Current requirements to visit Easter Island
Since August 2018, there are new requirements to visit Easter Island. This measure seeks to limit the number of people who enter Easter Island with a tourist visa and stay illegally.
The requirements and documents to travel to Easter Island must be presented to the Investigations Police of Chile (PDI), at the moment of flying to the island.
The recommendation is to arrive at least 3 hours before the trip to the island to present these procedures.
Documents to be presented to the Investigations Police of Chile (PDI) at the time of traveling to the Island
• Complete Single Entry Form (FUI).
• Identity card or passport.
• A return ticket.
• Show reservation in tourist accommodation authorized by the National Tourism Service(SERNATUR) or letter of invitation from a person belonging to the Rapa Nui people or another authorized to reside in the island territory, which must be extended through the Provincial Governorate of Island of Easter.
Requirements to travel to Easter Island for more than 30 days
Among the requirements to live on Easter Island or stay longer than allowed by law, are the following measures:
• They can stay more than 30 days belonging to the Rapa Nui people and their families.
• Current residents.
• Workers hired or who carry out an independent economic activity on the island.
• Public workers.
• Investigators
• Authorities.
• Pre-candidates and candidates registered in the electoral register.
Documents to visit Easter Island for foreigners
In addition to presenting the documents stipulated in Article 7 of Law No. 21.070, foreign citizens wishing to travel to Easter Island have to meet the general requirements of Immigration to enter Chile.
Reasons to harden the conditions to enter Easter Island
About 3,700 kilometers from Santiago is this territory of just 164 square kilometers. Each year, around 250 Chileans (and one foreign foreigner), stays to live illegally on the island. Between 1992 and 2017 the population raised significantly, from 2,700 inhabitants to 8,000.
Without a doubt, the space on the island is insufficient. The population volume is affecting its ecosystem and putting at risk the conservation of the Rapanui people and culture.
The implementation of this law was worked in conjunction between Latam Airlines and the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security. Its objective is to protect the ecological and cultural heritage of this territory.
According to the undersecretary of Tourism, Mónica Zalaquett, these new requirements to travel to Easter Island where installed in order to equal the measure that was established in Galapagos to ensure the sustainability of the island.
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The undersecretary said: “the demographic burden is already on red alert and we have to take charge because this is affecting the flora, the fauna.” She also assured that a march of conditions will be in force to travel to Easter Island until February 2019.
“It is a call for all to be regularized, for tour operators to register with Sernatur. (The idea) is to reveal who is on the island, what situation it is in and if its intention is to stay. From here to February is the time to regulate it”, she said.
Those who do not meet the requirements to travel to Rapa Nui, both companies and individuals, risk fines in money, legal penalties and even expulsion from the island.
More information on the website Rapa Nui Protegida.
