This article looks at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on internal and international migrants in Chile. We suggest strategies to integrate both migrant groups into the social and political fabric of Chilean society.

“There was no food, no money and the hospitals were all closed. We lived a very traumatic experience, and that is why we decided to leave,” said Josy, a Venezuelan who came to Chile in 2021 to pursue better living conditions. Like her, millions of individuals emigrated to Chile from their home countries in the past decade.
Between 2015 and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of international migrants arriving in Chile hit its highest level. The country saw a 12.4% increase in foreigners living inside Chilean borders between 2018 and 2020. After the world shut down in March 2020, migrants faced large-scale unemployment and uncertainty about their future. When a job was finally secured, they worked more hours and earned less. We have made three general hypotheses about this period:

1. International migrants who had already been in Chile for more than five years may have experienced similar struggles to Chileans.
2. Migrants who had not found a job before the pandemic may have been struggling to find work in the informal sector during and after the shutdown.
3. Some international migrants that had recently arrived through irregular means seemed to fall into an informality gap, namely, a vicious circle of irregular legal status, informal work and housing, and difficulties in accessing social services.

Situation after the pandemic

Considering the above, the following three profiles are amongst the most vulnerable to inequality:

1.Irregular Migrants:

Otherwise known as international migrants who enter the country through unauthorised avenues. In an interview with an expert at an NGO in Antofagasta that is familiar with international migrants in northern Chile, they told us that after migrants enter the country informally, “[they] settle in the [city] squares with tents or on the beach.” These migrants are vulnerable to increased inequality and exploitation.

2. Non-professional migrants:

A migrant (either international or internal) that: 1) is not part of the professional workforce, 2) has had an unstable labour situation before the pandemic, and 3) who used personal savings, family, friends, and/or government monetary transfers to invest in products to sell in the informal sector, or other self-employment projects during or after the pandemic, and is vulnerable to inequalities.

3. Women:

A migrant (either international or internal) that: 1) is not part of the professional workforce, 2) has had an unstable labour situation before the pandemic, and 3) who used personal savings, family, friends, and/or government monetary transfers to invest in products to sell in the informal sector, or other self-employment projects during or after the pandemic, and is vulnerable to inequalities.

Women experience more challenges in unequal distribution of unpaid care work that has either jeopardised or impeded paid employment, especially during quarantines and the closure of schools. We also found gender inequalities in our study, like the reduction of women’s working hours during the pandemic. Salary increases benefitted only Chilean women (not international migrant ones), and there was a tendency for women to work informally to continue their caregiving tasks.

Counterbalancing the post-pandemic inequality struggle

The pandemic has brought heightened insecurities and inequalities for migrants. According to our research for the State of the SDGs report, two factors set off precarity and inadequate work conditions. The first is a robust social network that prevents inequality, and the second is economic assistance from the government.

In addition to those two factors, our study suggests numerous strategies to address the migrants’ issues worsened by the pandemic:

  1. The need for communicating and training public officials on the new Migration Law adopted in 2021, which promotes the human rights of all migrants in Chile.
  2. Spreading the news about organisations that can assist migrants across Chile.
  3. Publicising job vacancies at a national level.
  4. Funding further research on how migrants (both internal and international) are integrating into Chilean society.
  5. Establishing a national daycare program to ensure women remain in the workforce.
  6. Focus attention and research on the northern Chilean border region and Chilean inner cities.
  7. Projects to prevent prejudice towards migrants.
  8. Creating working groups amongst migrants to discuss migrant issues and organisations that assist them.
Migration flows will undoubtedly continue to be present in Chile. Recurring push factors from overseas may always contribute to an influx of migrants through conventional and unauthorised avenues. Nevertheless, the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic continue to have dangerous repercussions, especially for irregular migrants, non-professional migrants, and migrant women. As such, the policy recommendations above are vital to integrate migrants into the Chilean workforce and society, and, more importantly, to protect and promote their human rights.

About the SVSS initiative

This article is part of Southern Voice’s “State of the SDGs” initiative. It provides evidence-based analysis and recommendations to improve the delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a collaborative program, it compiles a broad range of perspectives usually missing from international debates. The report aims to fill an existing knowledge gap, enriching the SDG discussions and levelling the playing field with new voices from the Global South.

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