Naturalización de niños refugiados (derivada, sin ningún requisito adicional)

Eligibility requires two cumulative conditions stated in DFL 5.142 Art 2 (inciso final, added by Ley 20.888 Art único Nº1 c)): (1) the applicant must be a 'menor de 18 años' (minor under 18); and (2) 'su padre o madre' must hold 'la calidad de refugiados reconocidos por Chile' (recognized-refugee status in Chile) AND that parent must have 'obtenido la carta de nacionalización' — i.e. already been granted Chilean nationality by carta (typically via the ordinary CL-NAT-01 or qualified CL-NAT-02 route). The clause closes with an unusually broad waiver: 'sin necesidad de cumplir cualquier otro requisito legal' (without need to comply with any other legal requirement) — textually excluding, on its face, the residence-duration, permanencia-definitiva, and application-form requirements that DFL 5.142 Art 2 inc.1 and Art 4 impose on ordinary carta applicants. No independent age minimum, residence period, or permit status is imposed on the child. The statute does not itself define 'refugiados reconocidos por Chile'; the qualifying refugee determination is made under Chile's separate refugee-recognition framework, which lies outside this route's decoded primary corpus.

DFL 5.142's derivative clause states the substantive entitlement — 'podrán nacionalizarse chilenos desde el momento en que, al menos, uno de sus padres haya obtenido la carta de nacionalización' — but, unlike Arts 4-9 (which set out the ordinary carta's filing venue, required data, supporting documents, police-report timelines, and Rol de Cartas numbering), it does not itself prescribe a dedicated application mechanism for the child. Ley 21.325 Art 87 channels 'el procedimiento para la obtención, pérdida y acreditación de la nacionalidad' generally to DFL 5.142, and Art 157 Nº8 tasks the Servicio Nacional de Migraciones (SERMIG) with 'tramitar las solicitudes de carta de nacionalización para su resolución por parte del Ministro del Interior y Seguridad Pública.' The clear textual anchor-event is the parent's carta grant date; the derivative right attaches to the child 'desde el momento' of that grant, but whether the child's own naturalization additionally requires a filed request, registration, or is declaratory/automatic upon the parent's grant is not expressly specified in the decoded primary text (see ).

Chile's refugee-child naturalization route rests on the constitutional carta de nacionalización ground, Const. Art 10 Nº3: 'Los extranjeros que obtuvieren carta de nacionalización en conformidad a la ley,' as operationalized by the consolidated naturalization statute DFL/Decreto 5.142 de 1960 ('Fija el texto refundido de las disposiciones sobre nacionalización de extranjeros'). Ley 20.888 (2016) inserted a dedicated derivative clause into DFL 5.142 Art 2, providing verbatim: 'Los menores de 18 años, cuyo padre o madre tenga la calidad de refugiados reconocidos por Chile, podrán nacionalizarse chilenos desde el momento en que, al menos, uno de sus padres haya obtenido la carta de nacionalización, sin necesidad de cumplir cualquier otro requisito legal.' The amending provision itself reads: 'Agrégase el siguiente inciso final:...' (Ley 20.888, Art único Nº1 c)). The route is wholly derivative: the child does not independently invoke Art 10 Nº3 but rides on the parent's already-granted carta. Ley 21.325 (2022), Chile's current migration statute, expressly keeps DFL 5.142 as the operative nationality-granting instrument — Art 84: 'La nacionalidad chilena se otorgará conforme al decreto supremo Nº 5.142, de 1960'; Art 87 channels 'el procedimiento para la obtención, pérdida y acreditación de la nacionalidad' to the same decree — confirming the refugee-child clause is live law as of 2026-07-04.

DFL 5.142 Art 1 vests the President of the Republic with granting nationalization by decree countersigned by the Minister of the Interior ('en decreto refrendado por el Ministro del Interior') — the mechanism underlying the parent's own carta that anchors this route. Ley 21.325 Art 157 Nº8 tasks SERMIG with processing carta applications for the Minister of the Interior and Public Security's resolution. The Departamento de Extranjería numbers granted cartas correlatively into the 'Rol de Cartas' (DFL 5.142 Art 9). No refugee-status-determination authority is named within this route's decoded primary corpus; that determination is made under Chile's separate refugee-recognition framework.