Details of Chile’s new migration law aimed at reducing illegal income

President Sebastián Piñera promulgated this Monday in the city of Iquique, a town in northern Chile and on the border with Bolivia, the new migration law, after nearly 8 years of discussions in the local parliament.

Currently, according to details provided in 2019 by the Department of Immigration and Migration and the National Institute of Statistics INE, There are approximately 1.5 million foreign residents in Chile, 7 percent of the total population. The list is led by Venezuelans, Peruvians, Haitians and Colombians.

“The main objective of this new migration law is to put our house in order, through an orderly, safe and regular migration policy that allows legal migration and combats illegal immigration, ”Piñera explained.

The debate and subsequent enactment of the law took place against the backdrop of the migration crisis that took place earlier this year in the north of the country., catalyzed by the massive arrival of Venezuelan citizens who fled their country due to the political, economic, social and health collapse the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.

The main aspects of the new law

The rule determines that those whose refugee claim is rejected can obtain an additional level of protection that did not previously exist.

Regarding the granting, extension and revocation of visas, It is established that foreigners whose permit has expired can apply for its extension within nine months of its expiry, having only to comply with the sanction imposed.. In this case, the National Migration Service will accept the request for treatment, establishing in the respective resolution the sanction to be imposed.

La ley prohíbe el ingreso a los extranjeros que hayan sido condenados en Chile o en el extranjero, o se encuentren en procesos judicial pendientes en el extranjero informados por la INTERPOL o por los organismos de justicia con que Chile tiene convenios por distintos delitos, detallados en a list.

The creation of the National Migrants Service has been ordered, agency which will issue visas requested in Chile and abroad, with an automated system for visa extension and permanent stay requests.

There will be 13 different types of visa, among them for work, studies, family reunification, temporary work, humanitarian reasons. The first path that those who aspire to arrive in the country must undertake will be to go to the Chilean consulate of the country in which they are located, and to indicate there the reasons which will be consulted to process their visa.

After processing the visa, Anyone who wants to enter Chile will also receive an identity card, which serves as an identification document.

“90% of those who entered in recent years were tourists, But now, as happens in developed countries, you must first apply for a residence visa ”, The director of the immigration department, Álvaro Bellolio, detailed in an interview at the end of 2020.

The new rule will also facilitate administrative expulsions as it is not necessary to file a criminal complaint for admission., so the use of unactivated steps is discouraged. In addition, The new regulations expand the list of crimes established in the Penal Code for which it will not be possible to enter Chile.

“We do not want organized crime, drug trafficking, smuggling, trafficking and trafficking in persons or those who do not respect our laws to enter our country,” said President Piñera.

Finally, the authorities stressed that it was a “flexible, light and efficient institutional framework”, which aims to tackle migration “from an integral perspective, taking into account the local reality through regional directorates, and a national directorate focused on operations”.

Criticisms of the new law

In various sectors, including some migrant groups in Chile, some criticism of the law has been raised. Eduardo Cardoza placeholder image, executive secretary of the Migrant action movement, He stressed that the regulation was based on a principle of segregation, in which different conditions are created for migrants with regard to, for example, pension issues, among others.

“There have been many signs of how children’s rights are being taken into accountIn other words, there is an enormous dimension which is that of continuity in relation to the national security approach that the Pinochet decree had. In that sense, it is a bit in the general perspective that we have seen on how human rights are conceived, ”said the leader.

“The law has another huge drawback which will generate a number of difficulties and that is As soon as it is promulgated, the law gives a period of three months to people in an irregular situation in the country to leave the country and not to regularize. At one point, the government went so far as to say that people who leave can do the paperwork in a consulate and then re-enter, as if the paperwork in a consulate was done in two days. The other essential element is that there will be no possibility of constant regulation as indicated by all the migratory policies of the region ”, criticized Cardoza.

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