Hi all
My wife and I are travelling to Argentina from Sydney this September but our Latam flight, of course, transits thru Santiago airport, Chile. We are only there for 5 hours before departing to Argentina. Trying to get info from the Sydney Chile consul, Qantas or Latam is proving difficult. Do we need a transit or temporary visa to transit thru Santiago? We will likely be picking up checked luggage so, from memory having been there before Covid, we’ll need to go thru immigration first b4 checking said luggage back into our flight to Argentina. Chile consul says there is an 8 to 72 hour transit visa but online application doesn’t make sense. Anyone go thru this recently? Let me know; many thx,.
Cheers, Paul B
Hi @prbsparc
Please don’t get advice about visa requirements from an internet forum such as this one – the one reliable and up-to-date source of information for Australian citizens is the smarttraveller.gov.au website.
The above website says that you won’t need a visa if your transit time is less than 8 hours. The exact wording is “If you are transiting via Chile, you will still need to apply for a visa if the transit time is over 8 hours and you need to pass the immigration point.”.
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Chile does not have a transit visa. The Chile govt website https://www.chile.gob.cl/wellington/tramites/para-extranjeros/about-passengers-in-transit
states “Tourist visas are given to those who do need to go through customs, either to leave the airport or to simply pass through Customs and Border Security to collect luggage.”
This information confirms a post I saw on a travel forum on Facebook (!) today from a guy who said his luggage was not checked through from Santiago to Buenos Aires (the two legs were on different airlines) and he could claim his luggage from the carousel as it was outside the customs / security area. He had to leave it at SCL (going around on the carousel?) and harass the airline from BA to get them to send it to him, which they did.
I have not previously seen any mention of this issue.
Hi @prbsparc , I presume you’ve now completed your Sep 2023 trip and might be able to shed some light on this? I’m in the same situation flying Sydney to Buenos Aires - transiting through Santiago (separate airlines/tickets).
Assuming i have to collect bags in Santiago and go through Chilean immigration in order to check-in for my second flight leg to Buenos Aires - does this mean you need to apply for the standard 90-day visitor visa ($US105) or were you able to use the free 72hr transit visa (for Aussies)?
Thanks, Harry
Hi @harrydep94, what was your experience?
I’m about to do the same and didn’t realize I may need a visa for Chile as my two flights are separate bookings. I applied for a 72 hour visa today but only 10 working days until my flight.
Would really appreciate you sharing your experience
Hi amyy_cs,
I am not leaving until March so haven’t found out yet. Did you go recently - are you able to share your experience?
Thank you in advance
Hi @harrydep94 and @amyy_cs could you please let me know how you went with the transit ? Just realised that Chile now requires a visa for australian citizens. I have an upcoming transit for 3 hours there onto Lima. Its under one reservation with Qantas and Latam.
Hi @morgan_8892
Because I had separate flights on separate tickets, my bags were not checked through to my connecting international flight in Santiago. Therefore, I had to apply for the free 72hr transit visa online to enable me to pass through immigration, collect my check-in luggage from the carrosel, pass through customs and then go to departures to freshly checkin for my separate international flight.
If you booked your Qantas/LATAM flights to Lima via Santiago on the one ticket with qantas then it is likely your bags would be automatically checked through to the final destination and therefore you wouldn’t need to leave the Santiago airport transit area and pass through immigration (where you’d need to present a visa). In any case if you’re not sure if your bags will check-through I’d call Qantas and/or LATAM to confirm.
The only reason you would need a transit visa is if your bags are not checked through and you had to go through the process of going through immigration like I did above.
Thanks so much for the information. Yeah, it’s under the same reservation code with the final destination being Lima so I highly doubt I would need to leave immigration. I’ll just make sure that the luggage tag shows Lima on it to make sure. Honestly what a terrible system that you had to apply for a visa to just get your luggage. There should be some kind of bypass system where your luggage can be passed on regardless.
I called Qantas and the lady on the phone confirmed that I’m all set and that I don’t need any further documentation, so I think all is good. I’m considering just keeping my small suitcase with me just in case as I’m just staying for 2 weeks but I will check with the check-in person.
Thanks again for the info, I’ll let you know how I went in case anyone else wants info on this.