8 Steps to Getting a Worker’s Visa in Peru

Thinking of moving to Peru? Here's a detailed guide of how to get your visa.

Posted on

15 March 2017

| Last updated on 18 October 2017

8 Steps to Getting a Worker’s Visa in Peru

Moving to another country comes with a lot of paperwork. One of the most important and usually lengthly tasks is getting your visa sorted out. In order to make it easier for you, here's a fellow expat's experience going through the process.

This guide is for a worker’s visa. However, steps 1-3 and 7-8 also apply to ALL visas in Peru – student, marriage, religious, work, and other visas. Steps 4-6 are for resident worker visas only. These are the steps to getting ready for, making and completing an appointment with the Migrations office in Lima, Peru.

To work in Peru, you’ll have to do a “Cambio de Calidad Migratoria” (Change of Migration Status) to whatever type of worker you will be.

The process I did was for a resident worker – “trabajador residente.” This is where you are applying to work for a Peruvian company that is legally registered in Peru with SUNARP (businesses and legal representatives, meaning they have a number in the “registro de personas jurídicas”) and SUNAT (the tax agency, meaning they have a RUC number).

I did this process in February, 2017.

Here is a summary of the eight steps:

Pay the fee for the Migrations appointment to Banco de la Nación.
Make a copy of your passport and last entry stamp into Peru.
Get a “Ficha de Canje Internacional” from INTERPOL.
Check that your company’s registration number (RUC) with the tax agency SUNAT is still valid.
Create and notarize a work contract.
Obtain a copy of your company’s “vigencia del poder del representante legal” from SUNARP (registry of companies).
Make your appointment with Migraciones on their website and print the form F-004 that is generated there.
Complete your appointment and pay the $200 USD fee if your application is approved.

Step 1

General requirements – requirements for all Peruvian visas

You must go to any Banco de la Nación to pay a fee for the Visa appointment/transaction. Banco de la Nación is the Peruvian government’s bank. They are found everywhere. You must have a transaction code and the amount you want to pay before you go.

For worker’s visas, in February 2017, the code was 1814 and the fee was 117.60 Peruvian Soles (S/). You must tell the person at the desk this information, pay the fee and save the receipt.

Fees differ for other types of visas. Here is the web page listing the payment code and the amounts

Step 2

General requirements – requirements for all Peruvian visas

Make a copy of the data page (where your photo, number, etc. are) of your passport. Also, take a scanned copy of the page with your last entry stamp into Peru or your “Tarjeta Andina de Migraciones” (the small paper given to you when you enter Peru). Both must be valid and cannot be expired.

If you are a diplomat, consular official or other official, you should also submit a copy of your Carné de Protocolo, which also must be valid.

Step 3

General requirements – requirements for all Peruvian visas

You must obtain a “Ficha de Canje Internacional.” This is an international background check.

For this, you must go to INTERPOL:

Comisaria de Monterrico, Av. Manuel Olguin Cuadra 6, Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru 15039

This alone has many steps you must complete before going! You must prepare these materials and put them in an “oficial” size manila envelope:

One passport size photo
The receipt from a payment of S/80.50 (as of February 2017) to Banco de la Nación, code 08141
A scanned copy of your passport as well as your last entry stamp into Peru. Both must be valid
The INTERPOL application form (you will receive it at Interpol). Have these ready:
The name of the company contracting you
Your height and weight in the metric system
Your address of your residency in Peru
The names of your parents and their address
A copy of your Carnet de Extranjeria (if you have it – you probably don’t if this is your first application)
If you are married to a Peruvian citizen - a copy of your marriage certificate (RENIEC) and DNI (your spouse’s Peruvian ID card)

And if you are a US, Canadian or Australian citizen:

US: A “giro internacional” (international money transfer) from BCP bank of US$18 made out to “The Treasury of USA”
Canada: A “giro internacional” (international money transfer) from BCP bank of 26.75 Canadian dollars made out to “The Receiver of Canada”
Australia: Make the payment on h ere, then print the receipt

Then, you must go to the INTERPOL office. The hours for visa transactions are 8am-11am from Monday to Friday.

Tips:

It is best if you go at or before the office opens around 7-7:30am
It seems Mondays are the busiest days!
If you arrive before 8am, the line on the LEFT side of the building is for dropping off applications. The line on the RIGHT side of the building is for picking up your completed Ficha de Canje Internacional.

Once you have completed your document, please go on the same day the next week to pick it up. In the office, it says 5 days, but I believe it’s actually just on the same weekday the next week you dropped it off because I came after 5 days and it wasn’t ready.

Step 4

This step is ONLY for applications to be a resident worker/trabajador residente

Your company must be actively and legally registered with the Peruvian tax agency SUNAT. Double check with your company if this is true.

Step 5

This step is ONLY for applications to be a resident worker/trabajador residente

You must create a work contract with your company and have it both approved by the Ministry of Labour (Ministerio del Trabajo) and notarized or authenticated by the Migrations office beforehand.

Here is a form that the Ministry of Labour created for these kinds of contracts with the exact information needed.

This step is a lot more complicated than it seems! So read carefully the following:

There are limitations to how many foreigners may work for a Peruvian company and how much of the salaries of a company may go to foreigners, so you must find out whether you are within these limitations:

Foreign workers must be 20% or less of the personnel of the company
“Personnel” are workers on “planilla,” basically full-time workers with benefits. Workers not on “planilla” or workers without benefits are not considered “personnel”
Foreign workers must earn 30% or less of the salaries in a company

If you are NOT within these limitations, you must request an exemption from the law under one of articles of “decreto legislativo No. 689,” which are the following:

When there is a person who is a professional in the area or a specialised technician.
When there is a person who will work in leadership or management of a new company activity or in the case of a process of restructuring or modernization of a company.
When there are professors or teachers contracted to teach in universities, or teaching elementary or secondary classes in foreign private schools in Peru, or in language centres.
When there is a person who will work for companies in the public sector or in private companies that have ensured and are performing/will perform contracts with organisms, institutions or companies in the public sector.
Whatever other case that is established by the Supreme Decree, following the criteria of specialisation, qualifications or experience.

