Sanctions and fines

Judicial persons who facilitate or promote the illegal entry or exit of a foreign person into the country will be sanctioned with a fine of 50 to 100 UTM*. Regardless of the severity of the criminal offense applicable under current Chilean criminal legislation, natural persons who are not public officials and who, without any profit motive, facilitate or promote the illegal entry or exit of a foreigner into the country, will be sanctioned with a fine of 50 to 100 UTM*.

Transportation companies and drivers that travel to and from the national territory with foreigners who do not have the necessary documentation will be fined 10 to 20 UTM for each passenger who infringes the law. The SERMIG, in addition to applying the corresponding fine, will inform the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications so that it may adopt the measures, if any, within its competence.

The fines established in the preceding paragraph will not be imposed when persons arrive in the country improperly documented if the transportation companies can demonstrate that they took adequate precautions to ensure that such persons had the documents required for entry into the host State.

International transportation companies that fail to deliver the passenger list or the Advance Passenger Information / Passenger Name Records (API/PNR) will be sanctioned with a fine of 10 to 50 UTM* for each person that has been transported under these circumstances.

Transportation companies and drivers that refuse to bring back, at their own expense, passengers or crew members whose entry into the country has been refused or do not take charge of these persons when it is not possible to bring them back within 24 hours, in the cases that correspond to them by the provisions of Article 99 of Law No. 21.325 of Migración y Extranjería, will be fined 30 to 100 UTM* for each passenger in such situation.

A fine of 10 to 50 UTM* will be applied to persons who have left the national territory without passing the exit migration control and wish to re-enter the country after 2 years from the expiration of the permit that enabled them to remain legally in the country.

If the responsibility for the omission of immigration control belongs to an international transportation company, the passenger will be exempted from responsibility and the company will only be fined from 10 to 50 UTM* for each passenger who omits such control.

For purposes of the sanctions indicated below, employers, whether natural or legal persons, who hire foreigners who do not have a residence or residence permit that entitles them to work, or who are not duly authorized to do so, will be classified as micro, small, medium and large companies by the provisions of Article 505 bis of the Código del Trabajo (Chilean Labor Code).

• Micro companies will be sanctioned with a fine of 1 to 20 UTM*.
• Small companies will be sanctioned with a fine of 10 to 40 UTM*.
• Medium-sized companies will be sanctioned with a fine of 30 to 100 UTM*.
• Large companies will be sanctioned with a fine of 60 to 200 UTM*.

These fines will be applied to each foreign person hired under the aforementioned conditions.

Fines and sanctions applied to the employer will not exempt them from complying with all labor and social security obligations established by law.

In case of recidivism in the period of 2 years, counted from the application of the respective sanction, they will be punished with the fine in its maximum value as indicated in Art. 123 of Law No. 21.325 of Migración y Extranjería.

Foreigners who work without authorization by the above provisions will not be sanctioned if they file complaints against their employer for non-compliance with immigration, labor, or any other type of legislation at the SERMIG, Dirección del Trabajo, Chilean Courts of Justice or any other organ of the Chilean State Administration.

The lease or sublease of rooms to foreign persons must comply with the occupancy rate and other requirements and standards established by the Ordenanza General de Urbanismo y Construcciones (General Ordinance of Urbanism and Construction), by the provisions of Title V of Law No. 18.101. In the event of non-compliance, the landlord or sublandlord will be sanctioned by the provisions of Article 24 quáter of the aforementioned law, and the amount of the fine applied cannot be less than 30% of the maximum fine established therein.

Foreigners who remain in the country for more than 180 calendar days from the expiration of their Residencia Temporal or Permanencia Transitoria permit will be sanctioned with a fine of 1 to 10 UTM*.