If you have US$1,000 a month of permanent foreign income, the rentista visa is the default and the best value in the region. Entrepreneurs who want to run a real Peruvian business take the investor route at S/500,000 with five local hires. South American nationals usually skip both and file on nationality under the Mercosur or Andean agreements.

Permanent income from abroad of at least US$1,000 per month: pensions, annuities, rental contracts, and similar recurring sources, plus US$500 per month for each dependent. The income must be received through a Peruvian financial institution recognised by the authorities, and rentista holders may not take local employment. Documents issued abroad need apostilles and certified translations.

An investment of at least S/500,000, roughly US$135,000, into a new or existing Peruvian company, a business plan filed with the application, and a commitment to hire at least five Peruvian employees. It suits operators who want a real Andean business, not passive parkers of capital; if passive is what you want, compare Ecuador’s US$48,200 CD route.

On paper, yes; in practice, no. Decree 1582 created a digital nomad category in November 2023, but as of 2026 Migraciones has published no requirements, no fees, and no filing channel, and the current TUPA does not mention it. Remote workers use the rentista route if their income structure fits, or plan around non-domiciled presence. We monitor the category and will switch clients over the day it becomes real.

One to three months end to end for most tracks once documents are apostilled, with investor cases running longer because company formation and capital registration come first. The slowest step is usually criminal-record certificates and apostilles from your home country, so we start there.

You become domiciled after more than 183 days of presence in a 12-month period, but the status only takes effect on the 1st of January of the following fiscal year. Arrive after June 30 and you cannot trigger domicile until the January after next, which means up to eighteen months of residence before Peruvian worldwide taxation starts. Until then you owe Peruvian tax on Peruvian-source income only.

Not while you are non-domiciled. Once domiciled, Peru taxes worldwide income at progressive rates up to 30%, with credits for foreign tax paid. Many rentista clients simply keep their presence under 184 days a year and remain non-domiciled indefinitely, holding the residence card while Peruvian tax never touches their foreign pension or portfolio.

Resident status can lapse if you spend extended periods outside Peru, broadly more than 183 days in a year without authorisation, and the citizenship clock demands continuous residence with tighter tolerance. If naturalisation is the goal, live in Peru genuinely; if you only want the residence card, manage your absences and renewals with counsel. The two strategies are different and should be chosen deliberately.

Peru’s new nationality law, Law 32421 of August 2025, raised the residence requirement for ordinary naturalisation from two years to five, with four years for spouses of Peruvians and two for exceptional merit cases. Applicants must also show annual income of at least 10 UIT (about US$15,000) and pass language and civics evaluations. The law takes effect once its regulation publishes, so plan on the five-year rule. Peru permits dual citizenship.

Treat it as gone. The two-year rule under the old Law 26574 was repealed by Law 32421, which is in force once its implementing regulation publishes. Anyone marketing Peru today on a two-year citizenship promise is selling you the past. Five years is the planning number, and even the old track always required genuine continuous residence rather than a paper address.

Yes. Dependents ride on your track: the rentista route requires an additional US$500 per month of income per dependent, and each family member gets their own file and Carné de Extranjería. We file the family together so every clock starts the same day. Spouses of Peruvians have their own faster naturalisation track at four years under the new law.

No. The residency application has no language requirement, and your lawyer handles the process in Spanish. Language only matters at naturalisation, where the new law requires an evaluation in Spanish or a recognised indigenous language plus a civics exam. Day to day, Lima’s expat corridors function with limited Spanish, but the country rewards learners quickly.

The IRS taxes US citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, so Peru never makes an American tax-free. What Peru offers is the absence of a second layer while you are non-domiciled, and a foreign tax credit system once you are. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion covers earned income only, never pensions, Social Security, or investment income. We sequence the Peruvian side around your US position, not instead of it.