Recurso de recuperación de nacionalidad – Artículo 12 recurso ante la Corte Suprema (30 días)

The reclamación protects the substantive status of 'nacionalidad chilena' and, through it, the 'calidad de ciudadano' (Art 13) with its rights of suffrage and eligibility for popularly elected office. Standing is unusually broad — 'por sí o por cualquiera a su nombre' ( Art 12) — reflecting that nationality is a status right anyone may vindicate on the affected person's behalf. During the automatic suspension the claimant keeps the full bundle of national and citizen rights, because the challenged act has no effect while the recurso is pending. The remedy aligns with the American Convention on Human Rights, internal law since Decreto 873/1990: Art 20 guarantees 'Toda persona tiene derecho a una nacionalidad' and that 'A nadie se privará arbitrariamente de su nacionalidad ni del derecho a cambiarla'. Art 12 is textually silent on birth vs naturalization: it equally shields a jus-soli claimant disavowed at the Registro ( on the nationality-citizenship link) and a naturalized person whose carta is cancelled.

Standing is defined by the opening clause of Art 12: 'La persona afectada por acto o resolución de autoridad administrativa que la prive de su nacionalidad chilena o se la desconozca'. Two triggering harms qualify: (a) DEPRIVATION — an act that strips ('que la prive de') Chilean nationality; and (b) DISAVOWAL — an act that fails to recognize ('o se la desconozca') it. The affected person need not appear alone: standing is deliberately broad, exercisable 'por sí o por cualquiera a su nombre' (in person or by anyone on their behalf). The remedy is open to anyone asserting Chilean nationality regardless of how it was acquired — a jus-soli claimant whose birth in Chile the administration refuses to recognize by treating the parents as 'extranjeros transeúntes' (Art 10 Nº1 exception), a nationality-by-descent claimant, or a naturalized person facing carta cancellation. The textual precondition is that the harm flow from an ADMINISTRATIVE authority's 'acto o resolución': per this scopes the remedy to executive deprivation/disavowal, not to loss by the person's own voluntary renunciation (Art 11 Nº1) nor to a revoking statute (Art 11 Nº4). As of 2026-07-05 no fee or mandatory legal representation is stated in the constitutional text, and the wide 'por cualquiera a su nombre' standing dispenses with any personal-appearance requirement.

Art 12 fixes four procedural elements directly in the constitutional text. (1) TERM: the recurso must be lodged 'dentro del plazo de treinta días' — a 30-day period, treated as fatal/peremptory, running from the affected person's knowledge/notification of the administrative act or resolution. (2) FORUM: it is heard 'ante la Corte Suprema', sitting 'en tribunal pleno' — the full bench, not a single sala. (3) STANDARD: the Court hears 'como jurado', i.e. it decides in conscience on the facts of nationality rather than under strict rules of legal proof. (4) SUSPENSIVE EFFECT: 'La interposición del recurso suspenderá los efectos del acto o resolución recurridos' — the mere lodging of the recurso automatically stays the challenged deprivation/disavowal for the pendency, so the claimant's recognized nationality is preserved until the plenary Court rules. Filing may be done by the affected person or by anyone on their behalf. The Constitution delegates other nationality procedures to statute (Art 10 inciso final, on cartas), but the term, forum, standard and suspensive effect of the reclamación are set by Art 12 itself. Temporal anchor: all four elements have been in force since D.O. 24.10.1980 and were left unaltered by Ley 20.050 (2005) and Ley 21.325 (2022).

The reclamation remedy (recurso de reclamación de nacionalidad) rests entirely on Article 12 of the Constitution, in Capítulo II 'Nacionalidad y Ciudadanía'. Verbatim: 'La persona afectada por acto o resolución de autoridad administrativa que la prive de su nacionalidad chilena o se la desconozca, podrá recurrir, por sí o por cualquiera a su nombre, dentro del plazo de treinta días, ante la Corte Suprema, la que conocerá como jurado y en tribunal pleno. La interposición del recurso suspenderá los efectos del acto o resolución recurridos.' Art 12 is not an acquisition route: it is a constitutional guarantee of judicial review against administrative deprivation or disavowal ('desconocimiento') of Chilean nationality. It completes the nationality triad of Capítulo II — Art 10 (acquisition), Art 11 (loss), Art 12 (remedy). The provision entered force with the 1980 Constitution (marginal note 'CPR Art. 12° D.O. 24.10.1980', enacted by DL 3.464) and, critically, was NOT amended by the 2005 reform (Ley 20.050): the decoded 1980-original text carries word-for-word the same Art 12 as the current texto refundido. Because Art 11's loss grounds include executive/administrative deprivation — Nº2 by decreto supremo and Nº3 by cancellation of the carta — Art 12 is the paired review mechanism against those acts.

The adjudicating authority is the Corte Suprema sitting 'en tribunal pleno' and deciding 'como jurado' ( Art 12). The authorities whose acts are challenged are administrative: the Presidente de la República / Ministro del Interior y Seguridad Pública who sign carta-cancellation decrees ('La cancelación de la carta de nacionalización se hará previo acuerdo del Consejo de Ministros y por decreto firmado por el Presidente de la República' — DFL 5.142 Art 8) or a decreto supremo under Art 11 Nº2; the Servicio Nacional de Migraciones (SERMIG), which processes nationality files ('Tramitar las solicitudes de carta de nacionalización para su resolución por parte del Ministro del Interior y Seguridad Pública' — Ley 21.325 Art 157 Nº8); and civil-registry/identity organs that may 'desconocer' nationality. The Tribunal Constitucional is NOT the Art 12 forum: a statute revoking grace-nationality (Art 11 Nº4) would be challenged by other constitutional means, not by the reclamación.

Lodging the recurso automatically suspends the effects of the challenged act — 'La interposición del recurso suspenderá los efectos del acto o resolución recurridos' ( Art 12) — so the person retains recognized Chilean nationality, and derivatively citizenship, during the proceeding. If the Corte Suprema en pleno upholds the claim, the administrative deprivation/disavowal is left without effect and Chilean nationality stands recognized; if the claim is rejected, the act's effects resume. Loss of nationality carries automatic loss of citizenship — Art 17 Nº1 'La calidad de ciudadano se pierde: 1º.- Por pérdida de la nacionalidad chilena' — so the reclamación indirectly protects political rights (suffrage, eligibility for office) too. Two exclusions follow from the 'autoridad administrativa' wording: Art 12 does NOT reach loss by voluntary renunciation (Art 11 Nº1, the person's own declared act) nor revocation-of-grace by statute (Art 11 Nº4, a legislative act). A person whose nationality was validly lost is restored not through Art 12 but only 'por ley' (rehabilitation, Art 11 final inciso), a route distinct from the reclamation. As of 2026-07-05 this effect-structure has been stable since D.O. 24.10.1980.

Primary texts (all T1, locally decoded): — Constitución 1980 texto refundido VIGENTE, Art 12 (operative reclamation text) and Arts 11/13/17. — Constitución 1980 original (DL 3.464), Art 12 (proves continuity: identical to current). — Constitución 1925, Art 6 Nº2 (historical predecessor: 10-day, carta-cancellation-only reclamation). — DFL 5.142/1960, Art 8 (carta-cancellation act reviewed via Art 12). — ACHR/Pacto de San José (Decreto 873/1990), Art 20/27.2/62 (right to nationality; non-derogability; IACtHR jurisdiction). NOTE: is QUARANTINED (TC criminal case, not nationality) and is excluded from this route.