The bench of deputies of the National Renewal (RN), headed by Andrés Longton and Sofía Cid, chief and deputy chief, respectively, sent a letter to the Minister of the Interior, Izkia Sichesto rule on decree No. 177 of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, through which migratory subcategories of temporary residence are established and that would facilitate —in his opinion— “work tourism.”
According to the decree issued by President Gabriel Boric, the possibility of requesting residence permits within the country is established as a general rule for tourists. Faced with this, the RN parliamentarians accused ideological foundations and argued that “all this, precisely, was what the new immigration regulations sought to prevent.”
On the other hand, the RN deputies assure —in the writing— that Law No. 21,325 on Migration and Foreigners, makes evident the intention to restrict as much as possible the possibility of allowing people with transitory stay permits or “tourists” to, once they are inside the country, apply for temporary residence permits. Exceptions are even established (Art. 69) which point to “specialist” reasons that confirm the rule and that encourage safe, regular and orderly migration.
In no case, they add, “was general authority granted to the Immigration Policy Council or the Undersecretary of the Interior to assume autonomously and generally the power to grant residence permits within the national territory.”
In this sense, deputy Sofía Cid said that: “We ask the Minister of the Interior to reconsider the regulation that came out of the Comptroller’s Office in terms of immigration. We approved a law in Congress that was discussed a lot, which prevented work tourism: what does it mean? that people who enter our country as tourists have to leave as tourists. We want to prevent the arrival of immigrants irregularly, we want those who enter our country to do so properly, regularly, legally; and people who want to come to work in our country should say so and come accordingly, with their employment contract”.
While deputy Andrés Longton added that: “The Minister of the Interior is in charge of implementing immigration policy but, instead of tidying up the house, she stops the commercial flights that the previous administration hired and financed to expel migrants with expulsion orders. , and gives a pardon to all irregular migrants who arrived before February 12, condemning our country to continue deepening precariousness, poverty, insecurity and encouraging labor tourism.
“A minister in charge of security, who in her two months in charge has done the opposite and we see it with great concern,” said Deputy Longton.
And along the same lines as the deputy, Longton agreed that the current regulations “contradict” what was legislated by Parliament. “Congress refused to return to the labor tourism visa due to the consequences it brought to the country and to all Chileans. Who does not remember the planes that arrived with Haitian citizens, who came with a yellow envelope and a promise of work that never arrived. But what is this government doing that is still in place? Through a decree, it violates the will of Congress expressed in the law and establishes a general rule in the migratory subcategories, since through the undersecretary a temporary permit may be granted despite having entered as a tourist. Condemning the country to revive the causes that led us to the migration crisis.”
Due to the above, the RN parliamentarians leave several queries to the Minister Siches: if it were the case, what are the criteria to access the authorization? What immigration permit would the tourist be under while waiting for the response from the Undersecretary of the Interior?
In addition, they point out that even when it is a matter of mere interpretation; In practice, the National Immigration Service issued circular No. 6 (05.16.22) that allows – prior favorable qualification of the Undersecretary of the Interior, and in accordance with the immigration policy, to authorize these cases. Even, it would be regularizing (Numeral 7), those foreigners who entered before the validity of the migration law, who at this point, should be expelled if they have expired their transitory permanence.
Thus, the parliamentarians accused that the meaning and scope of the new immigration regulations are being “flagrantly distorted”, establishing a formula of general application so that holders of transitory stay permits can change their immigration status to that of resident, without the need to leave. from the country. “This is contrary to everything discussed and approved in the National Congress, in accordance with the express tenor and spirit of the new Migration Law, which at all times during its processing prohibited work tourism, benefits, housing, among others” , they hold.
“The Comptroller’s acknowledgment represents a mere presumption of legality, which does not prevent the auditing entity from modifying its criteria if, subsequently, it is verified that they were issued with legal defects, or based on antecedents not properly weighted in their opportunity or in irregular cases”, they question,
Finally, in the official letter, the parliamentarians call on the government authorities to specify the scope of the decree in question. “We inform the Minister of the Interior and Public Security that this fact is of the greatest gravity in our opinion, since the centrality of Parliament in the process of creating the will of the State is violated, which in our opinion matters a lot. violation of the Constitution and the law. For this reason, we require that the details of decree No. 177 be entered as soon as possible, and immediately order the suppression of circular No. 7 of the National Migration Service.”
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