Exchanging a Foreign Driving Licence
This replaces the general rule for you
Bolivian Licences: Recognised Since 2026, and You Keep the Original
Chile has a driving licence treaty in force with Bolivia, so the conversion route exists for you where it does not exist for most nationalities. The transport ministry runs the procedure online, asks the issuing authority to confirm the licence, and issues a certificate; the licence itself is issued by the traffic department of the municipality where you live. You keep the original.
Chile exchanges or recognises foreign licences only where a treaty with the issuing country is in force, and the transport ministry names nine: Spain, South Korea, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Japan, Paraguay and Bolivia. An agreement with Brazil has been signed and is not yet in force. The process is centralised online with the ministry, which verifies the licence with the issuing authority and then issues a certificate; the actual exchange happens at the traffic department of the municipality where you live. Several of the treaties require a Chilean identity card showing your nationality, so this is a resident's procedure, not a visitor's.
At a glance
- Countries with a treaty in force
- Spain, South Korea, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Japan, Paraguay, Bolivia
- Brazil
- Agreement signed, not yet in force
- Licences obtained by exchange elsewhere
- Excluded
- Where the request is filed
- Online with the transport ministry, with ClaveÚnica
- Where it is completed
- The traffic department of your municipality
- Certificate
- Has its own expiry; letting it lapse restarts the application
- Exchange vs recognition
- Exchange surrenders the original; recognition lets you keep it
- Argentina
- Only the national licence, not provincial or municipal ones
Requirements
- A licence issued by one of the countries with a treaty in force
- The licence must be valid, current, and not itself obtained by exchange or recognition from a third country
- Only the licence classes listed for your country may be exchanged or recognised
- For the Peruvian, Ecuadorian, Colombian, Argentine and Paraguayan procedures: a Chilean identity card showing the relevant nationality
- For the South Korean and Japanese procedures: a translation obtained from that country's consulate in Santiago
- Application filed online with the transport ministry using ClaveÚnica
- Completion at the traffic department of the municipality of your address, within the certificate's validity period
In detail
Treaty or nothing
Chile does not have a general rule letting a foreign licence be converted on the strength of a test or a waiting period. Either your country has a treaty in force or the exchange route does not exist for you, and the transport ministry's list is short: Spain, South Korea, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Japan, Paraguay and Bolivia. Everyone else falls back on obtaining a Chilean licence from scratch at a municipal traffic department, which this page has not researched.
Exchange and recognition are different words for different things
The ministry uses both terms deliberately. Where the procedure is a canje - Spain aside, this covers South Korea, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Paraguay - you hand over the original licence at the municipal traffic department and it is returned to the issuing country. Where it is a reconocimiento, as with Colombia and Japan, the page states you keep your licence. If holding on to the original matters to you, that distinction decides it.
Two authorities, one process
The application is made online to the transport ministry with ClaveÚnica. The ministry then asks the issuing authority - Spain's Dirección General de Tráfico, Peru's Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones, Argentina's Agencia Nacional de Seguridad Vial, or the relevant consulate in Santiago for South Korea and Japan - to confirm the licence. A positive answer produces a certificate carrying instructions for the municipality. The municipality is where the licence is actually issued, and the municipality is chosen by your address.
Country-level policy
Chile's migration law and the decree that lists every residence subcategory do not name a single country between them. We searched both consolidated texts for every neighbour, for Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea, for Mercosur and for the Andean Community, and there are no hits at all. That is not the same as saying Chile treats everyone alike. It means every rule that turns on your passport has been delegated somewhere else: to a treaty, to the supreme decree that fixes which nationalities need a consular visa, to the supreme decree that sets permit fees on a reciprocity basis, or to the transport ministry's licence treaties. If you are looking for what your nationality changes in Chile, the law is the wrong place to look.
What applies to you
Bolivian Licences: Recognised Since 2026, and You Keep the Original
Chile has a driving licence treaty in force with Bolivia, so the conversion route exists for you where it does not exist for most nationalities. The transport ministry runs the procedure online, asks the issuing authority to confirm the licence, and issues a certificate; the licence itself is issued by the traffic department of the municipality where you live. You keep the original.
