Opening a Bank Account
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Argentina on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Argentina to Chile · Opening a bank account
The practical gate in Chile is the cédula de identidad. The state-owned bank's mass-market account, the CuentaRUT, is numbered with your Chilean ID number and is open to any Chilean or foreigner holding a current cédula, from age 12, with no income test and no credit check. That makes the residence permit, not the bank, the real requirement: the cédula follows the permit. The migration law meanwhile obliges public and private bodies to obtain a Rol Único Nacional for a foreigner who needs one to receive their services, and guarantees the right to move money in and out of the country.
At a glance
- Core document
- Current Chilean cédula de identidad
- Minimum age
- 12
The bank's condition for this account, published by the government services portal. It is not a rule of Chilean banking law, and under 18 a legal representative has to sign.
- Income test
- None for the CuentaRUT
- Account number
- Your RUN without the check digit
- Opening and maintenance fee
- None
Read from the regulation of the account this record describes rather than from the migration law quoted here, which says nothing about charges. Article 20 of Ley 21.325 leaves banking to the ordinary banking rules, and we have not read those.
- Duration once opened
- Indefinite; either side may end it
- International card use
- Must be enabled first, then 1.9% per transaction, minimum USD 0.5
Commercial terms of one bank's product, as published by the government services portal and quoted below. Not checked against the bank's own tariff, and not a statement of what any other account charges.
- Identification before the cédula
- A Rol Único Nacional obtained by the body that needs to identify you
- Moving money abroad
- A statutory right under the migration law
Requirements
- A current Chilean cédula de identidad - the identity card issued after a residence permit is granted
- Age 12 or over; under 18 requires a legal representative to co-sign
- No proof of income and no commercial record needed for the CuentaRUT
- The application is free, and the account has no opening or maintenance fee
- Sign the contract and collect the card at a branch, or apply through the bank's app
In detail
The account follows the ID card, and the ID card follows the permit
Chile's most widely held account is BancoEstado's CuentaRUT, a sight account with a debit card whose number is simply the holder's RUN without the check digit. The published condition is a current cédula de identidad, held by a Chilean or a foreigner, from the age of 12 - and expressly no proof of income and no commercial background. So the question of whether you can bank in Chile collapses into whether you have the identity card, which the Civil Registry issues once a residence permit has been granted. There is nothing to negotiate with the bank.
What exists before the cédula
The migration law requires state bodies, private pension and health institutions and educational establishments to ask the Civil Registry for a Rol Único Nacional when they need to identify a foreigner who is asking for their services, and the Civil Registry assigns one after enrolling the person. That is how someone can be in FONASA or an AFP before holding an identity card. Banks are not among the bodies the article names, and we found no government source stating what a bank must accept from someone without a cédula.
Costs worth knowing before you rely on it
The account itself is free to open and free to maintain, and since 15 April 2026 transfers from it to other banks are free as well. Withdrawals at other banks' ATMs and balance enquiries there are charged, as is replacing a lost card. Using the card outside Chile has to be enabled first, through the app or the website, and international withdrawals and purchases carry 1.9% of the amount with a minimum of USD 0.5.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Argentina
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Todo órgano de la Administración del Estado, institución u organismo previsional o de salud privado, o establecimiento de educación público o privado, que requiera asignar un número identificatorio a un extranjero que solicite servicios propios del ejercicio de su función, deberá requerir al Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación que le asigne a dicha persona un Rol Único Nacional»Our translation - not official
Every organ of the State Administration, private pension or health institution or body, or public or private educational establishment that needs to assign an identifying number to a foreigner requesting services proper to the exercise of its function must ask the Civil Registry and Identification Service to assign that person a Rol Único Nacional
The duty is on the body providing the service, not on the foreigner. It is what makes identification possible before the identity card exists - but banks are not in the list of bodies named.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The National Congress Library's consolidated-law service. Publishes each norm as a dated, versioned consolidated text with amendment provenance in the margin and an explicit last-version date.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Holds the text and nothing about how it is applied - no practice, forms, fees or processing times. It also does not follow delegation: Ley 21.325 art. 27 hands the visa-required country list to a supreme decree, and reading art. 27 tells you nothing about that list. Beware the printing view, where margin notes interleave into the middle of sentences, so a quotation taken from a rendered page will not match the stored text.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Artículo 45.- Acreditación de la residencia. Para los extranjeros que obtuvieron su permiso de residencia en Chile, la cédula de identidad vigente será suficiente para acreditar su condición de residente regular.»Our translation - not official
Article 45.- Proof of residence. For foreigners who obtained their residence permit in Chile, the current identity card shall be sufficient to prove their status as a regular resident.
