Question 1

Obtaining your ID-card / Passport

Alejandro Quezada · Accepted Answer

HOW TO OBTAIN YOUR PASPORT AND/OR ID-CARD WHEN IN CHILE

As we were all born in Chile, and most of us will still be having their Chilean citizenship until today. There are always accessions so also in this matter, we have seen people who actually do not have the citizenship anymore. It was erased. If that makes the adoption regular is too sophisticated to just write down like that. There are many variations in this item.

Most of us though will be able to obtain their ID-Card / Passport. How do you do this when in Chile?

You would have to go to the Registro Civil. (Register Office). You will have to print out your birth certificate first. It needs to be the version which is “valid for all formalities” (para todo trámites). It does come with a cost of aprox 700 Chilean Pesos. That is around €1,-

With this document you can go to the office, show it and have your identity documents obtained. You should receive it within 5 working days. Not much longer than that. Once obtained, you are eligible to do any kind of formalities. Like find yourself a job, rent an apartment, contract internet for in your house. Anything.

Congratulations: You are an official Chilean citizen.

HOW TO OBTAIN YOUR PASPORT AND/OR ID-CARD WHEN OUT OF CHILE

When you are living in whichever country on the planet, the Chilean Consulate or Embassy is the place to go. Once inside, you are finding yourself within Chilean Jurisdiction. You are basically on Chilean soil. There the laws of Chile do apply.

You can pull a birth certificate out of the system there for which you will have to pay. Like 700 Pesos (aprox €1,-)

As this costs money, you will most likely be able to pay with your credit card if you have one. Other gateways like Paypal are not supported through this portal!

The consulate or embassy will than help you further with obtaining your Chilean ID-Card and or Passport.

TRAVELING WITH YOUR CHILEAN PASSPORT TO CHILE. CAN IT BE DONE?

NO !! WHY NOT ??

When obtained your Chilean passport through the embassy you are in the situation of being a citizen of Chile. But what is the challenge when you want to be traveling to Chile with this specific passport? well, you can’t.

When traveling from a country to another country you are going to need to travel with the citizenship of the country you are leaving from. Your Chilean ID does not have a citizenship in the country where you live in so that means that when you want to leave the country, you will be stopped at customs, going to have to reply to the question: Where does this passport come from. When did you enter the country and how is it that you never migrated with this Chilean Citizenship into the country?

Remember that due to your adoption you have obtained the nationality of the country where you went to live. You have most likely obtained the family name of your adoptive family and so the Chilean citizenship that you came into the country with has been deleted. You have become a citizen of your adoptive country.

So be very aware that you will never be able to travel with your Chilean passport to Chile from the country where you are living. Your Chilean citizenship is not linked to your newly obtained citizenship.

This is the problem that we call “the double identity” which we have unluckily obtained due to our irregular adoptions.

So your Chilean citizenship does not exist in the country you wen to live in. Leaving you only as a citizen of the adoptive country you live in and therefor you are never going to be able to travel from that country to Chile with your Chilean passport. It is impossible.

Anyone who tells you that you can, even though it is the embassy, let them call with CAW !

CHALLENGES WHEN OBTAINING YOUR ID DOCUMENTS THROUGH THE EMBASSY / CONSULATE

When speaking with several adoptees recently, in this case, Belgium, it came to our attention that there is a very important item to stress out to all of you when going to request your ID-card or Passport outside Chile.

Jessica, our representative in Belgium, recently contacted me because she had a question while being at the Chilean Embassy in Brussels: “Which names do I have to fill in on my ID-card and passport?” Well, it’s simple: On your Chilean ID-card and passport you want to have the details as per your Chilean birth certificate which you are most likely to have or can simply obtain by entering www.registrocivil.cl and enter your RUT-number as mentioned in your passport, the old red one you left Chile with.

Click here to read the manual how to obtain your birth certificate

But apparently this was not so simple because Jessica was being given a choice: “Please fill in the following document and state the details you want to have on your ID-card and passport.”

SO YOU CAN CHOOSE…?

How is this possible? You are born with a RUT number and due to our adoptions having being handled irregularly, we still have the Chilean Citizenship. Which means that your RUT number you are born with is the one you want to have on your ID-card and passport.

Recently I have had a meeting in Santiago with our Chilean adoptee Alejandro Lagos Sandoval, who was visiting Chile. He wanted to meet up because he had some questions about his Chilean identity. We have been able to clear some items up but there was one item that really surprised and also upset me. Because Alejandro had the same question asked when he applied for his Chilean ID-card and passport.

Little was known at that moment and so he has now ended up having a Chilean ID-card, being a Chilean citizen with his two last names of his Belgium father and Belgium mothers as his official last names here in Chile! On top of that, his RUT-number with which he was born has been completely eliminated and he has now a RUT number in the 25-million-range. A brand new RUT number with a brand new identity. Just like that.

Personally, I have a difficulty understanding this process because with your original RUT Number you are going to request your Chilean ID-card. Alejandro Lagos has now ended up with an even bigger challenge because his name might be close to his Belgium name… But in Belgium they do still not accept the system of having two last names and so his Belgium ID remains different from his Chilean ID.

SO, THE PROBLEM IS NOT SOLVED !

What has to happen in order to solve this? Does Alejandro Lagos need to make even more changes in his name and pay for that too? While the error is not his fault?

Chilean embassies are known of their involvement in illegal adoptions. We have seen it in adoption documents crossing our desks. Is this a way to erase traces? What do we have to think of this?

Time for answers and constructive talks!!! We will be going to talk with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is responsible for the embassies abroad, and the Sub-Secretary of Human Rights. Make it very clear that the damage already done to Chilean Adoptees, who are Chilean citizens, has to stop.

