Where to Study Commercial Diving in Chile, City by City

What's real, and what isn't

If you searched "where to study commercial diving" or "diving school Chile" expecting a long list, the honest answer is shorter than you'd like. It's not that training doesn't exist in Chile: it's that most of the sites that turn up on Google don't publish the basics you need to decide —duration, price, which licence the course leads to, who teaches it— and several directories repeat the same two or three names without having checked anything.

This post does the opposite of a commercial directory: it only names centres we have verifiable data on, says what's confirmed and what isn't, and when a search calls for a city where we found nothing —Iquique, Concepción, Punta Arenas— it tells you so rather than filling the gap with a made-up name. There's no centralised public register of recognised training bodies in Chile, so the only responsible way to build this list is school by school.

Before we go on: studying at a school isn't the same as holding a licence. The Commercial Diver licence is issued by DIRECTEMAR through the Maritime Governorates, and the exam is a separate procedure from the course. Come back to this in "how to check a school is legitimate yourself": it's where most people get confused.

Valparaíso: the two centres with verified data

Valparaíso is, as far as we could confirm, the only city in Chile with more than one commercial diving training centre with enough public information to compare. Both operate near the port and publish different things: one gives an exact price and duration, the other says its instructors are accredited by the maritime authority.

Source: siscapacitaciones.cl and inmersionsubmarina.cl

SIS Capacitaciones

According to its own website, SIS Capacitaciones runs the Commercial Diver course with an Underwater Welding specialisation at Muelle Barón, Valparaíso: 6 months, 630 hours, online theory on Mondays and Thursdays from 19:30 to 21:30 and in-person practice on Saturdays. The published price is CLP 2,900,000, with an enrolment fee of CLP 900,000 that includes equipment, plus 5 interest-free instalments of CLP 400,000. It had a start date of October 2026 when we checked the site. Requirements: 18 years old, secondary education certificate, know how to swim, medical fitness and no criminal record. Includes welding certification to the NCh 2728:2015 standard and first aid.

INSUBUCEO / Inmersión Submarina

INSUBUCEO, which operates as Inmersión Submarina, is based at Playa Las Torpederas, also in Valparaíso. Its Commercial Diver course runs 4.5 months, with theory three times a week in the evening and practice on Saturdays or Sundays, depending on the tide. One detail it does publish: its instructors are accredited by the DGTM y MM, exactly the kind of credential you should demand from any school before enrolling. Besides Commercial Diver, it offers Specialist Diver, Diving Supervisor and Shellfish Diver (buzo mariscador). It doesn't publish a price, so if you're interested you'll have to ask directly.

Viña del Mar: no verified centre of its own

"Commercial diver course Viña del Mar" comes up a lot, and it's understandable: Viña is minutes from Valparaíso, in the same bay. But we didn't find any commercial diving training centre based in Viña del Mar with verifiable data. The closest, checkable options are the two Valparaíso centres in the previous section. If you find a course advertised "in Viña del Mar" that isn't one of these two, run it through the "how to check yourself" filter below before paying anything.

Puerto Montt: a school exists, but we couldn't confirm its terms

Puerto Montt is, along with Los Lagos, Aysén and Magallanes, one of the areas where aquaculture diving work is concentrated in Chile, so it makes sense that "commercial diver course Puerto Montt" is a frequent search. There, the Escuela de Buceo Puerto Montt exists, run by Vargas & Labrin Ltda. We can confirm it exists and operates. What we can't confirm —because its website had an expired security certificate and we couldn't check it reliably— are prices, durations, or exactly which licence it leads to. If you're interested, contact them and put them through the verification questions further down before committing any money.

Source: escuelabuceovl.cl

Iquique, Concepción and Punta Arenas: why we don't name any centre

These three cities come up among the most common searches, and this is where we have to be most honest with you. We didn't find, in any of the three, a verifiable commercial diving training centre with even a minimal confirmed detail —not even that it exists and operates, as with Puerto Montt—. That doesn't mean there isn't one: it means none passed satdiver.com's verification filter.

