A Guide to Peruvian Visas

Peru is a very welcoming country and allows citizens of many countries to visit for touristic and recreational purposes visa-free. But as soon as you are planning to do business in Peru, stay longer, study, work, settle, or retire in the country, Peruvian law stipulates that you have the appropriate visa for it.

Peru offers a sometimes quite confusing amount of different visa types. To make the whole Peruvian visa system more transparent and easy to understand for foreigners, we compiled several articles dedicated to the most important and most used visas.

In general, Peru distinguishes between temporary visas and resident visas.

Peruvian temporary visas

Temporary visas are intended for short-term stays (depending on the visa for up to 3, 6 or 12 months) in Peru. These include, but aren't restricted to:

• the tourist visa
• the business visa
• the temporary work visa
• the temporary student visa
• the volunteer visa

Peruvian resident visas

Resident visas are for long-term stays in Peru. They include, but aren't restricted to:

• the resident work visa
• the family visa
• the retirement visa
• the religious visa
• the resident student visa
• the digital nomad visa

Where to apply for a Peruvian temporary or resident visa

Officially, you can apply for a temporary or resident visa if you are still outside Peru or if you are already in the country, for example, as a tourist.

However, while for decades Peruvian consulates abroad handled temporary and resident visa applications from giving information and handing out the right forms to fill in, to accepting the application and, if approved, issuing the visa, since August 2021, Peruvian diplomatic missions abroad only handle tourist and business visa applications and refer foreigners, who want to apply for a other temporary visas or a resident visa, to Migraciones in Peru.

So, foreigners, who can enter the country visa-free (so, who don’t have to apply for a “real” tourist visa at a Peruvian consulate), should come to Peru as a tourist and then change their immigration status - make a so called Cambio de calidad migratoria (as opposed to a Solicitud de calidad migratoria if you apply from outside Peru) - at Migraciones.

Those foreigners who cannot enter Peru visa-free (so, who must apply for a “real” tourist visa at a Peruvian consulate), officially must apply for their temporay visa (except tourist and business visa) or their residency from outside Peru; a complicated, lengthy, and sometimes frustrating process. We explain in detail how it’s done in our article “Peruvian residence visa application from abroad”.

Peruvian residence visa application from abroad

Peruvian Visa Types

Foreign nationals, who want to apply for a residence visa in Peru (for example because they are married to a Peruvian, found work in Peru, want to ...

Important Info - Disclaimer: We from LimaEasy are not the Peruvian immigration authority Migraciones or a Peruvian consulate. All information is published to our best knowledge and should be seen as general guidance introducing you to Peruvian procedures. All information is subject to change, as regulations, requirements, and processes can change quickly without prior notice! Therefore, we recommend checking the current regulations with the nearest Peruvian consulate or, if you are already in Peru, with Migraciones!