This is why the cédula is the document everything else asks for: the law makes it self-sufficient proof of lawful residence.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The National Congress Library's consolidated-law service. Publishes each norm as a dated, versioned consolidated text with amendment provenance in the margin and an explicit last-version date.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Holds the text and nothing about how it is applied - no practice, forms, fees or processing times. It also does not follow delegation: Ley 21.325 art. 27 hands the visa-required country list to a supreme decree, and reading art. 27 tells you nothing about that list. Beware the printing view, where margin notes interleave into the middle of sentences, so a quotation taken from a rendered page will not match the stored text.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Artículo 20.- Envío y recepción de remesas. Los extranjeros tienen derecho a transferir sus ingresos y ahorros obtenidos en Chile a cualquier otro país, así como a recibir dinero o bienes desde el extranjero, conforme a las condiciones y procedimientos establecidos en la legislación aplicable y a los acuerdos internacionales ratificados por Chile y que se encuentren vigentes.»Our translation - not official
Article 20.- Sending and receiving remittances. Foreigners have the right to transfer their income and savings obtained in Chile to any other country, as well as to receive money or goods from abroad, in accordance with the conditions and procedures established in the applicable legislation and in international agreements ratified by Chile and in force.
A right subject to the ordinary exchange and banking rules, which this page has not read. It does not exempt anyone from those procedures.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The National Congress Library's consolidated-law service. Publishes each norm as a dated, versioned consolidated text with amendment provenance in the margin and an explicit last-version date.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Holds the text and nothing about how it is applied - no practice, forms, fees or processing times. It also does not follow delegation: Ley 21.325 art. 27 hands the visa-required country list to a supreme decree, and reading art. 27 tells you nothing about that list. Beware the printing view, where margin notes interleave into the middle of sentences, so a quotation taken from a rendered page will not match the stored text.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
This entry describes the state bank's mass-market account because the government publishes its conditions. Other banks set their own, and those are facts about those banks rather than about Chilean law.
We did not read the financial regulator's rules on opening current accounts, so nothing here should be read as the general legal requirement for account opening in Chile.
The account contract runs indefinitely once signed, and either the customer or the bank may end it at any time.
- reportsCuentaRUT BancoEstado
ChileAtiende, Instituto de Previsión Social (Chile)
About this source
The state's citizen-services portal. Each card carries its own update date and aggregates one procedure across whichever body owns it.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Never the originating authority. It is a restatement layer and demonstrably drops things - its nationalisation card omits the renunciation requirement contained in the decree it links to. Its account card describes one commercial product of one bank and is not evidence of what the law requires of banks. Corroboration that sends you elsewhere, never the last source read.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesLey 21.325, Ley de Migración y Extranjería - texto consolidado
Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile (Ley Chile)
About this source
The National Congress Library's consolidated-law service. Publishes each norm as a dated, versioned consolidated text with amendment provenance in the margin and an explicit last-version date.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Holds the text and nothing about how it is applied - no practice, forms, fees or processing times. It also does not follow delegation: Ley 21.325 art. 27 hands the visa-required country list to a supreme decree, and reading art. 27 tells you nothing about that list. Beware the printing view, where margin notes interleave into the middle of sentences, so a quotation taken from a rendered page will not match the stored text.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- reportsCuentaRUT BancoEstado - edad mínima
ChileAtiende, Instituto de Previsión Social (Chile)
About this source
The state's citizen-services portal. Each card carries its own update date and aggregates one procedure across whichever body owns it.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Never the originating authority. It is a restatement layer and demonstrably drops things - its nationalisation card omits the renunciation requirement contained in the decree it links to. Its account card describes one commercial product of one bank and is not evidence of what the law requires of banks. Corroboration that sends you elsewhere, never the last source read.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- reportsCuentaRUT BancoEstado - tarifas en el extranjero
ChileAtiende, Instituto de Previsión Social (Chile)
About this source
The state's citizen-services portal. Each card carries its own update date and aggregates one procedure across whichever body owns it.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Never the originating authority. It is a restatement layer and demonstrably drops things - its nationalisation card omits the renunciation requirement contained in the decree it links to. Its account card describes one commercial product of one bank and is not evidence of what the law requires of banks. Corroboration that sends you elsewhere, never the last source read.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- reportsCuentaRUT BancoEstado - firma del representante legal
ChileAtiende, Instituto de Previsión Social (Chile)
About this source
The state's citizen-services portal. Each card carries its own update date and aggregates one procedure across whichever body owns it.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Never the originating authority. It is a restatement layer and demonstrably drops things - its nationalisation card omits the renunciation requirement contained in the decree it links to. Its account card describes one commercial product of one bank and is not evidence of what the law requires of banks. Corroboration that sends you elsewhere, never the last source read.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source