Punta Arenas deserves a separate mention. It's the capital of Magallanes, one of the three regions where aquaculture diving is concentrated in Chile. And precisely because Magallanes is an area of intense work and harsh conditions —that's where Katherine Pérez Moraga, a 30-year-old diver, died on 22 August 2022, diving at around 30 metres in the Alberto de Agostini national park with equipment rated for only 20 metres— it's even more important not to enrol in the first course that turns up without checking first who's running it and with what credentials.

Source: Ecoceanos, March 2026

If you live in Iquique, Concepción or Punta Arenas and you're set on studying, you have three options: find a local centre and put it through the checks in the next section; move to Valparaíso; or prepare on your own with the regulation and sit the exam at the Maritime Governorate, a route DIRECTEMAR recognises as valid. None of them are convenient, but all of them are safer than trusting a name nobody has verified.

Other names that turn up on Google, without sufficient verification

There are other names that appear in searches and directories for commercial diving in Chile. We include them because you'll probably come across them, with the same rule: we say what we could confirm, and what we couldn't, too.

Source: diversub.cl, subpacifico.cl and ausocapacitaciones.cl

Look at AUSO's case: it turns up in searches related to diver training, but what's confirmed is a Basic Shellfish Diver (buzo mariscador) course, a different and less demanding category than Commercial Diver —Basic Shellfish Diver only authorises extraction of hydrobiological resources and aquaculture with light semi-autonomous equipment, while Commercial Diver authorises underwater work with any equipment needed—. If you were searching for "commercial diver", check first which category the course trains you for: they're not interchangeable.

How to check a school is legitimate yourself

This is the most important part of the whole post, more than any school's name. You're going to spend between several hundred thousand and around three million pesos on a course that, if it goes wrong, leaves you without money and without the licence you need to work. Before signing anything, ask the school to answer these five things in writing.

1. That the instructors are accredited by the DGTM y MM

The maritime authority in Chile is DIRECTEMAR, the Dirección General del Territorio Marítimo y de Marina Mercante, under the Navy; the Port Authorities and Maritime Governorates report to it. A legitimate instructor has to show you an accreditation recognised by that authority, not just years of experience. INSUBUCEO, for example, publishes that its instructors are accredited by the DGTM y MM: the kind of detail any school should show you without being asked twice.

2. Exactly which licence the course leads to

DIRECTEMAR grants several licence categories, and they're not the same: Diver's Assistant, Basic Shellfish Diver, Intermediate Shellfish Diver, Specialist Diver, Commercial Diver, plus Instructor, Contractor and Supervisor. Each authorises different work and different equipment. A course advertised as "commercial diving" that actually prepares you for Basic Shellfish Diver won't work for you if you're after industrial jobs. Ask the school, in writing, for the exact name of the category the course prepares you for.

3. Whether the course prepares you for the exam, or just teaches the classes

This is key, and almost nobody asks it. Finishing a course isn't the same as holding the licence: that's handled separately, at the relevant port authority or maritime governorate. Port Authorities examine Basic Shellfish Diver (theory and practical); Maritime Governorates examine Intermediate, Specialist, Commercial, Instructor, Supervisor and Contractor, mostly on the theoretical side. Ask the school whether the course prepares you for that exam, whether they support you through the process, or whether their responsibility ends with the classes. You need to know this before paying.

4. What equipment is included

Commercial diving equipment is expensive, and "equipment included" means different things at different schools. SIS Capacitaciones specifies that its CLP 900,000 enrolment fee includes equipment; others don't clarify this. Ask exactly which pieces are covered —helmet, umbilical, suit, surface compressor— and what you'll have to buy or rent yourself. See our guide to commercial diving equipment if you want to understand what's actually used in the trade.

5. The red flag: depths by category that the regulation doesn't set

This is the most technical check, so pay attention. The TM-035, DIRECTEMAR's Diving Regulation for Professional Divers, doesn't set maximum depths by licence category: the text itself states that limit will be set by resolution of the Director General, not by the regulation itself. The only depths that do appear in the TM-035 are for mixed-gas diving: 90 metres with He-O₂ without a closed bell, and 200 metres with a closed bell. If a school assures you "with this licence you can dive to X metres" citing any other figure, it's inventing a detail the official regulation doesn't contain. Ask them to show you the document and the exact paragraph.

The licensing process, beyond the course

Even if you pick the right course, the licence is a separate procedure that's on you, before the maritime authority. It's worth knowing before you enrol; for the full picture of the trade, see how to become a commercial diver.

