Implementation of Nationality Laws The Chilean government entities responsible for nationality matters are the Department of Foreign and Migration Affairs, which sits under the Ministry of Interior and Public Security; and the Civil Registry and Identification Office, which sits under the Ministry of Justice. A lack of clarity in delineating responsibilities between these two government entities has in some cases complicated the process of gaining Chilean nationality. Changes in policy and in the definition of “in transit” have further complicated the situation. Law 19.477 of 1996 establishes that the Civil Registry and Identification Office is a functionally decentralized public service, with an independent legal personality under the supervision of the president of the republic through the Ministry of Justice.183 The main function of the office is to register acts of marriage and other vital facts related to the identification and civil status of persons.184 The Civil Registry and Identification Office is comprised of 469 offices and sub-offices that include mobile office units and a maritime office, with a total staff of 2,931 persons.185 The Ministry of Interior until 1995 held the position that parents who were in the country for over a year intended to permanently reside in the country and hence were not considered to be transient foreigners.186 However, this interpretation was not consistently applied throughout the country. The Civil Registry and Identification Office had an inconsistent policy as to whether to register a child born in Chile to foreign undocumented parents as a Chilean national. Some registrars designated the child as Chilean, omitting any distinction or notation in the birth certificate. Others registered the birth but would note in the certificate that the child was born to transient foreigners, and accordingly not eligible for Chilean nationality. 187 In 1995, through an administrative order, the Ministry of Interior, as the governmental entity in charge of nationality matters, established its interpretation that all undocumented migrants were “in transit” and therefore their children were not citizens.188 Administrative orders, in this case in the form of an administrative order, are the acts through which government entities establish and instruct the staff and offices of the entity’s interpretation of legal or regulatory provisions, develop a law or regulation, or establish a framework for action.189 The Ministry of the Interior, making use of its powers under the current Immigration Act, stated in administrative order No. 6241 of October 25, 1995: [T]here was a need to make the constitutional concept of transient foreigners explicit while the corresponding law is enacted, so in the view of the Ministry, interpreting these terms in their natural and obvious sense, transient foreigners are those who are in the country in a situation of temporary residence, as tourists or crew, or illegal residents.190 54 COUNTRY PROFILES l CHILE