Question 2

Obtaining your ID-card / Passport

Alejandro Quezada · Accepted Answer

HOW TO OBTAIN YOUR PASPORT AND/OR ID-CARD WHEN IN CHILE

As we were all born in Chile, and most of us will still be having their Chilean citizenship until today. There are always accessions so also in this matter, we have seen people who actually do not have the citizenship anymore. It was erased. If that makes the adoption regular is too sophisticated to just write down like that. There are many variations in this item.

Most of us though will be able to obtain their ID-Card / Passport. How do you do this when in Chile?

You would have to go to the Registro Civil. (Register Office). You will have to print out your birth certificate first. It needs to be the version which is “valid for all formalities” (para todo trámites). It does come with a cost of aprox 700 Chilean Pesos. That is around €1,-

With this document you can go to the office, show it and have your identity documents obtained. You should receive it within 5 working days. Not much longer than that. Once obtained, you are eligible to do any kind of formalities. Like find yourself a job, rent an apartment, contract internet for in your house. Anything.

Congratulations: You are an official Chilean citizen.

HOW TO OBTAIN YOUR PASPORT AND/OR ID-CARD WHEN OUT OF CHILE

When you are living in whichever country on the planet, the Chilean Consulate or Embassy is the place to go. Once inside, you are finding yourself within Chilean Jurisdiction. You are basically on Chilean soil. There the laws of Chile do apply.

You can pull a birth certificate out of the system there for which you will have to pay. Like 700 Pesos (aprox €1,-)

As this costs money, you will most likely be able to pay with your credit card if you have one. Other gateways like Paypal are not supported through this portal!

The consulate or embassy will than help you further with obtaining your Chilean ID-Card and or Passport.

TRAVELING WITH YOUR CHILEAN PASSPORT TO CHILE. CAN IT BE DONE?

NO !! WHY NOT ??

When obtained your Chilean passport through the embassy you are in the situation of being a citizen of Chile. But what is the challenge when you want to be traveling to Chile with this specific passport? well, you can’t.

When traveling from a country to another country you are going to need to travel with the citizenship of the country you are leaving from. Your Chilean ID does not have a citizenship in the country where you live in so that means that when you want to leave the country, you will be stopped at customs, going to have to reply to the question: Where does this passport come from. When did you enter the country and how is it that you never migrated with this Chilean Citizenship into the country?

Remember that due to your adoption you have obtained the nationality of the country where you went to live. You have most likely obtained the family name of your adoptive family and so the Chilean citizenship that you came into the country with has been deleted. You have become a citizen of your adoptive country.

So be very aware that you will never be able to travel with your Chilean passport to Chile from the country where you are living. Your Chilean citizenship is not linked to your newly obtained citizenship.

This is the problem that we call “the double identity” which we have unluckily obtained due to our irregular adoptions.

So your Chilean citizenship does not exist in the country you wen to live in. Leaving you only as a citizen of the adoptive country you live in and therefor you are never going to be able to travel from that country to Chile with your Chilean passport. It is impossible.

Anyone who tells you that you can, even though it is the embassy, let them call with CAW !

CHALLENGES WHEN OBTAINING YOUR ID DOCUMENTS THROUGH THE EMBASSY / CONSULATE

When speaking with several adoptees recently, in this case, Belgium, it came to our attention that there is a very important item to stress out to all of you when going to request your ID-card or Passport outside Chile.

Jessica, our representative in Belgium, recently contacted me because she had a question while being at the Chilean Embassy in Brussels: “Which names do I have to fill in on my ID-card and passport?” Well, it’s simple: On your Chilean ID-card and passport you want to have the details as per your Chilean birth certificate which you are most likely to have or can simply obtain by entering www.registrocivil.cl and enter your RUT-number as mentioned in your passport, the old red one you left Chile with.

Click here to read the manual how to obtain your birth certificate

But apparently this was not so simple because Jessica was being given a choice: “Please fill in the following document and state the details you want to have on your ID-card and passport.”

SO YOU CAN CHOOSE…?

How is this possible? You are born with a RUT number and due to our adoptions having being handled irregularly, we still have the Chilean Citizenship. Which means that your RUT number you are born with is the one you want to have on your ID-card and passport.

Recently I have had a meeting in Santiago with our Chilean adoptee Alejandro Lagos Sandoval, who was visiting Chile. He wanted to meet up because he had some questions about his Chilean identity. We have been able to clear some items up but there was one item that really surprised and also upset me. Because Alejandro had the same question asked when he applied for his Chilean ID-card and passport.

Little was known at that moment and so he has now ended up having a Chilean ID-card, being a Chilean citizen with his two last names of his Belgium father and Belgium mothers as his official last names here in Chile! On top of that, his RUT-number with which he was born has been completely eliminated and he has now a RUT number in the 25-million-range. A brand new RUT number with a brand new identity. Just like that.

Personally, I have a difficulty understanding this process because with your original RUT Number you are going to request your Chilean ID-card. Alejandro Lagos has now ended up with an even bigger challenge because his name might be close to his Belgium name… But in Belgium they do still not accept the system of having two last names and so his Belgium ID remains different from his Chilean ID.

SO, THE PROBLEM IS NOT SOLVED !

What has to happen in order to solve this? Does Alejandro Lagos need to make even more changes in his name and pay for that too? While the error is not his fault?

Chilean embassies are known of their involvement in illegal adoptions. We have seen it in adoption documents crossing our desks. Is this a way to erase traces? What do we have to think of this?

Time for answers and constructive talks!!! We will be going to talk with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is responsible for the embassies abroad, and the Sub-Secretary of Human Rights. Make it very clear that the damage already done to Chilean Adoptees, who are Chilean citizens, has to stop.

Obtaining your ID-card / Passport