27 Comments
· 10/04/2025
First of all LimaEasy is amazing! It has way more accurate and detailed information than anywhere else, including our Peruvian immigration lawyer.
Second, I wanted to add a bit more detail (as of April 2025) to the process and the rules, having ground through both a Rentista visa and a Temporal student visa. I want to pay my experience forward.
* My lawyer has insisted that Migraciones requires that travel permits cannot be secured more than 48 hours before travel. That seems to contradict the approved permits that we got 4 days ahead, but to be safe I would aim for almost exactly 48 hours ahead of time. The permits online were generated instantly and were indeed free.
* There's a TERRIBLE interface on Migraciones's "Citas en Linea" section when you set up your Biometric appointment as the last step in a visa application. Here is the problem: there are TWO tabs that link to documents you will need: First is the "Constancia Cita" which calls out the appointment details for the Biometric visit; the second - which is almost impossible to see -- is the "Cargo Tramite," which contains the critical Verification code you will need to apply for a Travel Permit. It also has the Login info for the Buzon Electronico where you will get status updates and document requests from Migraciones. The problem is that the links are not tabbed - there is a single block of text with an orange box around all 4 words. It looks like one link! I missed the Cargo Tramite link completely and spent hours figuring out how to recoup the Verification code and also reset my Buzon password. If you somehow fail to download the Cargo Tramite doc at first pass, you can generate a fake Biometric appointment later and before hitting "Finalizar" the Migraciones website will regenerate the same Cargo Tramite doc with the same Verification Code and original entry date. Then you can get your Travel Permit!
- This commment is unpublished.
· 10/04/2025@Jim EpesHello Jim,thank you so much for your lovely words about LimaEasy. You really made my day! It always makes me happy to hear that the articles here are useful and really help foreigners in Peru.Thanks as well for taking the time and describing the easy to miss tabs when making the biometric data appointment. I mentioned the "cargo tramite" tab and how you can recover your login data for the buzon electronico on our visa pages, but not in such detail. I will make these points a bit clearer in our visa articles.And the little trick you can use to get your verification code without having to contact Migraciones is genius. Never heard of it and I learned something new today, which surely will help many others.Again thank you so much.I hope everything works out with your visa applications.GreetingsEva - This commment is unpublished.
· 11/04/2025@Sunflower Thanks Eva! You are a godsend to anyone trying to negotiate the constantly changing and capricious nature of Peruvian immigration. We did get our travel permits finally!One other observation: we left the country several times during our initial 90 day tourist status (US citizens) and in one case the immigration agent did not change our termination date (we got no credit for being gone), in one case they actually SHORTENED our TAM (without telling us; they rounded down to 30 days) and the third time after having a long Spanish letter and proof that we were seeking a Cambio de Calidad Migratoria, they revised our exit dates to fully credit our time gone. It is SO harmful to make these decisions ad hoc - how do you plan anything (flights, hotels, apartments, etc) when you plans can get blown up by one arbitrary ruling? Thank you for your efforts to minimize these terrible experiences! - This commment is unpublished. · 11/04/2025@Jim Epes Hello Jim,
I have the feeling that there is a misunderstanding regarding the regulations for tourists.In general, according to the Foreigner Law, foreigners can stay a maximum of 183 accumulated days in a 365-day period in Peru as tourist. A publication issued by the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (RREE), however, limits or divides this general allowed time. Most foreign nationals, including US passport holders, are allowed 90 days in a 180-day period.However, as in many countries around the globe it’s always at the discretion of the immigration officer how he/she evaluates you/your situation/your travel history and how many days he/she is willing to let you stay as a tourist in Peru. You are not entitled to get the full 90 days in half a year or the full 183 days in a year. It's completely up to the immigration officer if he/she lets you enter and how long he/she allows you to stay. And yes, you are at the mercy of the immigration officer. (it's different when you are a resident!).And let’s assume you got 90 days when you first entered but you left after 40 days. At that point your authorization to stay as a tourist for 90 days (it’s nothing more than an entry in the Migraciones database) is canceled and the remaining 50 days are gone. When you re-enter the country, you get a new authorization to enter as a tourist. The immigration officer then can decide how many days he is willing to give you. He/she might just give you 30 days or as you haven’t already stayed the max. allowed 183 days per year again 90 days. It’s at his/her discretion.And I know that this is something many foreigners visiting Peru cannot understand and criticize. But to be honest it’s the same when I, for example, visit the US. Even with having a valid ESTA, which I need as a European passport holder and which should allow me to stay for 90 days as a tourist, a US immigration officer can for whatever reason deny me to enter the US or only allow me to stay a month or two.Anyway, I hope everything works out for you.
Greetings
Eva
