Álvaro Bellolio


Álvaro Bellolio Avaria is a Chilean industrial engineer and politician. Since 6 December 2024, he has served as a regional councilor for the Santiago Metropolitan Region.
From 28 May 2021 to 11 March 2022 he was National Director of the National Migration Service during the second government of Sebastián Piñera. Previously, between 2018 and 2021, he headed the Departamento de Extranjería y Migración of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security.
Bellolio contributes opinion columns to outlets such as Nuevo Poder and El Líbero, on topics including electoral participation of foreign residents and foreign policy risks.

Family and education

He is the son of Jaime Bellolio Rodríguez, former director of Canal 13, and Margarita María Avaria Benapres. He is the brother of former deputy and minister Jaime Bellolio.
He studied at Colegio Cordillera and earned a degree in Industrial Engineering with a mention in Information Technologies from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He later completed a master's degree in public policy at the University of Chicago.

Professional career

Bellolio participated in work of the OECD on migration policy. During the second Piñera administration he headed the DEM of the Interior Ministry, and following the enactment of Chile’s new Migration Law in April 2021, he was appointed the first National Director of the newly created SERMIG on 28 May 2021.
Since May 2022 he has served as Director of the School of Government at Andrés Bello University.

Political career

In December 2024 Álvaro Bellolio was elected regional councilor for Santiago IV with 82,032 votes. Under Article 42 of the Metropolitan Regional Council Regulations, if the regional governor is temporarily unable to exercise his functions, the councilor with the highest citizen vote acts as acting president of the council.
In June 2025, regional councilors from the Republican Party and the Independent Democratic Union submitted a petition to the Election Qualifying Court requesting the dismissal of the Governor of Santiago, Claudio Orrego, alleging serious breaches of duty and violations of administrative probity. The filing, backed by 16 councilors, listed 17 charges related to a Comptroller General report on campaign funding.