Our valued sponsor

Question A way to get cash for everyday expenses in Chile

Hey dude, I have experience with Chile because I have permanent residence in the country (don't live there but I still renew it). First thing first: without a RUT you have no single option but foreign bank accounts and withdrawing on ATMs, and yeah you will spend A LOT (unless you want to use cryptos which you still will spend a lot in fees but a little less).

Once you get your temporal residence (first RUT you get while you are on the temporal visa type) you should open a wise account, open a "cuenta rut" in Bancoestado and from your wise account send money to your account, it's going to be the cheapest way.

Once with your temporal RUT you can also open a "superdigital" account where you can also receive funds from wise, I recommend to open as much accounts as you can because all of them have send/receive limits (really low limits).

Now once you have the temporal RUT AND are able to prove income (either by emiting "boletas de honorarios" which are like service bills individuals can issue) go to the "Banco de Ripley" and open a "cuenta vista" which has higher limits than Bancoestado and you algo get a debit card for day to day expenses.

I also recommend you opening a crypto account in the exchange cryptomrk so you can use it in case you have the option to receive cryptos

In resume, without at least the temporal RUT you're almost screwed and you will need to live a cash live while paying between 3%-6% on fees but once you get your temporal RUT it's a "little" easier. I know it's difficult and a pain, but it was worth the time because I didn't pay any taxes during the first three years thanks to the Chilean law where foreign income is not taxed during the first three years of living in the country

PS: years visiting this forum but first comment just to help on this matter
 
My visa application is stuck on 99% for the last 3 years, I don’t think I can budge it. There’s an immigration and bureaucracy crisis here.

Withdrawing from atm was really cheap for me with a Russian card - 0 fees, just Mastercard exchange rate.
99% of the permanent residence or 99% to get a temporal residence? If you already got the temporal residence then you only need to open a bank account in Banco Ripley and use Wise to get funds from abroad, it's the cheapest method.

Also if you are waiting for the permanent residency then fill a demand, the immigration system is required to give you a response in 6 months, that's what I did and around a month after I filled the demand I got my permanent residence. Lawyers will charge you around $150 to do the job and it's worth it because they take care of everything
 
Where do I find more info on filling a demand?

Also, how bad is an idea to ask my friend to make a Mach/tenpo in his name and use it for spending, like 1000$ per month?

I suppose the only problem could be if SII finds it out, but I don’t think tax agency here monitors such small amounts

slight OT: how is it to expatriate to Chile? In which area are you? Asking for a friend who's considering to do the same ;)
Banking system sucks, lots of bureaucracy, soft people.

But the air is clean, prices same as in Moscow, good food so I’m enjoying here. It started to suck during pandemic because of restrictions but considering there’s war being waged on my land such things became not serious for me

I’m in Concepción, never lived in the capital
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: kkein
I am to stay. @latindev could you share your contact or something, I wanted to ask about this demand by a lawyer.

The demand only works for the permanent residency not for the temporal one, if you have 3 years waiting for the temporal RUT I suggest you to start the process again because that's really odd and I haven't seen a case like that (and my case was difficult and I had to wait almost a year and half to get mine temporal RUT)
 
No unionpay atms in Chile?

Thanks for posting for the sake of others that travel the world with one atm card.
I can bet there’s no Unionpay atms here. Looks like all of them are using the same provider under the hood, which means they all suck.

There’s Aumenta tus ventas con todo tipo de medios de pago | Klap los provider which claims to support Unionpay, but it’s mostly small vendors

I figured out I can use wise to pay for rent. 2.5% on top for currency exchange, until I get Schwab card
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: daxbr