hi. we're currently in peru since june. we've also noticed that we could not extend our tourist visa, so we're already overstaying for 1,5 months. we were thinking about leaving the country and come back (staying away for one night), beacause we wanted to stay for a longer period and get a work contract. But now we've stumbled across this article. Do you have an url with the information you based the article on from the offical peruvian government website?
- This commment is unpublished.@irene Hello Irene,
One reason we started LimaEasy 15 years ago was that in Peru there wasn’t and still usually isn’t one official, up-to-date, accurate and “all-inclusive” source giving foreigners all the necessary information they need to get through Peru’s bureaucratic jungle. So, this article, as many others on this website, is based on following and reading ever changing laws and regulations as well as websites, press releases and official social media postings from different governmental agencies, my personal experience and knowledge (in this case with Migraciones), statements and actual administrative procedures of Migraciones, explanations of immigration lawyers in Peru and countless messages of our readers who shared their experience for over a decade now. So, for which part of this very long article are you looking for the official source?In Peru nothing is black or white; the whole tourist visa extension process, for example, isn’t regulated by any published law and you can’t even trust the official Migraciones website. If you have a look at the Migraciones website, you still find the requirements and the application form for the tourist visa extension; and even on the new Agencia Digital one menu point is for the tourist visa extension. Nevertheless, as many of our readers stated and by now Migraciones confirmed on their FB page, no tourist visa extensions are granted at the moment. Migraciones argued that foreigners usually get the maximum number of days when entering, so there is no need for it; but nobody bothered to update the official Migraciones website.On the official website of the Peruvian government, the article about the tourist visa extension is gone. However, there you can find a listing published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, showing which nationals need a real tourist visa from a consulate before coming to Peru, and which nationals can enter Peru visa-free and can stay for how long. Except for Brazilians, Chileans and Mexicans, nearly all nationals are only allowed to stay 90 days, mostly in a 180-day period. I described the discrepancies of this list with the Foreigner Law Decreto Supremo 1350 from March 2017 (see article 77.2) above; and these weren’t eliminated in the actualization of the Foreigner Law Decreto Supremo No. 002-2021-IN from March 2021.So, which official government website do you prefer? The actual law or the list of the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Migraciones website? Or isn’t it wiser to look at how Migraciones, who is in charge of issuing the extensions, handles them at the moment? They don’t do extensions at the moment and nobody knows if this is only temporary or permanent.And if you are planning to border-hop to “renew” your visa, be aware that you might be lucky and get another 90-day stamp in your passport or only get a few days or are denied entry as you already stayed your allowed 90 days in a 180-day period. And no, there aren’t any official regulations regarding border hopping, but here a little bit of Peru’s “border-hopping history”.
The Peruvian foreigner law executed from 2008 to the beginning of 2017 stated that visitors can enter Peru for touristic, recreational, or health purposes for 183 days. It however didn't mention if the 183 days were per year or per visit. Back then, many foreigners used this little gap in the old Peruvian immigration law to live on a tourist visa in the country. As soon as their visa was about to expire, they just crossed the border, stayed 5 minutes, a day or two, in one of Peru’s neighboring countries and returned asking immigrations for another 183 days. For years, this worked absolutely fine. After the 2017 Foreigner Law went into effect, immigration officers at the border gave lots of people who already stayed in Peru 183 days and now wanted to return a hard time. After some soft-soaping and paying a bribe, a new entry stamp was in the passport. No problem.
But after the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs eliminated the general 183 days in a 365-day period granted by the immigration law for most nationalities in June 2019, Peruvian border officials increasingly applied the new rules giving foreigners only the allowed 90 or 183 days when entering and wouldn’t let some border-hoppers re-enter (or only for a few days) when they already stayed the maximum allowed time as visitor in the country.
Then Covid hit Peru, borders were closed and Migraciones worked hard on digitalizing certain processes and procedures. Now your arrival, for example, is registered in the Migraciones database available at all border posts and even the last immigration official is aware of the number of days foreigners are allowed to stay (when not, the system will tell them); however, it’s possible that the immigration officer you face at the border doesn’t care and just gives you another 90 days or is open to a little financial contribution for a new stamp in your passport. As there is no law regulating border-hopping and the land borders have been closed for non-residents for over a year, we just don’t have any feedback we could share. If you try to get over the border and back, please share your experience with us.As the extension of your stay isn't possible and the border-hopping option anything but certain, personally I fear your only safe option is to leave Peru for 3 months (then your 180-days period is over) and then return without any trouble for another 90 day stay.GreetingsEvaP.S. And if you consider just overstaying your visa, be aware that you are illegally in the country. And in case you get employed, you only can apply for a residence visa if you are legally in Peru.