@Elisha Massey Hello Elisha,

What a muddled situation. I’m so sorry that you and your wife have to go through this.

As you are married to a Peruvian and your wife is now in Peru again, according to Peruvian legislation, you have the right to a family union in Peru. According to the foreigner law, you can apply for a family visa either at a Peruvian consulate outside Peru or at Migraciones, the Peruvian immigration authority, in Peru.

However, most Peruvian consulates abroad do not issue resident visas anymore, only tourist and business visas. So, the option to apply for a family visa and enter Peru with the correct residence visa is most probably out. Therefore, the only way for you to come to Peru is as a tourist, but you as Pakistani national unfortunately must apply for a tourist visa at a consulate before being allowed to do so, and then apply for your family visa at Migraciones in Peru.

I’m confused why the Peruvian consulate would advise you to send your wife to Migraciones in Lima and have her apply for your family visa. That’s impossible! You must be in Peru on a valid visa (for example, a tourist visa) to apply for any residence visa at Migraciones. Your wife cannot do this for you as long as you are not in Peru. While you already won’t be able to get the required Interpol clearance (below more) you / your wife won’t be able to even enter the Agencia Digital (the online platform where you have to apply) as there, already on the login page, you have to fill in the date when you, the one who is applying for the visa, entered the country. If you fill in a wrong date or leave the space open, the system won’t let you enter the page where you can apply.

Overall, having your wife apply for your family visa in Peru while you are still in Pakistan is not possible. You must be in Peru.

So, the question is what options you have to get a tourist visa to being able to come to Peru. You already did the right thing by contacting the nearest Peruvian consulates. What a mess that the Peruvian consulate in China seemingly has jurisdiction over consular affairs for citizens of Pakistan and Peruvians living in Pakistan and China doesn’t issue tourist visas at the moment which you need to enter China to apply for your Peruvian tourist visa which you need to get to Peru and apply for your family visa. Have you asked the Peruvian consulate in China if it’s absolutely necessary that you apply in person? Could there be the option to send your application for a tourist visa, passport and required documents to China and do a possible interview by Skype? And once they approved (or denied) your application, send everything back to you?

Other option: To avoid that you have to apply for a tourist visa to get to a Peruvian consulate, I checked which countries Pakistanis can travel to without a tourist visa (unfortunately just a few) and then checked against countries in which there is a Peruvian consulate. The only one I found is the Peruvian consulate in Doha, Qatar. While they might not be in charge of Pakistani nationals, it could be worth to contact them anyway, explaining your situation and asking if they are able to help and might issue you a tourist visa. Personally, I additionally would contact any other Peruvian consulate you might be able to get to and ask the same or ask if it’s probably possible to send them all required documents, so you don’t have to come in person.

In case all of this is in vain, your wife should get in contact with Migraciones and ask how and where you either get a tourist visa or can apply directly for your family visa. What a nightmare.

Your wife additionally could have your marriage registered at Reniec in Peru, which she can do without your presence. However, she needs a copy of your Pakistani marriage certificate with an Apostille or a legalization. When I understand correctly, Pakistan just acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention in July of this year, but this will only come into effect on March 9, 2023. So, here we have the next hurdle. Either you wait until next year to get an Apostille (which is compared to the legalization much, much easier and can be done in Pakistan without the need for a Peruvian consulate) or you have to go through the process of legalization of your marriage certificate at the responsible authorities in Pakistan and, as last step outside Peru, at a Peruvian consulate to which you don't have easy access.

Once your marriage is registered in Peru, your wife must update her DNI (Peruvian ID card) at Reniec, so it shows her correct marital status.

The Apostille / legalization procedure applies to all other foreign documents that you need for the application for a family visa as well.

