Introduction Recording in-Chile Births, Marriages

Introduction
Chile's Civil Registry and Identification Service is in charge of the Births, Marriages and Deaths Registers. In
these records are recorded the vital facts and legal proceedings that originated them, provided that they have
taken place inside the territory of the Republic of Chile .
Notwithstanding, through an exceptional procedure, the law allows the inscription of these facts and legal proceedings if
they have taken place abroad. This refers to Chileans or foreign residents in Chile, or those who have been
nationalized. For these purposes, special Registers have been established
In the “X” Register the Chilean and Chilean's children births, marriages and deaths that have occurred abroad are
registered.
In the NER Register (an abbreviation formed by the initials of “Nationalized” and “Resident Foreigner” are registered the
births, marriages and deaths occurred abroad, in regard to foreign residents, in consideration of the nature of the visa
granted, or nationalized d these proceeding in both Registers. Furthermore, this office will deal especially with inquiries
from nationalized or foreign residents in Chile, as well as from any persons having an express interest.
Recording in-Chile Births, Marriages and Deaths of Chilean Citizens
and Chilean's children born abroad
There are two ways for inscribing these vital facts and legal proceedings that have occurred abroad, which are recorded
in the "X" Register:
- Through Chilean Consulates abroad
- Before the Chile's Civil Registry and Identification Service
Through Chilean Consulates abroad
As a rule, all births, marriages and deaths of Chileans Citizens and Chilean's children born abroad, are recorded at the
Chile's Consulate, where any of these facts and legal proceedings have occurred.
The respective Consul, after the inscription on the books given for this purpose to every Chile's Consulate Office
abroad, must consign the inscription's antecedents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This means that the original
certificate of birth, marriage or death is to be registered together with the Consular Record.
Once received, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will certify their authenticity and will send them on to the Santiago's Civil
Registry and Identification Office. There, the Civil Officer is due to proceed with the inscription of the vital fact, in Chile,
on the corresponding Register, thus ending the procedures initiated abroad.
Before the Chile's Civil Registry and Identification Service
This procedure allows for the process of two formalities at the same time:
1. Directly before the Civil Registry Office in Santiago's district
For this purpose, the interested party should submit the following documents:
General:
Original certificates of birth, marriage or death that are going to be recorded, duly authenticated and translated if
they are drawn up in another language, other than Spanish. Any of these certificates are going to be the basis for
the requested inscription.
Special:
Birth
- Enclose current birth certificates of the Chilean father or mother in order to guarantee the condition of a Chilean
Citizen's children, born abroad, of the person whose birth is to be recorded (Political Constitution, article 10 n° 1).
- Parents marriage certificate, if they have been married in Chile.
- Identification Card of the petitioner for the record, which should be the father or mother of the person being recorded.
Marriage
- One or both of the current birth certificates of the Chilean spouses.
- The request should be requested at least by one of the spouses. At the moment of the recording, the
Regulation of Goods is established by agreement for both spouses. If there is only one petitioner, or both and
they do not make a statement in this regard, the regulation is understood as the total Separation of
Goods.However, both spouses can draw up a certificate before the Civil Officer, in order to agree either the Joint
Ownership of Goods by husband and wife or Participation in the Joint Goods.
Death
- Defunct Current birth certificate.
- If the defunct was married, the marriage certificate is needed.
- If the deceased was widowed, then the spouse's death certificate is neededd.
- The recording can be requested by any person being adult, and thus the legal age of 18, in addition to showing a
current Identification Card.
2. By writing a requirement submitted to any Chilean Civil Registry Office throughout the country
Taking into consideration that a birth, marriage or death inscription has occurred abroad, its recording can only
be done in the competent office responsible for that particular Register. Currently, the Santiago's Civil Registry
and Identification can, exceptionally, accept the request, always when the person is providing in advance the
above mentioned documents, before any Civil Registry Office throughout the country. For this purpose, a
document called “Writing Requirement” should be filled out. Through the use of this document, the appropriate
Civil Officer would be requested to effectuate the above-mentioned registration. In this way, the necessity of
coming to the capital (Santiago) for performing the transaction is avoided.
Common considerations in both Record proceedings
Marriages
- According to the article N° 135, clause 2° of the Chilean Civil Code: “Those being married abroad should be
considered in Chile with total separation of goods, unless they inscribe their marriage at Santiago’s First Section
Register. There, they are supposed to stipulate through this act, a Joint Ownership or Regulation of Participation
in the joint goods. This evidence will be recorded in such inscription.”
- Therefore, if the Inscription is requested through the Consulate or directly at Chile's Civil Registry and
Identification Service, the only plea to pact Joint Ownership between the spouses should be the act of the
request of the Inscription. This should be either before the Consul, or before the Civil Officer. If there is nothing is
to state in this act, they should be considered in the same way as with Separation of Goods; a situation that can
only be changed in the future, at any moment, through Participation in the Joint Goods.
Recording in-Chile Births, Marriages and Deaths of naturalized and
foreign residents occurring abroad
Recording in-Chile Births, Marriages and Deaths of naturalized and foreign residents occurring abroad.
These records are made at Santiago 's Civil Registry and Identification Office. They are made in the Registers
called “NER” and are generally subjected to the same recording treatment as found in the “X” Registers, which
are reserved to Chileans Citizens and Chilean's children born overseas.
For this purpose, the interested party should submit the following documents:
General:
Original certificates of birth, marriage or death that are going to be recorded, duly authenticated and translated if
they are drawn up in another language, other than Spanish. Any of these certificates are going to be the basis for
the requested
Special considerations for these kind of inscriptions
It is important to state that, in principle, every children of a foreigner born in the national territory should be
inscribed at the Registration District corresponding to the place where the birth was. These people will be
Chilean Citizens, by enforcement of the article 10 N° 1 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile. This
article states that Chileans are “those born in the Chilean territory”, recognizing as the only exception the
“children of foreigners staying in Chile in duty for their Government and the temporary foreigner's children”.
Forthe last cases, and being a special situation, the Civil Officer is obliged to deposit in trust a note in the
Inscription. By these means the Civil Officer should inform concerning any person falling within these two
exceptional circumstances; that is to say, either children of foreigners that are in Chile servicing their
Government, or children of foreigners in transit. The only purpose of this statement is to make known, in front of
a third party that the registered person, in spite of being born in Chilean territory is considered as a foreigner.
These people could opt for Chilean Citizenship within a year after completing 21 years of age. This transaction
should be carried out before the related competent organism, that is to say, the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Observation:
-The children of nationalized Chileans will also be Chilean Citizens provided that they have been born after the
nationalization date of their father, mother or both parents.
- The marriages and deaths of resident and nationalized foreigners that occur within the territory of the Republic
of Chile should be ruled by the same dispositions applicable to Chilean Citizens.
Recommendations
It is important to make clear that to perform these kind of inscriptions, all foreign documents, coming from all
over the world and drawn up according to the foreign legislation, must be analyzed. This situation generates
many special situations that are not given detail in this presentation. If there is any doubt or need of further
information regarding these transactions, please contact directly the Office in Santiago, located at Huérfanos
1570, 2nd floor, telephone 56-2-698 2546.
If you have any doubt about whether or not a person is a foreigner, you should go to the Migration and Foreign
Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After obtaining a determination in this respect, the Ministry will
communicate the resolution to the Chile's Civil Registry and Identification Service, who will proceed according to
that statement.