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Chile: visas, tax & cost of living

Moving to Chile as a remote worker? Cost of living, the real visa route, the six-year foreign-income tax runway, healthcare and banking, explained plainly.

Chile: visas, tax & cost of living
Your passport

United KingdomChile

Your move to Chile on a United Kingdom passport

  • VisitEasyVisa-free entry
  • NomadMediumNo nomad visa, other route
  • RelocateMediumResidence with conditions

Visiting

Visa-free for up to 90 days. Travel on a passport valid for your whole stay, with a return or onward ticket and proof you can support yourself.

Passport validity:Passport must be valid for the duration of your stay, with at least one blank page for the entry stamp.

At the border:Tourist Card (Tarjeta de Turismo) issued on arrival for up to 90 days; you may be asked to show proof of lawful means of support and onward plans.

Working remotely

No dedicated nomad visa; the usual route is a standard residence permit.

Tax and residency

You become a tax resident after more than 183 days in Chile within any 12 month period; new residents are generally taxed only on Chilean source income for the first 3 years (extendable), after which worldwide income is taxed.(estimate)

The UK decides residence with its Statutory Residence Test (days in the UK plus your ties). As a non-resident you are usually taxed only on UK income; where one exists, a double-tax treaty with the destination decides who taxes what.

Practical

Currency:CLP. Cost of living:mid.

Healthcare:Chile runs a mixed system (public FONASA plus private ISAPRE); foreigners usually need legal residency to join the public scheme, and most expats carry private or international insurance.

Driving:Tourists can drive on a valid foreign licence and an International Driving Permit is a useful translation; residents are expected to obtain a Chilean licence.

Sources: SERMIG (National Migration Service) - Temporary Residence permit · SERMIG - Tourist (Permanencia Transitoria) entry rules · Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII) - tax authority · U.S. Embassy in Chile - Entry and Exit Requirements · GOV.UK: tax on foreign income · HMRC: double-taxation treaties

Estimates, not advice. Confirm with the official sources before you act.

Should you move to Chile?

Let me be the friend who has already done the move: Chile is one of the calmer, better-run landing spots in South America, and it tends to surprise people. Santiago is modern and safe by regional standards, the Andes sit right on the city’s shoulder, the internet is genuinely fast, and the time zone (roughly aligned with US Eastern for part of the year) makes it workable for anyone with North American clients. The trade-off is that Chile is not the cheapest country on the continent, and Spanish here is spoken quickly, with its own slang. If you want a stable base with real infrastructure and don’t need rock-bottom prices, Chile is a strong pick for digital nomads. If your whole reason for leaving is to cut costs to the bone, look further north first.

Cost of living in Chile

Chile costs more than its neighbours, but far less than most of Western Europe or the US. A single remote worker in Santiago should budget somewhere around USD 1,200 to 1,800 a month all in, depending heavily on the neighbourhood, though treat that as an estimate and price your own shortlist before you commit.

Rent is the swing factor, and it is cheaper than most newcomers expect. A one-bedroom apartment in central Santiago tends to run roughly USD 400 to 700 a month; in expat-favourite Providencia think USD 450 to 800, while the pricier eastern comunas like Las Condes can reach USD 900 to 1,300 (figures reported by local rental portals and cost-of-living aggregators in early 2026, so confirm current listings before you commit). Utilities for a mid-size flat land around USD 150 a month, and groceries for one person around USD 200 to 300. Coastal Valparaíso and the south are generally cheaper than the capital. These are directional numbers, not quotes, so always sanity-check against a live source before signing anything.

Chile digital nomad visa and entry

Here is the honest version: Chile does not run a single, officially branded “digital nomad visa” the way Spain or Portugal do. What it has instead is a temporary residence route that remote workers use in practice, sometimes described as a remote-work or temporary-resident visa (and, for those living off pensions, rents or investments, the rentista route), letting you live in Chile while working for clients or an employer based outside the country. It is typically granted for one to two years and is renewable, with a path onward to permanent residency.

Requirements and thresholds vary by category and by source, and they change often. Reports in 2026 put the required monthly income somewhere in the range of roughly USD 1,000 to 2,000 depending on the route, with some categories also asking for a savings cushion on top; because these figures are not consistent across guides, treat every number here as an estimate and confirm the current rule directly with Chile’s immigration authority (Servicio Nacional de Migraciones) before you apply. Many people also enter as tourists first and change status from inside Chile, but the rules on that shift, so verify the current process rather than trusting an old blog. To see which category actually fits your nationality and situation, run your details through Voymo’s digital nomad visa checker, then confirm the specifics on the official government page.

Tax residency and the 183 day rule

This is where Chile gets genuinely interesting for newcomers. You generally become a Chilean tax resident once you spend more than 183 days in the country within a 12-month period (the days do not need to be consecutive), a widely reported trigger you should still confirm with a Chilean tax advisor for your case.

The perk: for your first three years as a tax resident, Chile reportedly taxes you only on Chilean-source income, leaving foreign salary, dividends and pensions outside the net. That window can often be extended once, for a possible total of around six years, before you move to standard worldwide taxation. Extensions are described as common but not automatic, and applied for through the tax authority (SII). That is a real runway, but it is nuanced, and your home country may still tax you regardless. The 183-day count is only half the picture once a tax treaty and your home ties enter the room, so model your situation with Voymo’s tax-residency reality checker and then sit down with a cross-border accountant. Chile tax for expats rewards planning before you land, not after.

Healthcare and insurance

Chile runs a mixed system. The public fund, FONASA, generally enrols foreigners who hold a RUT (the national ID number) and a work contract, and it covers dependents. The private route is the ISAPRE insurers, which buy you access to private clinics, shorter waits and more choice, at a higher cost, though they can price or decline plans based on age and pre-existing conditions within current legal limits. Standards in the good private clinics are high. Until your residency and RUT are sorted, carry solid international health insurance from day one, and confirm what any FONASA or ISAPRE plan actually covers before relying on it.

Money, banking and settling in

The RUT is the key that unlocks everything: healthcare, a phone contract, and a local bank account. Opening a Chilean bank account as a foreigner has historically been slow and often needs residency plus that RUT, so expect friction early on and lean on a multi-currency account (Wise or similar) for your first months. Get your RUT process moving quickly, keep a foreign card as backup, and budget for a few weeks of paperwork before life feels frictionless. None of this is hard, it just takes patience and the right documents in the right order.

Figures are estimates. Always check the official source.

Frequently asked questions

Chile: is there a digital nomad visa?
No dedicated digital nomad visa; most people use a standard residence permit instead.
Chile: when do you become a tax resident?
You become a tax resident after more than 183 days in Chile within any 12 month period; new residents are generally taxed only on Chilean source income for the first 3 years (extendable), after which worldwide income is taxed.
Chile: what is the cost of living?
The cost of living is moderate and the local currency is the CLP. Treat any figures as estimates.
Chile: do you need health insurance?
Chile runs a mixed system (public FONASA plus private ISAPRE); foreigners usually need legal residency to join the public scheme, and most expats carry private or international insurance.
Chile: can you drive on a foreign licence?
Tourists can drive on a valid foreign licence and an International Driving Permit is a useful translation; residents are expected to obtain a Chilean licence.

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Put it to work

Last verified: 2026-07-25

Voymo gives general information to help you organise your move. It is not legal, tax, or immigration advice, always confirm with an official source or a qualified professional before you act.

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