Residency Under International Agreements
This replaces the general rule for you
Mercosur Residency - Two Years, No Income Test
Nationals of the Mercosur member states get two years of temporary residence with no income requirement at all, and it converts into indefinite residence a year earlier than Peru's ordinary route. What the temporary stage asks for is identity, birth and civil status, and a clean record; the money question is asked only at the second stage, and then in the form of six payslips or fee receipts, a contract, or an annual tax return. The temporary stage cannot be extended, so the ninety-day window before it expires is the whole opportunity.
By default this route does not exist for a given applicant: it is open only to nationals of countries with which Peru has an agreement providing for residence. For South Americans that agreement is the Mercosur residence agreement, and it is by a distance the lightest way into Peru - identity, a clean record and, at the permanent stage, proof of lawful means. Two years of temporary residence come first, and the application for the indefinite stage has to be made in the ninety days before it expires. See the origin-specific entries below for who qualifies.
At a glance
- Temporary stage
- 2 years, not extendable
- Application window for the indefinite stage
- The 90 days before the temporary residence expires
- Income test at the temporary stage
- None
- Income test at the indefinite stage
- Proof of lawful means for you and the family living with you
- Rights conferred
- Work and study, public and private sectors
- Fee
- S/ 161.40as of 2024-06-26
Stated on Migraciones' Mercosur procedure page, paid under code 07568.
- Decision time
- 30 working days
Migraciones gives itself up to 30 working days to answer.
Requirements
- Nationality of a country with which Peru has a treaty or agreement in force providing for residence
- The period and the conditions are whatever that agreement says, not what the general migration rules say
- For the Mercosur route: a passport, identity card or consular certificate of nationality, plus a birth certificate and proof of civil status
- A criminal record certificate from your country of origin and from any country you lived in over the five years before arriving
- A sworn declaration of no record in Peru or abroad
- The procedure is personal and does not admit a representative
In detail
Two years rather than three
The ordinary route to indefinite residence in Peru is three consecutive years as a legal resident. Under the Mercosur agreement the temporary stage lasts two years and converts directly into the indefinite stage, because the regulation says the agreement's conditions apply directly. That is a year saved, and it comes with no income test at the temporary stage - which no other Peruvian category offers.
Country-level policy
Every Peruvian residence status, including the indefinite ones, is lost by a long enough absence - and the test is continuous absence, not a quota of days you must spend here. More than 183 consecutive days out of the country in a 365-day period, counted from your first departure, ends the status. There is a permit that suspends the rule, and it has to be applied for before the 183 days are up, which is the part that is usually discovered too late.
What applies to you
Mercosur Residency - Two Years, No Income Test
Nationals of the Mercosur member states get two years of temporary residence with no income requirement at all, and it converts into indefinite residence a year earlier than Peru's ordinary route. What the temporary stage asks for is identity, birth and civil status, and a clean record; the money question is asked only at the second stage, and then in the form of six payslips or fee receipts, a contract, or an annual tax return. The temporary stage cannot be extended, so the ninety-day window before it expires is the whole opportunity.
- Nationality of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay or Uruguay
- A valid passport, identity card, or certificate of nationality issued by your country's consular agent in Peru
- Birth certificate and proof of civil status, and a naturalisation certificate where relevant
- A criminal record certificate from your country of origin and from any country you lived in over the five years before arriving
- A sworn declaration of no judicial, criminal or police record in Peru or abroad
- For the indefinite stage: documents proving lawful means of subsistence for you and the family living with you - six recent payslips or fee receipts, an employment contract, or an annual tax return
- For the indefinite stage: a valid Mercosur temporary residence, and the application filed in the 90 days before it expires
- Registration with the Registro Central de Extranjería afterwards to obtain the carné de extranjería
What the law says
«Permite la residencia a los nacionales de países con los cuales el Estado peruano tiene tratados y convenios internacionales vigentes y que establezcan la posibilidad de residencia.»Our translation - not official
Allows residence to nationals of countries with which the Peruvian State has international treaties and agreements in force that establish the possibility of residence.
The status is a container. What it contains depends entirely on which agreement covers you, which is why the useful content is in the origin-specific entries rather than here.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Peru's official gazette. An act takes effect on publication here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Never consolidated law. It publishes acts as enacted and never merges them, so an article number in an amending decree is an instruction and not the article to cite. Its viewer also paginates long documents and a capture can return page one only - check the page-count marker before believing you hold the full text.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«MIGRACIONES otorga esta calidad migratoria en el marco de lo establecido en Convenios o Tratados internacionales de los cuales el Perú es parte, que establezcan la posibilidad de residencia y cuyo propósito no sea exonerar de visas o simplificar procedimientos para la aprobación de calidades migratorias o visas.»Our translation - not official
MIGRACIONES grants this migration status within the framework of international Agreements or Treaties to which Peru is party that establish the possibility of residence and whose purpose is not to exempt from visas or to simplify procedures for approving migration statuses or visas.
