Chile

Yes. Chile ranks 13th on the Henley 2026 index, with around 175 visa-free destinations. That makes it the strongest passport in Latin America, and the only Latin American passport in the US Visa Waiver Program. This US access is what genuinely sets it apart from Argentina's or Brazil's passports. It is also the whole reason a UHNW family would put up with Chile's five-year naturalisation timeline and its worldwide tax system.

No, despite what many claims suggest. It is still live under Ley 21.325 as art. 10(n), with the amount fixed at USD 500,000 by art. 62 of Decreto 177. The key qualifier is that the investment must fund the production of goods or services. Passive real estate holding does not qualify, at least not on the face of the text. Take-up is tiny, only 44 InvestChile sponsorship letters were issued through August 2023, so you will be a rare case. And rare cases move slowly.

It is a live risk. A bill doubling the naturalisation residence requirement from five to ten years passed the Cámara de Diputados unanimously on 26 November 2024. The Senate approved it in general on 7 January 2025 and sent it to committee for detailed discussion. Its status after early 2025 is not established. With the Kast government in office since 11 March 2026, you should assume the odds of passage have gone up. A ten-year requirement would roughly halve this route's value. Check the bill's current status before you underwrite any plan built on the five-year timeline.

Not at first. Under article 3 of the Ley de Impuesto a la Renta, new foreign residents are taxed only on Chilean-source income for their first three years, counted from entry. The SII Director Regional can extend that window in what the rule calls qualified cases, with no statutory cap, a point confirmed live in SII FAQ ID 001.140.1219.015, updated 8 April 2026. Three years is short by regional standards, Uruguay offers eleven, but it is automatic and requires no investment. When it expires, you fall into worldwide taxation at up to 40%, plus the art. 41 G CFC rules that Ley 21.713 tightened from 1 January 2025. Model that cliff before you enter.

No, and it never has. Article 10 of Ley 21.325 sets out a closed list, and there is no nomad category on it. The art. 20 fallback requires a contract with a Chilean counterparty, perfected before a consulate, which is no help if you bill only foreign clients. If an agent tries to sell you the Rentista visa as a nomad visa, decline. The income that qualifies for the Rentista has to be genuine unearned income, not pay for remote work.

No. A wealth tax was proposed in the Boric reform. It was rejected on 8 March 2023, along with an exit tax. Neither was enacted. Be careful here. Many secondary sources still describe both as if they are live, and that is simply wrong. Chile does levy inheritance tax progressively up to 25%, and it taxes capital gains largely as ordinary income. So this is not a zero-tax jurisdiction. But there is no wealth tax and no exit tax.

No. Art. 62 of Decreto 177 requires the USD 500,000 to fund the production of goods or services. Passive real estate holding does not qualify on the face of the text. There is no tier or points system, whatever some descriptions may claim. The InvestChile carta de patrocinio is mandatory, discretionary, and must be applied for from outside Chile. This is the real bottleneck in the process.

It starts from your first Estampado Electrónico of temporary residence, not from the permanent residency date. That is a materially favourable detail. It means five years can really mean five. Permanent residency itself comes quickly on the investor route, 24 months normally, reduced to 12 months for executed investments. Chile also permits dual citizenship, so you need not renounce your existing nationality. This is subject, of course, to the pending five-to-ten-year bill.