Current challenges and concerns
Article 10 of Chile’s Political Constitution recognizes the principle of jus sanguinis and the principle of jus soli for the acquisition of nationality. Every person born in the territory is Chilean, with the exception of children whose parents are in the service of a foreign government and “children of foreigners in transit”.
Given the absence of a legal definition of the concept of “foreigners in transit”, the government has interpreted it in different ways over the years. Between 1996 and 2014, a person with an irregular migratory status was considered a “foreigner in transit”, which meant that their children born in Chile were registered as “children of foreigners in transit” rather than Chileans.
According to information provided by the Civil Registry and Identification Service, between the years 2000 and 2014, close to 3000 children were registered as “children of foreigners in transit” and thus arbitrarily denied Chilean nationality. 50% of these cases were registered in the Northern region of Chile (Arica and Iquique) near the Peruvian and Bolivian borders. Many of these cases involved the Aymara people.
In March of 2014, the government created a new administrative criterion interpreting the constitutional article: the concept of foreigners in transit was limited to tourists and crew members, confirming that the migratory situation of parents is not a valid reason to deprive a child of nationality.
Nevertheless, this new criterion has not been legislated, and the situation of thousand of children registered as “children of foreigners in transit” has not yet been rectified.
Without a nationality, many of these children face obstacles in their access to education, health and justice.
The #ChileReconoce project is an inter-institutional initiative of the State, civil society and UNHCR, to deliver Chilean nationality to hundreds of people who, despite having been born in Chile, were registered as “children of transient foreigners”, thus ignoring their right have a nationality and putting them at risk of statelessness.
Useful links
Legal Clinic for Migrants and Refugees of the Diego Portales University: webpage.
Legislative initiative to specify the new interpretation of the right to nationality, available here.
News
“UNHCR lauds Chile as it accedes to both UN Conventions on Statelessness”