- A Chilean identity card showing the nationality as "Chilena" or "BOL"
- A driving licence issued by Bolivia, of one of the classes the ministry lists for this procedure
- The licence must be valid, current, and not itself obtained by exchange or recognition from a third country
- Clear photographs of both sides of the licence
- The application filed online with the transport ministry using ClaveÚnica
- Completion at the traffic department of the municipality where you live, within the certificate's validity period
What the law says
«Chile tiene en vigor tratados internacionales con España, Surcorea, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Japón, Paraguay y Bolivia. En todos ellos, las licencias de origen deben ser válidas, estar vigentes y no provenir del canje o reconocimiento desde otro país.»Our translation - not official
Chile has international treaties in force with Spain, South Korea, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Japan, Paraguay and Bolivia. In all of them, the original licences must be valid, current, and not derived from exchange or recognition from another country.
The exclusion at the end closes the obvious workaround of converting a third-country licence in a treaty country first.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Runs the online licence exchange and recognition procedures and verifies a foreign licence with its issuing authority before issuing a certificate.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the licence itself, which is issued by the municipal traffic department on its own requirements, fees and appointments. Not the rules for driving as a visitor on a foreign licence, nor for obtaining a Chilean licence from scratch. Not the texts of the treaties it summarises.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Entre Chile y Brasil se ha firmado un Acuerdo de Reconocimiento, pero aun no han entrado en vigencia.»Our translation - not official
A Recognition Agreement has been signed between Chile and Brazil, but it has not yet entered into force.
Quoted as published, including the missing accent on 'aun'. Signature is not entry into force, and this is the line to re-read on any news that Brazil has been added.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Runs the online licence exchange and recognition procedures and verifies a foreign licence with its issuing authority before issuing a certificate.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the licence itself, which is issued by the municipal traffic department on its own requirements, fees and appointments. Not the rules for driving as a visitor on a foreign licence, nor for obtaining a Chilean licence from scratch. Not the texts of the treaties it summarises.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«En cada uno de los trámites, se emitirá un certificado de respuesta que posee un plazo de vigencia. En caso de vencer dicho plazo, deberá ingresarse una nueva solicitud que será tramitada desde una etapa inicial.»Our translation - not official
In each of the procedures a response certificate will be issued, which has a validity period. Should that period expire, a new application must be filed and will be processed from the beginning.
The certificate is the perishable part of the process, and nothing carries over if it lapses.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Runs the online licence exchange and recognition procedures and verifies a foreign licence with its issuing authority before issuing a certificate.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the licence itself, which is issued by the municipal traffic department on its own requirements, fees and appointments. Not the rules for driving as a visitor on a foreign licence, nor for obtaining a Chilean licence from scratch. Not the texts of the treaties it summarises.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Para acceder el trámite, tu cédula de identidad chilena deberá indicar como nacionalidad “Chilena” o “PER”.»Our translation - not official
To access the procedure, your Chilean identity card must show the nationality as "Chilena" or "PER".
Quoted as published, including 'acceder el trámite'. The same condition, with the matching country code, appears for Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay - so these procedures presuppose you already hold a Chilean identity card.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Runs the online licence exchange and recognition procedures and verifies a foreign licence with its issuing authority before issuing a certificate.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the licence itself, which is issued by the municipal traffic department on its own requirements, fees and appointments. Not the rules for driving as a visitor on a foreign licence, nor for obtaining a Chilean licence from scratch. Not the texts of the treaties it summarises.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Only specified licence classes convert, and the list differs by country - the ministry publishes it per treaty.
The Argentine procedure covers the national licence only; provincial and municipal Argentine licences are excluded, and licences issued in Santa Fe follow separate instructions.
The South Korean and Japanese routes need a translation from that country's consulate in Santiago before anything else can be filed.
We did not research the rules for driving in Chile on a foreign licence as a visitor, or the route to a Chilean licence for nationals of countries without a treaty.
- administersCanjes y Reconocimientos de Licencias de Conductor Extranjeras
Subsecretaría de Transportes, Ministerio de Transportes y Telecomunicaciones (Chile)
About this source
Runs the online licence exchange and recognition procedures and verifies a foreign licence with its issuing authority before issuing a certificate.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the licence itself, which is issued by the municipal traffic department on its own requirements, fees and appointments. Not the rules for driving as a visitor on a foreign licence, nor for obtaining a Chilean licence from scratch. Not the texts of the treaties it summarises.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source