immigration police at the airport, so they can't see what day you arrived (If this is the case, ask for a certificate of travel when you are at the police station)
- Incorrect names on your visa (in your passport)
In total it took 5 hours at the internation police and civil registration place. In the end I could not get a Chilean ID because the date in my passport was poorly stamped so they could not see which date I arrived to Santiago. So the next day I had to go back to the international police station, and then go again to the civil registration place.
We were a group of 10 people doing this together, and it took so long time. In the end of July, 250 exchange students are going to do this, in two days..
