Argentina allows entry, but Chile “closes borders”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The protocols duly proposed by the government of the Province of Neuquén were approved, and foreigners wishing to enter Argentina will now be able to do so through the Pino Hachado and Cardenal Samoré border crossings. María Rosa Dupín, a Migrations official in Bariloche, indicated that these crossings were by the disposition of the Ministry of Health from this week. “They are operating seven days a week”.

The national official explained that “since there is no reciprocity, the entry requirements are not the same for Argentina as for Chile. Argentina has the Passes open for Argentine citizens who are abroad and those who have other nationalities and enter as tourists. As the Republic of Chile has closed the Passes, they do not enable the exit from Chile, and that is what is a little confusing, sometimes it is difficult to explain.”

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On the program “Chocolate por la Noticia” which is broadcast by “El Cordillerano” radio, she pointed out that “to solve the situation a little bit, the Chilean government issued a disposition a few days ago, where they enable the exit from Chile in certain conditions. Those returning to their homes may leave without prior authorization; an Argentinean in Chile may leave Chilean territory and enter Argentina.”

“The other situations require a special authorization that is managed on a page of the government of Chile website called ‘comisaríavirtual’ where you must enter a place that says ‘exit permit’. There, information is provided on particular situations that have to do with humanitarian reasons, people who fulfill an essential task for the country, people who move and go to live abroad, or foreigners who want to come to live in Argentina and can prove it with documents, all of them can obtain the permit.”

On how much movement there is with the current characteristics, she said that “currently it is very, very low. Today, people who want to leave Argentina and enter Chilean territory must go through a procedure at the Chilean Consulate, so we are talking about 10/12 people per day, and for the entry, they are also very, very few.”

She also explained that “at this moment to enter our country no special procedure is needed because we do not prohibit the entry to anyone, the permit that has to be done is the one to leave Chile. At the moment, it is complex because there has always been interchanging between the two countries; the same happens with other bordering countries; we are not talking about a special situation with Chile. If in doubt, we suggest everyone consult with the Chilean Consulate so that they can tell them exactly what are the requirements to enter or leave Chile.”

Regarding if the requirements are the same for tourists, she mentioned that “they are the same. We ask for vaccination certificates, negative PCR, an affidavit that can be found in the page of Migrations where all the data is uploaded.”

When asked if there could be a consensus in the requirements among the different countries, the official said that “the pandemic situation has modified absolutely everything, the epidemiological situation or the conscience of each person who decides to enter a country, with all these people it is not possible to agree.”

“One is the criterion of Chile and another the criterion of Argentina since the measures taken are not the same. Chile had scheduled the opening of Pino Hachado for December 1 and, due to the epidemiological situation, decided to postpone it for 15 days. It will be seen if it opens on December 15 or if they will continue to defer the opening.”

Finally, María Rosa Dupín informed us that the Chilean authorities decided to open “the Samoré Pass on January 1; we do not know if they will open it or not. It will be evaluated according to the sanitary situation. We tend to open more and more Passes, we will see what happens with the Republic of Chile.”