Expat Community > Chile

NRP
Joined 2015
Posts: 3

Visa Advice

9 years ago

My apologies if this is a redundant topic, but I was unable to find the information I need elsewhere in the forum.

I am currently living on a tourist visa in a hotel, where I am helping out in exchange for room and board. I have been here about six weeks.

I had a job when I got here but I quit because they were not going to give me a contract or a visa, it paid poorly and the work conditions were poor.

Now I want to get a residencia temporaria visa so I can teach at the Instituto Norteamericano and make some money. They have given me a job offer letter but told me that I could not start working until my visa temporaria was at least in process, which they said would take a month.

Of the temporary visas that are available, I fit most closely in the category of the professional. However, I have not been able to compile the required paperwork for my visa application because of the requirement that I have my college degree legalized at a Chilean consulate in the United States.

My college degree is currently in my mother's house several hundred miles from the nearest Chilean consulate, and I don't know what to ask my mother to do to help me. I am hesitant to ask her to go to the consulate with my degree because I don't know if she will have everything she needs to get the job done and she can't run back and forth.

Has anyone on the forum had their degree legalized at a Chilean consulate before? How does it work? Are there any papers besides the degree that you need to bring to the consulate? What does the consulate give you to confirm the legalization? Is this even feasible or will I have to be there to do it myself? Also, is there some way I can get a different visa more easily? The institute has not offered to give me a work contract, which might allow me to get a sujecto a contrato visa, so that does not appear to be an option.

Thanks for your help.

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