Apostille for Chile.

Chile is a relatively recent apostille country. It acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention in December 2015, and the Convention has been in force for Chile since August 30, 2016 (HCCH status table). If you find older advice telling you to legalize Florida documents at a Chilean consulate, it predates that change. Today a Florida apostille is the whole authentication. Here's who usually receives Florida paperwork in Chile.

Servicio Nacional de Migraciones (work-based residence)

For temporary residence based on a job or job offer, the Servicio Nacional de Migraciones asks for a criminal-record certificate from your country of origin, or from the country where you lived in the last five years. It must be issued no more than 60 days before you apply. Documents issued abroad must be apostilled or legalized under articles 345 and 345 bis of the Chilean Code of Civil Procedure. The application is filed online, from outside Chile (Migraciones requirements).

Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (births abroad)

Children and grandchildren of Chileans born abroad can have the birth registered in Chile. The Registro Civil asks for the original foreign birth certificate, apostilled. If it isn't in Spanish, it needs a certified translation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the relevant consulate in Chile. The registration is in person at a Registro Civil office, is free, and can't be done online (ChileAtiende ficha). Children of naturalized Chileans and foreign residents follow a similar process (ficha).

Degree recognition

Chile's Foreign Ministry recognizes professional degrees only from a short list of treaty countries, and the United States isn't on it. Degrees from other countries go to the foreign-degree revalidation office of the Universidad de Chile (ChileAtiende ficha). Ask that office for its document list before you order apostilles.

This is where Chile differs from most Spanish-speaking countries. Two Chilean offices handle the same English-language Florida document differently:

• Migraciones requires an official translation only for documents in a language other than Spanish or English. An English-language Florida document with a Florida apostille can generally go in as is.
• Registro Civil requires a certified Spanish translation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (or the relevant consulate in Chile) for any certificate not in Spanish.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs runs its own translation service, including English to Spanish. It can deliver translations online with an electronic signature, digital stamp and QR code, or at its office in Santiago. It asks for the original document properly apostilled or legalized, and it notes that the office requesting the translation decides whether one is mandatory (MINREL translation ficha). So translate after the apostille, and only when the receiving office actually asks for it.

We file every order in person at the Florida Department of State in Tallahassee, 5–7 business days door to door. All-inclusive pricing is $220 per document, $380 for two, and $160 each for three or more. International return shipping to Chile is a flat $100 per order.

• Criminal-record certificates have a 60-day clock. If Migraciones accepts a Florida state record for your case, it must be notarized when it's issued — FDLE background checks and county sheriff letters both work that way. Then apostille it right away, so the 60 days don't run out while the certificate is in the mail. See FDLE background check apostille.
• Birth certificates for the Registro Civil must be certified copies signed by the State Registrar. We don't accept copies certified before 2014 — order a fresh one through VitalChek.
• Diplomas and transcripts for the Universidad de Chile must be notarized at issuance, with the registrar signing before a notary and a complete notarial certificate. See diploma apostille.
• Powers of attorney for property or banking in Chile need a complete Florida notarial certificate. If you're already in Chile, online notarization costs $40 for the first document ($10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee) and $20 for each additional one.

Check these before you ship anything to us.