Sending Employees to Chile: Business Trip or Work? When Is a Work Permit Required?
Foreign companies frequently send executives, engineers, technicians and other specialists to Chile for short-term assignments.
The trip may be internally classified as a business visit, a client meeting or a short corporate assignment. However, from an immigration perspective, the way a company labels the trip does not necessarily determine whether the activities can be performed in Chile without work authorization.
For companies planning to send personnel to Chile, the key question should be:
What will the employee actually do while physically present in Chile?
This distinction becomes particularly important when a trip combines business meetings with technical assistance, equipment installation, maintenance, commissioning, supervision or other project-related activities.
A business trip does not automatically allow an employee to work in Chile
Foreign nationals entering Chile for short stays will normally do so under Permanencia Transitoria, the Chilean immigration category generally associated with tourism, business travel and other temporary visits.
As a general rule, holders of Permanencia Transitoria are not authorized to perform remunerated activities in Chile.
Chilean immigration law nevertheless provides an exceptional mechanism through which foreign nationals performing specific and occasional activities may obtain authorization to work. The rules expressly contemplate, among others, advisers and expert technicians, and apply even when the economic compensation is received outside Chile.
This is particularly relevant for international companies sending technical personnel to Chile temporarily in connection with a client, equipment, project or service.
Meetings and technical work are not the same thing
A foreign employee travelling to Chile to attend internal meetings, meet customers, visit facilities or participate in commercial discussions is not necessarily in the same immigration situation as an employee who will personally perform technical or operational activities.
Companies should therefore pay particular attention when personnel are being sent to Chile to perform activities such as:
- installation or commissioning of machinery or equipment;
- maintenance or repair work;
- specialized technical support;
- direct intervention in systems, equipment or processes;
- technical supervision connected to project execution;
- on-site services required under a commercial or technical agreement.
Calling the trip a “business trip” does not by itself determine its immigration treatment.
The employee’s actual activities in Chile are what matter.
Training can also fall into a grey area
Training is another common source of confusion for international companies.
There can be an important difference between an employee travelling to Chile to attend training or participate in meetings and a foreign specialist who is being sent to Chile to deliver technical training as part of a service or project.
Similar questions arise with activities described internally as “supervision”, “consulting”, “support” or “assistance”.
These terms can cover very different situations.
For this reason, companies should assess the nature of the assignment before the employee travels, rather than trying to determine the appropriate immigration status once the individual is already working at a client site or project location in Chile.
What if the employee remains on the foreign payroll?
This is one of the most common assumptions made in international assignments.
A foreign company may conclude that no Chilean work authorization (work permit) is required because the employee remains under an employment contract abroad and continues to receive salary from the home-country company.
That conclusion can be risky.
Chilean immigration rules expressly contemplate specific and occasional activities from which the foreign national receives remuneration or economic benefit in Chile or abroad.
Therefore, keeping the employee on the foreign payroll does not, by itself, mean that the activities performed in Chile fall outside Chilean immigration requirements.
The relevant analysis remains focused on what the employee will actually be doing in Chile.
Does it matter if the assignment lasts only a few days?
Duration is relevant, but it should not be the only factor considered.
Companies sometimes assume that no work authorization is necessary because the employee will be in Chile for only three, five or ten days.
A short stay, however, does not automatically turn technical work into a business visit.
Chile’s National Immigration Service (SERMIG) establishes that holders of Permanencia Transitoria cannot generally perform remunerated activities, while providing an exceptional work authorization for certain specific and occasional activities.
A short project may therefore still require an immigration assessment.
Before sending an employee to Chile
From a corporate compliance perspective, immigration planning should take place before flights are booked and before the employee begins activities in Chile.
The company should understand exactly what the employee will do, how long the assignment will last, whether the activities are limited to business meetings or include technical work, whether there is a Chilean client or project involved, and whether work authorization may be required.
The objective is not simply to determine whether the person can enter Chile.
It is to determine whether the person can legally perform the activities for which the company is sending them to Chile.
Business travel and immigration compliance are different questions
For international companies, the distinction between a business visitor and a foreign worker is not always determined by job title, payroll location or the number of days spent in Chile.
It depends primarily on the nature of the activities actually performed in the country.
At FIC Visas Chile, we assist foreign companies in assessing the appropriate immigration strategy before sending executives, engineers, technicians and specialists to Chile, helping them identify potential work authorization requirements before the assignment begins.
