Hello Sunflower,
First of all, thank you for all the information you have provided :)
I entered Peru in October last year and received a 90-day visa. Strangely enough, the border control officer assured me that it was possible to extend to 183 days - I only found out later that this option was not valid at that point in time anymore.
Since I had planned to stay longer than 90 days anyway, I contacted MIGRACIONES through their online chat to inquire about my options. I was informed that I could stay simply longer paying the daily fee of 4.60 Soles until accumulating 183 days.
My question is, what could possibly happen if I overstayed another 30 days or so? Would I just have to pay the fee of [(183+30)-90]*4.6 soles? Most likely I would be unable to return within a year, that's clear to me. But apart from that, could there be any other, more severe, legal actions (such as "salida obligatoria del pais" etc.)?
Thank you for your time.
First of all, thank you for all the information you have provided :)
I entered Peru in October last year and received a 90-day visa. Strangely enough, the border control officer assured me that it was possible to extend to 183 days - I only found out later that this option was not valid at that point in time anymore.
Since I had planned to stay longer than 90 days anyway, I contacted MIGRACIONES through their online chat to inquire about my options. I was informed that I could stay simply longer paying the daily fee of 4.60 Soles until accumulating 183 days.
My question is, what could possibly happen if I overstayed another 30 days or so? Would I just have to pay the fee of [(183+30)-90]*4.6 soles? Most likely I would be unable to return within a year, that's clear to me. But apart from that, could there be any other, more severe, legal actions (such as "salida obligatoria del pais" etc.)?
Thank you for your time.
- This commment is unpublished.@Margharita Hello Margharita,
I’m always stunned at how “creative” the answers of Peruvian immigration officers and Migraciones are. Often, they lack any legal or factual basis and just show a huge deficit of knowledge regarding the Peruvian foreigner law, publications of the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, current regulations, and changes.
Anyway, at the moment, most foreign nationals are allowed to stay in Peru as a tourist 90 days; there is no extension and no overstaying until having accumulated 183 days isn’t that bad or a big deal.
You should be aware that from the day your tourist visa (which isn’t a “real” visa, but rather an authorization to enter for tourism purposes for x days) expires, you are illegally in the country. The Peruvian foreigner law speaks of a “situación migratoria irregular”.
However, as things stand today, Migraciones is quite lax regarding foreigners overstaying. No matter if they overstay a week, a month, 3 months, half a year, or even a year, they usually just have to pay a fine - which is the first level of sanctions - of S/ 4.60 (2022) per overstayed day when leaving and won’t get sanctioned in any other way.
But, you never know what happens; regulations and their execution can change from one day to another, or for whatever reason you are checked by not so friendly police or immigration officers, or you are at the wrong time, in the wrong place, with the wrong person and this with an expired visa. Not good. And then level 2 (salida obligatoria with re-entry ban for up to 5 years or without) or level 3 (expulsion with re-entry ban for up to 15 years or without) sanctions that the Peruvian foreigner law (Decreto Legislativo 1350, see article 54, 57 and 58) stipulates could or might be enforced.
Nevertheless, when it comes to foreigners, officials are instructed to always use the principle of proportionality and first always the “mildest measure”, which would be the overstay fine. And personally, I only know of a few cases who got a re-entry ban for excessively, meaning a year and more, overstaying and just a handful of people who were sanctioned with a salida obligatoria /deportation (mostly for being involved in criminal activity, not following Peruvian laws, etc.)
So, all in all, while I highly recommend not overstaying your welcome and respecting the time you were given to stay in Peru, honestly, as things are today (!!!), it doesn’t make a difference if you overstay 90 or 120 days. The situation is the same, the possible consequences as well. Before leaving, you have to pay the S/ 4.60 per overstayed day.
Let’s assume you entered Peru on October 15, 2021, and got 90 days, which means you can stay until January 13, 2022. Starting January 14, 2022, for every day you stay longer you have to pay the S/ 4.60. Let’s assume you leave on April 14, 2022, you have to pay for 90 days overstaying, so S/ 414; or if you stay until May 4, 2022 (calculated from January 14 you overstayed 110 days) you have to pay S/ 506.
To pay the fine you can either walk up to immigrations at the airport or at the border, they will calculate the overstayed days for you, and you pay the fine at the Banco de la Nacion branch or online on pagalo.pe, return to them and then usually can leave. Or you calculate the overstayed days yourself, enter pagalo.pe, on the top of the page select “Migraciones” and then “00675 Multa Extranjeros - Exceso Permanencia (por dia)”, on the next page under concepto choose the year 2022, enter your passport number and the number of days you overstayed and pay. When leaving Peru, just show the payment receipt.
Greetings
Eva
- This commment is unpublished.@Sunflower Hello Eva,
Thank you so much for your detailed answer. I very much appreciate that.
I overstayed once before, in 2014. Of course, as you mentioned, Peruvian regulations were somewhat different back then. It really was not much of an issue to pay the fee and pass the migrations office in the airport.
However, considering the recent regulatory changes after the pandemic, I felt like things have become a little more strict - especially when exceeding 183 days within a 365-day period.
As from what I know, and as already mentioned by you, the Decreto Legislativo N°1350 is the current regulation in action, where chapter 2 (De las conductas y sanciones a nacionales y extranjeros) states the possible sanctions that may be implemented by migraciones. Perhaps you could kindly share your point of view on the following information?
Article 56 ("Multa") A states that a foreigner will have to pay a fee (0.1 % of UIT per day) when having overstayed at the moment of departing from Peru. This sounds a lot like the situation of a tourist arriving at the airport and having overstayed an X amount of days.
