The main political blocs agree that the immigration policy requires an urgent overhaul, but they differ in the scope of concrete measures

In the last 8 years, Chile has been one of the Latin American countries where the migrant population has grown faster. From 2010 to 2015, the amount of immigrants in the southern country has risen at 4.9% a year. It is followed by Mexico (4.2%), Brasil (3.8%), and Ecuador (3.6%), according to a 2017 joint report made by Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal, in Spanish)  and International Labour Organization (OIT, in Spanish).

From 2010 to 2016, the migrant population in Chile grew from 369,346 to 477,000 persons, approximately a 29% hike. The relation of immigrants compared with citizens born in Chile is 2.7%, still way below of the average of 13% of immigrant population within the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group that includes Chile and other 34 developed economies countries.

For each 4 immigrants in Chile, 3 come from South American countries. Between 2005 and 2016, the Peruvian community remained as the largest recipient of permanent residence permits with 123,401 or 38% of the total permits awarded in that period. Peru was followed by Bolivia (13.5%) and Colombia (13%), according to the Chilean Department for Foreigners and Migration.

Statistics from the last 8 years show that immigrants from other nationalities have gained permanent residence status at a higher rather than migrants from neighboring countries to Chile. In 2016, there were 12,155 Colombians with permanent residence, 3,699 Venezuelans, and 3,646 Haitians, which means an increase of 733%, 1011%, and 7192%, respectively.

Legal reforms

The new administration of Sebastián Piñera, that will take office at March 11, 2018, will inherited the challenge of overhauling Chile’s immigration law, a legislation that dates back to 1975. The reform project introduced by the government of Michelle Bachelet was rejected on January 10, 2018.

The Bachelet government proposal did not satisfy the opposition and neither some lawmakers of her government coalition. The initiative was questioned for vague wording, unfavorable in terms of social rights, and lacking more controlling measures of new migrants arrivals.

During the campaign, the upcoming president Piñera outlined that his migration plan will reject immigrants with criminal records from entering Chile. Another important guideline will be replacing the current visa requirements for a system that awards admission to immigrants with skills required by the Chilean labor market, which is a similar scheme to those in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

Several pro-immigrants NGO’s and center-left lawmakers have questioned proposals outlined by Bachelet and Piñera.  They point out that these initiatives “criminalize immigration”. Furthermore, they argue for an approach based on human rights protection and full integration of immigrants. Also, they advocate for creating a new public institution in charge of devising public policies and providing assistance to the migrant population.

Lawmakers supporting the upcoming Executive have said they will resume discussion of a migration reform bill introduced in 2013 by Piñera during his first term in office. The new center-right government will receive the pending task of updating the migration policy, an issue that the main political blocs seem to agree as urgent. 

Latin American Post | César Noriega
Copy edited by Marcela Peñaloza