Receiving Context and Policy Changes in the Transformation from an Emigration Country to an Immigration Country

Until recently, Chile had been considered a social and economic miracle in a region with continuous economic social, political, and economic crises. At least from a macroeconomic perspective, the country was seen as an oasis within South America, offering low inflation, reducing poverty, and social peace. This overall perception of a successful country contributed to an important increase in immigration since the mid-1990s. This was a completely new situation for a country that until then had been mainly an emigration country. This immigration growth was steep. While the immigrant population represented less than 1% of the country’s population in 1990, in 2021 represented 7.6% of the country’s population; the same percentage of immigrants as traditional regional receiving states such as Argentina and Venezuela. This chapter discusses how Chilean society and the state have reacted to this unique social transformation. This analysis centers on two components of this reaction. On the one hand, changes in immigration-related governmental policies, and on the other, changes in the context of reception. First, using governmental policy documents, this chapter presents the continuity and change of immigration policies enacted by Chilean governments since 1990. Second, the changes in the context of reception are discussed based on how newspaper articles represent these new immigrants and on the results of existing opinion polls and surveys exploring attitudes and receptiveness toward immigrant communities. Using Chile as a case study, this chapter argues that state-developed immigration policies both influence and are influenced by the perceptions and attitudes that the public has toward immigrants. This context of reception, in turn, influences how immigrants and immigrant communities engage with Chilean society.