The closing qualification excludes visa-waiver treaties. An agreement that merely lets you in without a visa does not open this door; it must provide for residence.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Labour ministry, cited here only as the host of a document library containing a full-text copy of the migration regulation.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Not a consolidating service and not the author of what it hosts. The regulation copy it holds is the original as first published and has since been amended by instruments that insert articles absent from that file, so it is the base text and not the current text. Its own listing mislabels the file.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Para aquellas personas extranjeras de países con los que se tienen tratados o convenios internacionales vigentes que establezcan la posibilidad de residencia permanente, se aplican directamente las condiciones establecidas en el convenio.»Our translation - not official
For foreign persons from countries with which there are international treaties or agreements in force establishing the possibility of permanent residence, the conditions established in the agreement apply directly.
This is what lets a Mercosur national reach indefinite residence after two years rather than the three the ordinary permanent status requires.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Labour ministry, cited here only as the host of a document library containing a full-text copy of the migration regulation.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Not a consolidating service and not the author of what it hosts. The regulation copy it holds is the original as first published and has since been amended by instruments that insert articles absent from that file, so it is the base text and not the current text. Its own listing mislabels the file.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«La solicitud debes presentarlo dentro de los 90 días previos al vencimiento de tu residencia temporaria.»Our translation - not official
You must file the application within the 90 days before your temporary residence expires.
About this source
Grants and adjudicates migration status and naturalisation, and publishes the procedure pages with fees, channels and decision times.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the text of the law - its pages are the agency's restatement and routinely disagree with both the legislative decree and its regulation on tourist extensions and on family permit duration. It carries thresholds that exist nowhere else and therefore cannot be corroborated; treat those as claims by the agency. Its two pages on the same regional agreement give different nationality lists, so no single page is safe as the list.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Cancela S/ 161.40 usando el **código** **07568** en cualquier agencia del Banco de la Nación»Our translation - not official
Pay S/ 161.40 using code 07568 at any branch of the Banco de la Nación.
About this source
Grants and adjudicates migration status and naturalisation, and publishes the procedure pages with fees, channels and decision times.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the text of the law - its pages are the agency's restatement and routinely disagree with both the legislative decree and its regulation on tourist extensions and on family permit duration. It carries thresholds that exist nowhere else and therefore cannot be corroborated; treat those as claims by the agency. Its two pages on the same regional agreement give different nationality lists, so no single page is safe as the list.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«La entidad tiene hasta 30 [días hábiles](https://www.gob.pe/8283) para responder.»Our translation - not official
The authority has up to 30 working days to reply.
About this source
Grants and adjudicates migration status and naturalisation, and publishes the procedure pages with fees, channels and decision times.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the text of the law - its pages are the agency's restatement and routinely disagree with both the legislative decree and its regulation on tourist extensions and on family permit duration. It carries thresholds that exist nowhere else and therefore cannot be corroborated; treat those as claims by the agency. Its two pages on the same regional agreement give different nationality lists, so no single page is safe as the list.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Migraciones' own two pages for this route do not list the same nationalities: the temporary-stage page names Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay, while the indefinite-stage page also names Colombia. We record the discrepancy rather than resolve it.
We have not read the text of the Mercosur residence agreement itself, nor the instrument by which Peru acceded to it, so the nationality lists here are Migraciones' and not the treaty's.
Neither page mentions the Andean Community, although Peru is a member; we found no Migraciones procedure offering residence on that basis.
After the status is granted you must register with the Registro Central de Extranjería to obtain the carné de extranjería.
- administersSolicitar cambio de calidad migratoria a residencia temporal por acuerdo Mercosur
Superintendencia Nacional de Migraciones (Perú)
About this source
Grants and adjudicates migration status and naturalisation, and publishes the procedure pages with fees, channels and decision times.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the text of the law - its pages are the agency's restatement and routinely disagree with both the legislative decree and its regulation on tourist extensions and on family permit duration. It carries thresholds that exist nowhere else and therefore cannot be corroborated; treat those as claims by the agency. Its two pages on the same regional agreement give different nationality lists, so no single page is safe as the list.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- administersCambiar a calidad migratoria por acuerdos Mercosur
Superintendencia Nacional de Migraciones (Perú)
About this source
Grants and adjudicates migration status and naturalisation, and publishes the procedure pages with fees, channels and decision times.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the text of the law - its pages are the agency's restatement and routinely disagree with both the legislative decree and its regulation on tourist extensions and on family permit duration. It carries thresholds that exist nowhere else and therefore cannot be corroborated; treat those as claims by the agency. Its two pages on the same regional agreement give different nationality lists, so no single page is safe as the list.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- reportsReglamento del Decreto Legislativo N° 1350 - Anexo del Decreto Supremo 007-2017-IN
Ministerio de Trabajo y Promoción del Empleo (document library, gob.pe)
About this source
Labour ministry, cited here only as the host of a document library containing a full-text copy of the migration regulation.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Not a consolidating service and not the author of what it hosts. The regulation copy it holds is the original as first published and has since been amended by instruments that insert articles absent from that file, so it is the base text and not the current text. Its own listing mislabels the file.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source