Article 57 ("Salida obligatoria del país") B states that a foreigner will be prompted to leave Peru in case the granted duration of stay was exceeded and not extended within the stipulated period. That somehow sounds a lot like Article 56 A; However, I understand that Article 57 B is rather applied to cases when e.g. a "carné de extranjería" was not renewed within the necessary period (every 2 years or so). Perhaps I should also add that a tourist "visa" de facto cannot be extended, hence Article 57 cannot be applied to somebody with a tourist visa.
Article 58 seems mainly applicable to tough cases such as using false travel documents, comitting certain crimes, and ignoring the request to leave the country (Article 57).
Well, these are my interpretations and I am far from being a specialist in migratory law :D - This commment is unpublished.@Margharita Hi again,
I’m not an immigration specialist or lawyer either and my interpretation as well as yours (sorry) is irrelevant, but it’s important that we know the laws in case we need them. Unfortunately, the person in charge is the immigration officer you have to face when you enter or leave; you are at his or her mercy and can only pray that he/she knows the current regulations and has a heart.
Additionally, yes, Migraciones tries for ages to regulate and organize immigration issues and enforce the laws. But whenever they closed a loophole, another would pop up, something unforeseen would happen, and corruption plays a part as well. But since August 2021 they really seem to be stricter, however land borders just opened a month ago and it will be interesting to see if and how enforcing the stricter regulations work there.
Article 56 just lists the cases for which foreigner can be sanctioned. For example a) exceso de permanencia (excess of your temporary stay, so overstaying your tourist visa). And yes, according to the law the fine has to be paid “at the moment” you leave the country. But the law is from 2017. Back then, pagalo.pe wasn’t a thing, and you just went to the airport or border. The immigration officer would give you a piece of paper with the days you overstayed and send you to the nearest Banco de la Nacion to pay. You returned with the receipt and could leave (you still can do it this way today). Now, you as well can pay before going to the airport / border or at the immigration counter with the pagalo.pe app.
As already mentioned above, the payment of the fine for overstaying is a first level sanction, the mildest measure to penalize those visitors staying longer than allowed; and everyone overstaying no matter the time has to pay.
Then, you have another sanction, let’s call it level 1.5, that isn’t mentioned in the foreigner law in this context (only in the context of the salida obligatoria and the expulsion), the re-entry ban. No matter how long you overstayed, additionally to the overstay fine, the immigration officer can penalize you for overstaying and impose an entry ban for half a year or a year or two years... It’s completely up to him/her. Someone just recently posted a comment (not sure if it was here on the visa extension page or elsewhere on LimaEasy) sharing that he overstayed once for quite some time, just paid the fine and left with no further problems and then overstayed excessively another time and got a re-entry ban.
Article 57 explains in which cases a salida obligatoria can be imposed on foreigners. b) is not meant for foreign residents (carné holders), but for foreigners who are in “an irregular migratory situation because of exceeding their temporary stay (“encontrase en situación migratoria irregular por exceder el tiempo de permanencia”), so exactly for people like you who overstayed their tourist visa. Nowhere does the text mention “extension”, but “regularización”, so getting your immigration status in order. This could be done by extending your tourist visa, which isn’t possible anymore, or by applying for a resident visa.
So, yes, if you overstay your tourist visa, legally it’s possible to order a compulsory departure. Is it common? No. As the salida obligatoria doesn’t make sense when you are already at the airport or border leaving the country and Migraciones doesn’t look for overstayers, they first have to find you when you are in Peru. Usually that doesn’t happen. But if you for whatever reasons end up in a random police control, have an accident, or whatever when being in Peru on an expired tourist visa, a compulsory departure - though rare - is a possible measure (or a threat a not so nice official could use to convince you to better support him financially).
Article 58 yes, exactly
Greetings
Eva
- This commment is unpublished.@Sunflower Hello Sunflower,It's been a while since I asked you for advice here. However, in the meantime, I returned to Europe (without any issues), and I'd like to report my experience regarding overstaying in Peru on a tourist visa. I hope that may be of help to any fellow tourists, even though I recommend not overstaying as a tourist in Peru.As mentioned above, I arrived in Lima in October 2021, expecting to be able to stay in Peru for a maximum number of 180 days. However, shortly after my arrival, I learned that tourist visas are now only issued for a maximum number of 90 days. Since I had not planned to return to Europe before April 2022, I contacted the Superintendencia de Migraciones and asked for advice. I was told that I could overstay and that I'd only have to pay a daily fee of 0.1 % UIT per day (approx. 4.60 soles). I ended up staying in Peru until late May 2022, therefore overstaying a total number of 120 days.
Once at the airport, I only had to pay the corresponding fee at Migraciones, and I was free to board my plane. The officer at Migraciones only indicated that I overstayed quite long and that regulations had recently changed (max. 90 days of stay on a tourist visa instead of 180 days as before). Apart from that, he was really nice and understanding. Though other officers may respond differently, who knows!
Due to my long overstay, I was afraid that I may be banned to come back to Peru for a certain amount of time. However, I inquired with the officer, who said there was no issue at all considering I had paid my fee of 120*4.6 soles.
What did I learn? Well, it's always good to thoroughly review Peru's travel regulations for tourists, as they seem to change quite frequently.
Happy travelling! - This commment is unpublished.@Margharita Hello Margharita,
so good hearing from you again. And a huge "Thank you" for sharing your experience with us which surely is extremely helpful for others in similar situations.
I'm so happy that despite overstaying for 4 months, you ended up with a nice immigration officer and everything went well.
Thanks again.
Greetings
Eva