68 CultureShock! Chile
passed, these booklets are hawked like any other prized
commodity. This has led to a high degree of legal formality
among Chileans.
No matter what brings you to Chile, work or study, you will
have to perform a series of trámites (legal and administrative
transactions). Applications and documents must be approved
by various offices. It requires time and patience. Fortunately,
the government is introducing ways to make the entire
process easier, particularly through the use of the Internet.
Most likely any document you need to submit anywhere will
first require notarisation. Take a short walk through Santiago
and you can’t help but notice the abundance of notaries.
Notaries are kept in business by the general attitude that a
document is not valid if it has not been notarised. We had
photocopies of our passports notarised and carried those
with us instead of the real document in case of theft or
loss. To a Chilean, this notarised copy is a very real form of
identification. The irony is that the more practical legislation
applicable to daily life, like parking or hiring maids, is often
conveniently ignored or circumscribed.On-line Information
To help make your legal transactions run more smoothly check
out the Government-run website http://www.tramitefacil.cl