in which the petitioner is recognized as a Chilean national and not a child of a transient
foreigner.200 In the past, this process was as lengthy as the petition before the Supreme
Court, requiring a year or more; however, at present the processing time has been
reduced to 4 months. This process has fewer procedural formalities than a Supreme
Court petition, but is still highly inaccessible for those living in remote areas. Both
procedures require some degree of legal guidance, but unlike the Supreme Court petition, legal representation is not a requirement to pursue the administrative recourse. 201
Since 2014, the Centre for Human Rights at the Migrants and Refugee Clinic of
the Universidad Diego Portales (UDP) and the Migrants Clinic at Universidad Alberto
Hurtado (UAH)—building on their experience litigating nationality cases nationality
before the Supreme Court of Chile—have been working jointly to identify and resolve
cases in which children of migrants were denied Chilean nationality through the 1995–
2014 interpretation of the “in transit” exception.202 They engage in case documentation, advocacy, and legal representation before judicial and administrative bodies. These
legal clinics have done outreach with immigrant populations in the northern provinces
of Chile and consulates in Santiago, hoping to identify cases where individuals have
been registered as children of in transit parents and seeking to correct the registration
and establish the individuals’ Chilean nationality. The clinics have discovered a much
higher number of cases of children registered as “in transit” than originally anticipated,
particularly among indigenous and migrant populations living along Chile’s northern
border, in Arica and Taracapá. The clinic team joined the Jesuit Refugee Service in filing a case in November 2015 before the Supreme Court of Chile, petitioning the court
to recognize the Chilean nationality of 161 persons who had been born in the territory
and registered as children of transient foreigners.203 The advocates involved in this joint
project estimate that thousands were denied nationality under the previous interpretation of the law, many of whom are likely to be stateless.204
Implementation of the new policy outside of Chile’s capital has presented a wide
range of challenges, including inconsistent interpretations by local authorities implementing Ministry of Interior and Civil Registry policies, limited institutional capacity,
and the geographic isolation of certain groups.205 The government has not engaged in
outreach to identify the populations affected by the previous policies.206 Those most
acutely affected by the 1995–2014 restrictions are minority groups in hard-to-reach
locations, with limited access to the state authorities and in regions where civil society
presence is minimal or nonexistent. These communities may be unaware of the change
of policy and/or unaware of, or unable to access, means to redress the past denial of
their right to Chilean nationality. Linguistic, cultural, and socioeconomic barriers are
frequently factors as well.
The Chilean Civil Registry reported that between January 2008 and January
2014 1,414 children were registered in the Birth Registry with notation “HET” (hijo de
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COUNTRY PROFILES
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CHILE
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