Family / Marriage Visas for Peru

Updated 17 November 2010

***Be sure you ask at immigrations about your visa as rules and fees seem to change often. ***


According to Peruvian law, you CAN earn money while on this visa. So there's no problem if you want to get a job. You can find info in Spanish at DIGEMIN. It's called "llamado de familia".

This visa is for
● underage children of Peruvians (if the children don't have Peruvian citizenship)
● parents of Peruvian children
● parents of special ed Peruvian children
● people who are married to a Peruvian/ immigrant.

If you're not married yet, but are planning on getting married in Peru, you can find the steps here in the Marriage Section. The information below is for those who are married. For all other cases, you will have to do the same things, except instead of a marriage license, you'll have to show birth certificates to prove they you are related. Check with immigrations for a complete list of what you need. Either call them or go in person. Make sure to documents apostillised and translated if necessary.

Check here for personal stories about getting marriage visas. For those of you married to a Peruvian, you can get a resident visa that allows you to work in Peru. If you're not married yet, but are planning on getting married in Peru, you can find the steps here in the Marriage Section. It takes about two months to get. You no longer have to leave the country to pick up a residence visa. All the paperwork can now be done in Lima. You will also get a carne de extranjeria (foreign resident card/CE) which is proof of residency. You have to renew it yearly and pay the yearly foreigner's tax. After two years of residency, you can become a Peruvian citizen. There are two ways to get the visa, depending on where you got married.

Name Change
It's OPTIONAL.

If you change your name and get a new passport, you MUST transfer your visa from your old passport to your new passport. You cannot just simply leave on a completely new passport. The only exception would be for Peruvians.

For bank accounts, you just go to the bank with your bank card and DNI. Same goes for your pension plan.

For propery you'll have to go to SUNARP and bring a letter explaining the change as well as notarised copies of your documents. You have to show your old name and new name. So you could bring your old and new CE, or your old CE and your new DNI and Naturalisation paper. You'll also have to fill out a form. You'll also need your original partida de matrimonio (marriage license) and a notarised copy of your spouse's DNI.

Choose ONE of the following
1. This is what some people have had to go through. Ask beforehand, because rules change depending on who you talk to. Some people never had to register their foreign marriage with RENIEC, others had to. Like I said, Peru's laws are shades of grey.

If you got married outside of Peru, you've got a couple of steps to take. You will have to register it in the country where you got married (probably at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and then go to the Peruvian Consulate/Embassy and register it with them. They will then give you a Peruvian marriage certificate. Do this quickly as possible because there may be a time limit. If possible, get a couple marriage certificates. They're called partidas de matrimonio. They are legalised copies. You will need a marriage certificate every year, a new one, becuase they keep the old one, in order to renew residency.

Ask them if your marriage will be registered with RENIEC. If it will not be registered with RENIEC, then you will also have to do that when you get here. When you come to Peru, you have between 30 and 90 days to register your marriage depening on the person you talk to. So I suggest you do it in less than 30 days. It will have to be apostillised; see Peru and the Hague Agreement for more info. It will also have to be translated by a certified translator, if not in Spanish (see Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (RREE) and do a search for traductores oficiales ). Then go to RENIEC and register your marriage if it hasn't already been registered. Then you have to do everything above that people who got married in Peru have to do. For letters, go to Letters for Immigrations.


OR

1. If you got married in Peru, you need either your Partida de Matrimonio or your Acta de Matrimonio, which must be legalized by RENIEC. In order to legalise your document, first you need to go to the Banco de la Nacion and pay 17 soles.

EVERYONE has to do the steps below
2. You must gather the following.
● Form F007. Or get it for free at immigrations.)
● You will need to fill out Form F004 and change the status of your visa. If you have a tourist visa, mark the first box. If you have a different visa, you'll have to fill out the blanks at the top. (Either click on the link and print it off the website. Ignore the description, just find F004, open the document and print it. Or get it for free at immigrations.)
● Pay 200 USD at the Banco de la Nacion to change your migratory status. (Some people are extempt from paying this, such as those married to Peruvians.)(Don't pay at the Banco de la Nacion at immigrations, the lines are too long. Go to a different Banco de la Nacion. They're all over the place.)
● Pay 58.93 soles to file F004. (Tell them Code 01814)
● Pay 20 USD at the Banco de la Nacion for the annual foreigner’s tax. (Some people have had to pay this when they get their CE. Others haven't. The foreigner's tax has to be paid between January and March. So possibly if you get your CE during those months, you have to pay. And if you get it later in the year you don't.)
● Copy of your passport
● Copy of your visa or entry stamp into Peru
● Original TAM (Tarjeta Andina de Migraciones). This is the little white paper you get when you enter Peru.
● Orginal passport
(Recently people have also had to pay 72.80 soles and 58 soles for tramites due to the new process of getting your visa. I'm not sure if this is still done. Peru changes their rules all the time. Ask at the Immigrations.)

Your spouse needs to give you the following
● Your spouse will have to sign a document in the presence of a public notary saying that they will financially support you while you are in Peru. (see Letters for Immigrations.)
● Photocopy of their DNI with casado/a status. They MUST change their civil status so that it says that they are married.

All together you need
Form F004, F007, receipts for your payments of the Forms F004 and F007, letter from your spouse, recipts for 200 usd (if applicable, see above) and 20 usd (if applicable, see above), copy of spouse's DNI with casado/a status, copy of your passport, copy of your visa, orginal passport.

1. Make copies of everything so that they can stamp your copies. Leave the originals at the Mesa de Partes at Immigrations come back when they tell you to. They will probably tell you to call or email them in 15 days to check the status of your CE.

2. While you're waiting, go to INTERPOL Steps can be found here.

3. In theory, you no longer have to leave the country to pick up a residence visa. All the paperwork can now be done in Lima. However, some people have been asked to leave to get their visas. I'm not sure why. I think it's on a case by case basis.

4. Pick up your visa, bring copies of your passport and 2 passport photos. Call ahead and ask how much the visa will be. (It's usually about 80 to 100 usd). You'll also need a carne sized photo when you pick up the visa.

5. Then, follow the steps to get your carne de extranjeria.

Resources: Check out the Ultimate Peru List's recommended ebooks and The LA Jobs List's free list of schools in Peru.