Months after sending the application for Permanent Residence, the application will be analyzed by the National Migration Service (Servicio Nacional de Migraciones) for the first time.

If the application complies with the legal requirements, we will receive a new e-mail from the National Migration Service (Servicio Nacional de Migraciones) notifying that our application has been accepted for processing and attached we will find a Certificado de Residencia Definitiva en Trámite (Certificate of Permanent Residence in process).

Certificate of Permanent Residency in process - Certificado residencia definitiva en tramite
Certificate of Permanent Residence in process

This new Certificate, unlike the Comprobante de envío de solicitud de Residencia Definitiva that we received at the time of submitting our petition, will contain the following information:

1) We are authorized to continue working in Chile in accordance with the provisions of article 45 of the Regulation of the Immigration Law.

“Article 45.- The Service shall issue a certificate of residence in process to the foreigner who presents an application, change or extension of a residence permit, which shall indicate the beginning of the respective processing process.

This certificate of residence in process may enable the foreigner to develop remunerated activities, only when the migratory subcategory to which he/she accesses considers such possibility. This authorization to develop remunerated activities will remain in force during the period in which the main application is pending resolution.

Both the existence of a residence permit in process and the authorization to carry out remunerated activities must be recorded in the National Register of Foreigners”.

2) We can leave and re-enter Chile without limitations according to article 63 of the Regulations of the Immigration Law.

“Article 63.- A foreigner that complies with the requirements indicated in the previous article and has applied for a definitive residence permit, and proves that he has a valid definitive residence certificate in process, shall not be limited in the number of entries into and exits from the national territory, even if the temporary residence permit he had is not valid”.

3) Our chilean identity card, even if it has expired, is considered valid by application of the final paragraph of article 43 of the Immigration Law. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we will not be able to renew it through the Civil Registry and Identification Service until our Permanent Residence application is approved.

“Article 43, final paragraph. It shall be understood that the identity card remains valid as long as the foreigner proves that he/she has a valid residence certificate in process or until the migratory authority resolves the respective application”.

Extend the validity of the Certificate

The Certificate of Permanent Residence in Process is valid for 6 months. As long as our Permanent Residence application is not resolved (approved or rejected by the National Migration Service) we will have to carry out the procedure of Ampliación de Residencia Definitiva en Trámite (Extend the validity of the Certificate of Permanent Residence in process) every 180 days in order to obtain a new Certificate that gives validity for 6 more months to our Certificate of Permanent Residence in process.

To obtain this new Certificate (every 180 days) we must go to https://tramites.serviciomigraciones.cl, log in, and start the process of Ampliación de Certificado de Residencia Definitiva en trámite.

Extend the validity of the Certificate of Permanent Residence in process

Automatically after initiating the process, we will obtain the Certificate (Ampliación de Solicitud de Residencia Definitiva en Trámite).

Extend validity certificate permanent residency in process - Ampliación de Solicitud de Residencia Definitiva en Trámite
New Certificate with 180 days of validity

According to the fourth paragraph of article 37 of the Immigration Law, the validity of the certificate of residence in process will be automatically extended as long as the respective application is not resolved, so there is no maximum number of extensions. A new extension may be obtained every 6 months while the application for Permanent Residence is not resolved by the immigration authority.