Source: ChileAtiende, entry 1240 and DIRECTEMAR, professional diving FAQ

DIRECTEMAR also asks for a specific set of documents: application form, ID photocopy, 3x3 cm colour photos, the medical certificate already mentioned, AFP certificate, criminal record certificate, up-to-date military status and a notarised sworn statement of not having been removed from the maritime authority's registers. None of this is handled by the school for you: it's worth starting to gather it early, especially the medical certificate, which expires after 30 days.

DIRECTEMAR recognises three ways to prepare: studying on your own with the regulation, doing it through a state-recognised training body —in theory, what any legitimate school should be certified as—, or using Capitanía Digital's online simulations. Application dates are published every year on DIRECTEMAR's website. For the full process, step by step, see the professional diver's licence in Chile.

How much you'll pay, and what to ask before you pay it

Of the six centres, only SIS Capacitaciones publishes a full price: CLP 2,900,000 for the course with an Underwater Welding specialisation, an enrolment fee of CLP 900,000 with equipment included plus 5 interest-free instalments of CLP 400,000. No other verified centre publishes a price. That's not necessarily suspicious —many technical schools quote on request—, but it does mean you'll have to ask for it in writing and compare what each quote includes: equipment, additional certifications, and whether it covers only the classes or also support through the exam.

To understand what drives a course's price beyond these two cases, see how much a commercial diving course costs in Chile.

Before you enrol: the context of the trade no school will tell you about

No school is going to open a class talking about this, but it's part of deciding well. Commercial diving in Chile, especially in salmon farming, has a fatality record the maritime authority itself documents.

To those official figures, add another one from the press: Ecoceanos director Juan Carlos Cárdenas has spoken of 90 workers killed in activities linked to salmon farming over the last twelve years (2013-2026), most of them subcontracted. In January 2026 alone there were seven deaths: Manuel Esteban Matus Caamaño, 29, died on 8 January diving at the "Martita" centre run by Australis Mar, near Melinka, Aysén, subcontracted by DM Services; and the catamaran "Koñimó I" sank on 28 January in the Reloncaví fjord, Los Lagos, with six crew members killed, none wearing a life jacket, a vessel of contractor Agua Santa working for Salmones Austral and Trusal. Between 2013 and 2026, 14 transport vessels in the sector sank, with around 30 crew deaths.

Source: Ecoceanos, March 2026

Law No. 21,789, the first to regulate a diver's employment contract in Chile, responds to this record: it requires the employer to provide adequate technical means and sufficient safety equipment, with "permanent supervision and support" at every stage, creates a fiscalisable electronic diving log, and strengthens protections under subcontracting, precisely the regime most of the victims documented by Ecoceanos worked under. SUSESO, in addition, has an open public consultation on a Safe Diving Guide.

None of this should put you off if the trade is right for you, but it should change what you demand from a school and, later, from an employer: real training, equipment rated for the depth you'll actually work at —remember Katherine Pérez Moraga, who died with equipment rated for only 20 metres while diving at around 30—, and clarity on the contracting regime. For the full picture see how to become a commercial diver in Chile and how much a diver earns.

Saturation diving: why this list doesn't include it

If what you were really searching for was saturation diving, it's worth knowing upfront: there's no record of any Chilean school training in saturation. It's a different discipline, with requirements that go beyond the TM-035, and in practice it's learned and certified outside Chile. The usual path starts with the Commercial Diver licence you can process here, and continues at specialised international centres. See what a saturation diver is and the international directory at commercial and saturation diving schools, with the same verification standard we apply here.

What to do with this information

To sum up: if you can relocate, Valparaíso is today the only city with two comparable, verified centres —SIS Capacitaciones if you want a fixed price and duration, INSUBUCEO if instructor accreditation matters more to you—. In Puerto Montt there's a school that exists but that you'll have to investigate yourself. And in Iquique, Concepción or Punta Arenas there's no verified local option: use this post's five checks with any centre you find, demand answers in writing, and consider relocating or preparing on your own if nothing convinces you. Once you have the licence, the next step is understanding where the work is: see where the work is, jobs, companies, certifications and diving support vessels.