The contract must include all identifying information of the future worker (you) as well as the legal representative of the company (your employer). It also must include your company’s registration information with SUNAT and SUNARP (the tax and legal representative agencies), as well as whether you are within legal boundaries of the limiting percentages for foreigners (and if you aren’t, your request for exemption).

Here's some information that I found difficult on this contract (link above) that you should know.

Page 2 under “datos del empleador”

Nombre o Razón Social: Name of company as it appears on its tax documents (usually has S.A.C. after it)
RUC: This is its tax number, given by SUNAT
Domicilio en: (address) Provincia de (province in Peru) Departamento de (department in Peru) Región (region in Peru) - Peruvian address as it appears on its tax documents
Dirección de Correo Electrónico: email of company’s legal representative
Representante Legal: Name and last name(s) of company’s legal representative
No DNI: National ID number of the company’s legal representative
Con mandato inscrito en el Registro de Personas Jurídicas
de la Ficha: (the number appearing on the SUNARP “registro de personas juridicas” website, should be a letter followed by 5 numbers. Example: A00000)
del Registro: (this is the “partida numero” for the registros publicos, should also be on the SUNARP website. Should be an 8 digit number)
de los Registros Públicos de: (Province where your company was registered. Example: Lima)

Page 3 - first paragraph

Conste por el presente documento el Contrato de Trabajo de Personal Extranjero a plazo determinado, que celebran de una parte la empresa (name of your company as it appears in its tax forms)
con Registro Único de Contribuyentes Nº (here is the RUC number again)
con domicilio en: (address) Provincia de (Province in Peru) Departamento de (department in Peru)
cuya constitución obra debidamente Inscrita en la ficha No (same “ficha” as above, the number appearing on the SUNARP “registro de personas juridicas” website, should be a letter followed by 5 numbers. Example: A00000)
del Registro de Personas Jurídicas de (province, for example: Lima)
empresa dedicada a la actividad económica de (here the “activity” listed on their tax forms, should be found on SUNARP or SUNAT website)
habiendo dado inicio a su actividad empresarial con fecha (date on tax documents)
debidamente representada por (name of company’s legal representative)
identificado con Documento de Identidad (DNI or national ID number of company’s legal representative)
según poder inscrito en la partida No (this is the “partida numero” for the registros publicos, should also be on the SUNARP website. Should be an 8 digit number)
de los Registros Públicos de (province, for example: Lima)

SEE ALSO: 15 lessons leant as expats

You may take this in person to the Ministerio del Trabajo (Av. Salaverry 655, Jesús María 15072), to office 302.

For the Ministerio del Trabajo approval, you’ll also need:

3 original, typed work contracts, including all pages of the work contract PDF with its limiting percentages and exemption from percentages (if applies).

3 original, typed Declaración Juradas, referencing the “Decreto Legislativo 1246” - Here is the information it should include:

"Yo _______________(legal representative’s name), con DNI _________(put legal representative’s DNI number), representante legal de ______________________ (company name) con RUC ________________(RUC number) con partida registral número _________________ (the “partida number” from SUNARP, the registros públicos). De acuerdo al Decreto Legislativo 1246, declare que: ____________________ (employee’s name), con pasaporte no. ____________ (employee’s passport number) y de nacionalidad ___________________ (employee’s nationality), cuenta con la formación y capacitación requerida para trabajar con nosotros y sumar en nuestra búsqueda de crecimiento en el área de _________________________ (job that employee will do). Su apoyo, aptitudes y capacidades son las necesarias para nuestra empresa y es esta la razón de su contratación. En fe de lo cual firmo la presente. (You must finish with the date, the typed name and ID number of the legal representative, and the typed name and ID number of the employee, with their signatures above it)."

You'll need to make a payment of S/21.50 (as of March 2017) to Banco de la Nación under the code 5533 – you MUST ask for a “factura” when you go to the bank under the company’s “RUC” number, so that the “RUC” appears on the receipt.

Once you turn these in at the Ministerio del Trabajo, they should have a response for you within 5 business days.

Step 6

(This step is ONLY for applications to be a resident worker/trabajador residente)

A copy of your “vigencia del poder del representante legal” that has either been notarized or authenticated by the Migrations office beforehand. This is only valid for 30 days! That’s why it is the last step.

The legal representative of your company must go to any SUNARP office and request this document. SUNARP will probably notarize this on the premise for them, so this step is at least an easy one!

Step 7

Make your appointment!

Please fill out the form on this website. You must click the option for what type of visa you are applying for. I clicked “de calidad migratoria à Residente”. After you click this, you will have to select what specific option you are applying for on the menu on the left side of the next page.

Here, you will need to make the appointment using a computer connected to a printer, as you will have several forms to print out. The form is fairly simple, so just fill out the parts you are prompted to, and print the pages that you are prompted to.

At the end, you will schedule your appointment with the Migrations office.

Step 8

Go to your appointment!

You’ll have to go to the Migraciones office (in Lima - Av. España 734, Breña Lima 05; very close to Parque de la Exposición downtown). After your appointment, you will have to wait for approval of your visa, if it’s approved, you will have to pay $200 (USD).

And then you’re done! All your hard work on this visa paid off.

About the Author

Katie Ehrlich is a social worker and artist who has worked and studied in the US, Peru, Japan, and Nicaragua. She currently lives in Lima, Peru. Check out her personal website on ktehrlich.flavors.me