Chile visa requirements for Kenyan citizens

Chile's online consular services platform (tramites.minrel.gov.cl), with the Consular Section of Chile in Nairobi as the mission of reference

For stays under 90 days Chile does not grant a tourist visa as such but a Permiso de Permanencia Transitoria, and passports that need it, the Kenyan among them, must first obtain a prior authorisation or visa. What is specific to this corridor is where you request it: not at a counter but in the Sistema de Atención Consular, at tramites.minrel.gov.cl, where you fill in the form and upload the passport, the photograph and proof of your own financial means, which Chile spells out as the last three payslips and three months of bank statements. If the authorisation is approved there are 30 days to pay for it, and the document is issued electronically to be printed. The consulate may afterwards ask for additional documents or call you in for an interview with the originals, so the online step does not always close the file. Chile keeps a consular section in Nairobi, useful for those in-person steps, but the application starts on the platform. An approved authorisation is not a guarantee of entry either: the Chilean migration authority can still refuse it at the border if the conditions are not met.

Rapa Nui (Easter Island): different entry rules

To enter Rapa Nui you fill in the Ministry of the Interior's single entry form and present it at the Investigations Police checkpoint, along with your return ticket and an accommodation booking or an invitation from a resident. The maximum stay is thirty calendar days, for foreign visitors and for non-Rapa Nui Chileans alike. People registered with CONADI as members of the Rapa Nui people do not fill in the form and only show identification.

Source: gob.cl/rapanuiprotegida, requisitos de ingreso; ingresorapanui.interior.gob.cl (comprobado 18/09/2026)

Authorization system

Chile does not require any electronic pre-authorization (ETA or similar) for the passports we track; tourist entry is resolved directly at passport control, where the Investigations Police (PDI) issues the Tarjeta Única Migratoria. The old "reciprocity fee" (a one-time entry charge historically levied on citizens of the US, Canada, Mexico, Albania, and Australia) no longer exists for any of those nationalities: the US had it removed in 2014 (alongside Chile joining the US Visa Waiver Program), and Australia was the last country to have it dropped, in September 2025.

Fee

No entry fee for tourist entry for the passports we track, after the reciprocity fee was eliminated for Australia in September 2025 (the last nationality still paying it).

Required documents

• A valid passport. Nationals of Mercosur countries and Bolivia may enter on their national ID card, without a passport, under the applicable agreement
• Tourist entry runs on the Permiso de Permanencia Transitoria: it allows up to 90 days, extendable once by a further 90, and can never run beyond the expiry of your passport
• Evidence that you have sufficient funds to support your stay. SERMIG publishes no figure: it is left to the border officer's assessment, so it is worth carrying proof of funds even though no specific amount is enforceable

Vaccinations

• No mandatory vaccines for entry: no international certificate of vaccination (yellow fever included) is required under the International Health Regulations.

Health insurance

Not mandatory for this destination.

Transit rules

Tourist "Permanencia Transitoria" valid for up to 90 days, extendable once for the same period through the National Migration Service (SERMIG).

Customs limits

Cash

Declare to Chile's National Customs Service if entering or leaving the country with USD 10,000 or more in cash, negotiable instruments, or other means of payment (including Chilean pesos), or the equivalent in another currency.

Alcohol

2,500 cubic centimetres (2.5 litres) of alcoholic beverages per adult traveller, within the duty-free traveler's baggage allowance.

Tobacco

400 cigarettes, or 50 cigars, or 500 grams of pipe tobacco per adult traveller, duty-free.

Overstay penalties

Fine (calculated in UTM, a monthly tax unit that changes value every month) for exceeding the Permanencia Transitoria's authorized stay, with a 50% discount if the traveller self-declares the infraction digitally through SERMIG before it's detected: from 0.25 UTM (1-90 days over, first offense) up to 4 UTM (over 360 days, first offense); figures nearly double for repeat offenders. Past 180 days over, the infraction is reclassified as serious (Art. 119 of the migration law) rather than minor (Art. 107).

Common reasons for denial

• Having been convicted, prosecuted, formally charged, indicted or judicially pursued abroad for belonging to or financing terrorist movements or groups, or being listed with INTERPOL.
• Having carried out acts that Chilean law classifies as offences against external security, national sovereignty or internal security.
• Suffering from one of the diseases that the health authority determines to be a ground for preventing entry under the Health Code: the list must be set by a previously published exempt resolution.
• Attempting to enter or leave the country through unauthorised crossings while evading migration control, or doing so with falsified, altered or fraudulently obtained documents.