Why Potential Investors in Chile should not use the Investor Visa
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The “Investor Visa” in Chile although easy to obtain in the first year is much more difficult to keep in the second year. With the investor visa you are essentially making the Chilean department of immigration your business partner in Chile.
First, to apply for an investor visa in Chile you must submit a business plan along with documentation related to things such as financing, incorporation plans, possibly any partnerships, and so on. This normally increases dramatically upfront cost required and time to prepare the application in the first year. The temporary residency visa is however almost always granted in the first year.
In the second year however, the progress of your business will be reviewed by immigration before you can apply for a change to permanent residency. It will at the sole discretion of the Chilean immigration authorities to judge if they believe your business in Chile to be truly viable as a requirement to continue your residency application in Chile. Most of the time these sorts of judgments will be made by people that are simply not familiar with the ups and downs of starting a business, and may mistakenly believe unique, unusual, or complex business plans to be untenable in the future.
Additionally, if for some reason your business should fail, get off to a rocky start, or you need to significantly modify your business in Chile, your immigration status in Chile may be put in jeopardy. Both the continued functioning of your business in Chile, and your ability to remain in Chile are often put at risk by using the investor visa.
We recommend for all people wishing to invest in Chile to instead apply for the more generic “Retirement and Periodic Income Visa”, even for people whom have no other plans in Chile but to invest. The Requirements for Permanent residency under the Retirement and Income Visa can be found here:
Spencer Global Chile www.spencerglobal.com
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