100 Comments
· 20/07/2025
Greetings, Eva!
Many very sincere thanks for the wealth of useful information that you so generously provide for all to benefit from!
Here is a data point that I hope that you feel can be useful, accompanied by some friendly tips.
I plan to apply for a Peruvian Retirement Visa. With a USA passport, I arrived in Lima in March 2025, was granted 90 days, and left Peru after around 75 days later (approximately 15 remaining.). I returned to Lima about five weeks later and was again granted 90 days. Here are some factors that may have helped me have another 90 days.
Before going further, it is imperative to note the following:
1) I was 100% respectful and 100% honest.
2) The entire conversation was held in Spanish, at a native-speaker level.
3) Nothing that I said or did questioned the officer’s authority, agency, or personal worth in any way. The exchange was based on a mutual treatment with respect and dignity. At all times my attention was 100% there, and I always made respectful eye contact.
4) Everything I said was super concise, to not occupy even a single additional second. The officer has a job, there are other people waiting, and everyone’s time has worth.
As you state on your website, an immigration officer can give you up to 90 days upon entering, fewer, or none. By paying attention to what you share on your website, I was well informed on various aspects, including that I could not be in Peru more than 183 days of 365.
When asked if I had been in Peru previously, I said, yes, and that I arrived in March and left in June. When the officer repeated March with a touch of concern, I nicely stated that since the maximum is 183 days per 365, that even if I was generously granted another 90 days, that the total would still be under this limit.
As my passport was returned to me, the officer told me that I was given the 90 days, I gave my sincere thanks, and moved on. The whole thing, including photo and prints took barely more than two minutes.
Since the application for a Peruvian Retirement Visa runs on a new clock, I plan to wait at least 45 days, perhaps even 60 before applying. If I may ask you, what do you think of this?
Many many thanks, and best wishes!
Steve
Many very sincere thanks for the wealth of useful information that you so generously provide for all to benefit from!
Here is a data point that I hope that you feel can be useful, accompanied by some friendly tips.
I plan to apply for a Peruvian Retirement Visa. With a USA passport, I arrived in Lima in March 2025, was granted 90 days, and left Peru after around 75 days later (approximately 15 remaining.). I returned to Lima about five weeks later and was again granted 90 days. Here are some factors that may have helped me have another 90 days.
Before going further, it is imperative to note the following:
1) I was 100% respectful and 100% honest.
2) The entire conversation was held in Spanish, at a native-speaker level.
3) Nothing that I said or did questioned the officer’s authority, agency, or personal worth in any way. The exchange was based on a mutual treatment with respect and dignity. At all times my attention was 100% there, and I always made respectful eye contact.
4) Everything I said was super concise, to not occupy even a single additional second. The officer has a job, there are other people waiting, and everyone’s time has worth.
5) This was my experience, on this occasion, with a specific immigration officer, among many other factors and variables, and it worked out this way for me.
As you state on your website, an immigration officer can give you up to 90 days upon entering, fewer, or none. By paying attention to what you share on your website, I was well informed on various aspects, including that I could not be in Peru more than 183 days of 365.
When asked if I had been in Peru previously, I said, yes, and that I arrived in March and left in June. When the officer repeated March with a touch of concern, I nicely stated that since the maximum is 183 days per 365, that even if I was generously granted another 90 days, that the total would still be under this limit.
As my passport was returned to me, the officer told me that I was given the 90 days, I gave my sincere thanks, and moved on. The whole thing, including photo and prints took barely more than two minutes.
Since the application for a Peruvian Retirement Visa runs on a new clock, I plan to wait at least 45 days, perhaps even 60 before applying. If I may ask you, what do you think of this?
Many many thanks, and best wishes!
Steve
- This commment is unpublished.
· 20/07/2025@SteveHello Steve,thank you so much for your nice words. It's great to hear that the information we provide here on LimaEasy is useful.Thank you as well for sharing your experience and some tips that surely will help others.Speaking Spanish is certainly an advantage, but even just trying to communicate in Spanish can be helpful. However, in my opinion, the most important thing is to be respectful and friendly acknowledging the authority of the immigration officer, while also making it clear that you know the rules. Anyway, you seem to be a pro already in doing so and got your 90 days. Congrats.I'm not sure what you mean with "the application for a Peruvian Retirement Visa runs on a new clock". After you applied for your retirement visa and got your file number, your time as a tourist stops. So, even if your stay as a tourist expires during the evaluation and approval process, you remain legal in the country until Migraciones approves (or denies) your residence visa. If they approve your visa you become a resident, if they deny your visa (usually before they do this they will give you the chance to "correct" your application by uploading, for example, a rejected document in the correct form) you must leave the country within 15 days.Not knowing your circumstances, I don't know why you want to wait with your application another month or two. If you have all required documents together, I don't see any reason for that.But, if you want you could apply on day 89 of your stay as a tourist - you never know what happens in Peru, so I highly recommend not waiting until the last day - the Agencia Digital might not work or you don't have power or your phone/laptop/PC breaks .... And be aware that the documents you must submit have an "expiration date". Documents issued in Peru are usually only accepted when they were issued a maximum of 3 months prior to being submitted. Documents issued outside Peru are usually only accepted when they were issued not more than 6 months prior to being submitted. So, make sure that the document proving your pension and your criminal record check not only have an Apostille and are translated in Peru by a certified translator but aren't older than 6 months when you submit your application.Thanks again and all the best.GreetingsEva - This commment is unpublished.
· 21/07/2025@Sunflower Hello Eva,
Many sincere thanks for your prompt response, for the encouragement, and for the additional insightful information!
I apologize for not being clear about the “new clock” comment. What I meant is exactly what you stated: that once the application is in, that my time as a tourist stops, yet I am still in the country legally.
The delay in the application would be on account of the apostilles still being in the works, so waiting to apply gives more time for them to be received, to subsequently present a proper application.
The “expiration date” on my documents should be well within the limits you kindly reminded me of. Thank you for being so thorough!
Many thanks again, and all the best to you as well!Best,Steve - This commment is unpublished. · 21/07/2025@SteveHello Steve,now I understand. Yes, in your case it makes sense to wait with the application until you get the document(s) back with Apostille and have them translated by a certified translator in Peru.As said before you can apply on any day as long as your stay as a tourist is still valid on the day you finally apply. So, if you wait a month or two or even until day 89 you are fine.However, just to make sure and avoid any unpleasant surprises later, I highly recommend to confirm that you really got 90 days on the Migraciones website under Consultas en Linea TAM Virtual. In the drop-down list choose your travel document, I assume you entered Peru with your passport, and enter the passport number. Afterwards, choose in the drop-down list your nationality; be aware that the names are in Spanish, so you won’t find, for example, United States or US, but have to look for EE.UU (Estados Unidos). Then just enter the day you entered Peru and the captcha. Click on “Verificar”.
You now get your TAM virtual displayed on the screen showing: your personal details registered, the point of entry, the day you entered and the number of days you are allowed to stay (Tiempo de permanencia).And if for whatever reasons the Apostille and translation takes longer than expected or the immigration officer didn't register the full 90 days and your time as a tourist is less than expected, you could apply without the Apostille. As explained above in the article under Can I apply for a retirement visa if I don't have all the required documents? you could upload the document without Apostille; Migraciones will send you a notification requesting to upload the document with Apostille and translation. If the time Migraciones gives you to upload the document isn't enough you could then apply for an extension of the deadline, which gives you another 30 days. By then you surely should have the document. The details are explained above. Only do this if your stay as a tourist is about to expire.If you really got the 90 days wait and hope that you get your document(s) back before your stay as a tourist expires.GreetingsEva
