92 Comments
· 24/05/2022
Hi sunflower, thanks for the useful article! Wondering if you could advise on my situation. I'm an Australian here on the tourist 90 day visa, already been here for 1.5 months, and need to be here for the month of August which is currently 2 months away (3 months including staying in August). I have a flight back home end of August, and I'll stay outside of Peru until 183 days have passed when I'll come back with all the necessary documents to apply for a family visa as my finance is Peruvian. So Im deciding if I should leave right away to Chile avoiding any overstay, leave to Chile in a few weeks and risk just a week or so overstay, or just stay and have about 2-3 months overstay. Main concerns are if it will cause any problems 1) getting back in on another tourist visa after the 183 days, and 2) cause any issues applying for the family visa. Do you have an opinion on what would be best?
- This commment is unpublished.
· 25/05/2022@MarkM Hello Mark,
What a tricky situation.
You said that you are already in Peru for 1.5 months, so 45 days. That means you entered the country around April 10, and, if you got 90 days, have to leave latest July 9. Correct? So, until the end of August, when you plan to leave, you would overstay less than 2 months.
I can’t tell you what’s the best, guaranteed successful and less risky way to handle your situation as there are so many unpredictable variables. In my opinion you have two options, which one is the best for you, I don’t know; that’s up to you to decide:
Option 1
Just overstay, pay the fine (S/ 4.60 per overstayed day) when you leave and return earliest 90 days after you left. You are allowed to stay a maximum of 90 days in a 183-day period: so, three months in Peru, three months out of Peru. I think, it isn’t necessary to stay out of Peru for half a year, as you wrote. You paid the fine for overstaying your welcome and your infringement should be compensated by that.
As things stand today (this might or might not change in the future) you shouldn’t have a problem re-entering Peru after your stay in Australia and getting another 90 days. But be aware that it’s always at the discretion of the immigration officer you have to face how many days he or she gives you. If you are having trouble, just schmooze a bit, tell them you are getting married and blablabla. If you don’t overdo it and the immigration officer has a heart, this usually works.
And again, as things are today (which might change or not) you don’t have a problem applying for your residence visa when you have overstayed your tourist visa before (at least if you haven't overstayed excessively, meaning a year or more).
Option 2
Leaving for Chile for me only makes sense if you can ensure that you then don’t overstay. So, let’s assume you leave today. That means you stayed in Peru 45 days of your 90 allowed days in the 183-day period. When you return, you should at least get the remaining 45 days. But, as already mentioned above, it’s always up to the immigration officer, so he or she can give you only 10 days or 30 days or only the remaining 45 or, if you are really lucky, another 90 days.
If you leave for Chile shortly before your tourist visa expires and try to return before your 183-day period is over, things can go two ways: upon returning to Peru
- either the immigration officer is doing his/her job by the book, scolds you and only gives you a few days (unfortunately I don’t have feedback on how strict they are at the land borders, at the airport in Lima people usually only get anything between 3 and 30 days in such cases)
- or you are lucky, no one bothers, and you get another 90 days.
So, the question is if you are willing to take the risk.
No matter how you decide, I highly recommend using your time in Peru and in Australia to prepare as much as possible and already get appointments before you return where necessary. When you return to Peru, you only get a max of 90 days and getting through the steps for your marriage, getting your marriage certificate and the Interpol ficha, which you need for your family visa application, takes time which you don’t have and obstacles or delays, which you can’t afford, are nothing uncommon. So, plan ahead and hope everything works smoothly.
All the best.
Greetings
Eva