To apply for your family visa in Peru, according to current regulations (these might change) you only need from Pakistan your

- Passport (make sure it’s valid for the next few years and has at least two or three free pages in the visa section, so you don’t have to worry about its expiration date when being in the middle of your visa application or about getting a new one soon; at the moment the Pakistani consulate in Lima is closed and in charge is the one in Buenos Aires, Argentina)

- Criminal record check from Pakistan (with Apostille or legalization)

- Pakistani marriage certificate (not for visa application but for registering your marriage!!!)

Then, as described in our Family visa article, if you apply as spouse of a Peruvian you additionally need some documents issued in Peru

- Peruvian marriage certificate: To register your Pakistani marriage at a Peruvian consulate or at Reniec in Peru, you need the Pakistani marriage certificate (with Apostille or legalization) and then will be issued a Peruvian marriage certificate. As you are married to a Peruvian, for your family visa application only the Peruvian marriage certificate is accepted (if you registered your marriage at Reniec in Peru, you can get a recent copy quickly and easily).

- Interpol Ficha de Canje: This document is only issued in Peru! You must visit Interpol in Peru in person (for example, fingerprints are taken), so this is already the first clue and insurmountable obstacle that your wife in Peru cannot apply for your family visa for you while you are still in Pakistan.

- DNI of your wife with correct family address, correct marital status and no pending election fees

- Form, payment receipt and possibly a sworn statement

That’s it. For the family visa application, you do not need your birth certificate, however, it’s always a good idea bringing a birth certificate (with Apostille or legalization) or other important documents (depending on what your plans are, for example, highest school leaving certificate, highest professional degree or similar, as well with Apostille or legalization) with you when moving to a foreign country.

Greetings
Eva

@Lyn

@Bryce

@Paul Attenborough Hello Paul,

what you are experiencing right now is exactly what I feared would happen when I first read the new foreigner law with this new requirement. In Peru you have the Certificado de Antecedentes Policiales (Police Clearance Certificate), the Certificado de Antecedentes Penales (Criminal Record Check) and the Certificado de Antecedentes Judiciales (Judicial Background Record Check); and as required by the new law Migraciones of course would like to get these 3 checks, which in most countries aren't even issued in this form. Therefore Migraciones, for example, accepts a US criminal background check issued by the FBI for US American nationals; for European nationals, they accept the European Certificate of Conduct.

Assuming that AFP means Australian Federal Police and assuming that you are an Australian national, you would need a piece of paper with the title “criminal background check” or somewhere stating that you have a clean criminal background. As I honestly have no idea about which documents are issued in Australia, I did a quick search and, if I haven’t missed something, understood that your National Police Check from the AFP, which even is described as criminal record check on the website where you can apply for it, combines the police, criminal and judicial record check however is named “National Police Check”. Is this correct or is there any other certificate issued in Australia stating that you have a clean (criminal) record? If not, then I only can think of two options.

The official translator, who translated your document most probably has translated “National Police Check” as something like “Certificado de Antecedentes Policiales” which in Peru only shows if a person has registered encounters with the police, was involved in any criminal activities or is investigated. Seeing this, but most probably not knowing the difference between a Peruvian and Australian “police” check, Migraciones, of course, says that this document doesn’t meet the requirements.

Not sure, if you are in Australia or in Peru at the moment. If I was in Australia, I would pay the Peruvian embassy a visit or call them, explaining the problem and asking them to confirm in writing with some nice official Peruvian stamp that the Australian National Police Check is something like a police, criminal and judicial check in one document and all Australia issues (they should know that) and “no disclosable court outcomes” means there is no record of court convictions, findings of guilt or any police history information. If I was in Peru, I would visit the Australian embassy, explaining the problem and asking for a solution and / or for an official Australian statement confirming the meaning of this document. I would then add the document from the Peruvian embassy in Australia or the Australian embassy in Lima to the “National Police Check” with all other necessary documents and hope that someone at Migraciones reads and understands the issue and accepts your Australian National Police Check.

Greetings

Eva

@Grace Requilman

@Susan Bremner