Job Discussion Forums

[mahajosh]

People seem quite interested in the S.A. residency these days, so I thought I�d run through the process I�m still going through with you guys.

I married a Peruvian girl back in NY about 3 years ago. Should be simple to get my residency, citizenship, etc, right?
Well.....
First of all, you cannot do anything with the Peruvian government immigration wise from abroad. The only thing you can do is get a Peruvian marriage certificate to match your foreign one ($6US a pop, get at least three)

Once you get to peru, you enter with a tourist visa, usually 60 days (free)

Then you go down to Migraciones and get form 007 (free)
Show up again with :
25 ($8US)soles paid in national bank to process form 007
photocopy of your passport
Peruvian marriage certificate (if you got it abroad as I did, get it legalized again in foreign ministry for 50 soles, around $1
photocopy of spouse's DNI (national identity card)
All this is to get your residence visa
You have to choose a peruvian consulate abroad to give you the visa, they CANNOT GIVE IT TO YOU IN PERU!!. Ecuador or Bolivia are the easiest as they don't require visas (for americans) but literally any consulate in the world will do.

After about 15 days, they�ll tell you if things are ready or not. If they are, you have another 15 days before your document shows up in the consulate

I went to Quito, Ecuador. The residence visa (valid 1 year) cost me $80 plus 2 passport photos. I've heard of it costing up to $100, but whatever.

You then come back into Peru. They tell you you have 30 days to complete the process. One would assume that the thing was basically finished, that the Carnet de Extranjeria (basically the green card) was just a reflection of this visa, right? No, it's actually more complicated to get the CE.
Back to migraciones for more paperwork

25 soles to be exempted from the "Tasa de Extranjeria" (some tax on foreigners) I think I'd prefer just to pay it, but they don't give you that option.
42 soles ($14) and form 007A to be put in the "Central Registry of Foreigners"

Now it gets more complicated:
You need a certificate from Interpol (Yes! Interpol!) That you're not being looked for by the police in the US or something.

So you go make ANOTHER deposit in the national bank (69 soles, $22)
and go to Interpol. Show up there with a money order payable to the US treasury for $18 from Banco de Credito (they charge you $12 for this service) and 2 passport photos and they fingerprint you and give you the paperwork to send to the FBI (again, not kidding)
They then give you an envelope to mail. If you send it registered mail with the Peruvian postal service, it's 15 soles ($5) with DHL it's $50. At INTERPOL they told me the whole thing takes 20 days. I don't know if that included shipping.

Now, the thing is, while you've got the visa but not yet the Canet, you can't leave the country without "special permission". No one will tell you this, you have to ask, luckily it occured to me, as I had a ticket already. You show up with photocopies of

Your passport
your embarkation card
last entry into peru
your visa
plane ticket
Plus the same form 007, and another payment in National Bank of 25 soles

Once you get that (I'm not up to that stage yet) you go with the INTERPOL thing and form 007A and the exemption thing, and supposedly the give it to you then.

Total cost (excluding photocopies, which you can get for 1 cent US in the right place and 3-7 cents US otherwise, excluding transportation out of country and transportation within Lima)

Over $200 US, and more than a month

Now, before you have the visa, you aren't legally permitted to work. Those of you here in Peru know that you're also technichally not legally permitted to smoke in a bar, or operate a taxi without a special license, etc. You can get a job with just a tourist visa, but the better paying places won't hire you. In theroy, they can hire you with the visa but without the CE; but most seem to want the whole package.

So if you want to do everything legit (or maybe you're lazy and want to hold off work until last possible minute)
Figure AT LEAST 2 months to complete the process, and more realistically 3
And AT LEAST $250 US in costs, plus living expenses.
Luckily you only do this twice before they give you citizenship.

Those of you out there in other Latin American countries, how does this compare? Is Peru tougher or easier?

[naturegirl321]

Sounds about right. I-ve heard, though don-t know if it-s true, that you can get people to leave the country and stuff like that for you. It just takes much much longer.

[naturegirl321]

[jabe]

So would I be correct in saying that in order to obtain citizenship, one needs to have gotten two consecutive resident visas?

Without marrying a local, how does one obtain a resident visa?

Hypothetically speaking once you have one, can you leave Peru during the year, and then come back and get another when it expires and then leave again and then get citizenship? Or do you need to spend a certain amount of time there to satisfy the visa? Meh, I can rephrase... More info about the work visa please

[mahajosh]

Naturegirl-- don't worry. The "embarkation card" (my spelling is even worse in Spanish) is that stupid piece of paper that says "Tarjeta Andina" on it that that give you when you enter the country. At migraciones they insist on calling in a "tarjeta de embarcacion" which makes no sense.

The permission is fairly easy to get, it's a 48 hour process, but it's just more paperwork
When what I'd like is less

[mahajosh]

[jabe]

Hrmm, so if is prohibitively difficult to get a work visa seems it is probably troublesome to get a citizenship.

As for why....

Obtaining a second citizenship for any country at all is, in my opinion, a massive attraction. Who knows what will happen in your home country in the future, what laws will be passed, what taxes will be required, etc. Who knows what countries people will treat you unfavourably due to your countries political activites. Sometimes not wanting to be associated with your home country could be an advantage.

As for why a Peruvian citizenship is appealing...
Well, firstly it would mean easier travel within Latin America. But most importantly, having citizenship from any of the 'Spanish colonies', allows one to enter Spain very easily. If one really wanted, they could then live in Spain for two years and get a third citizenship there, and then have full access to any of the countries in the Euoropean Union.
Peru is the only country, to the best of my knowledge, that supports dual citizenship. And after only two years of residence too!
Also Peru, from what i have read, seems like a place that would suit my lifestyle (weather, people, etc.)

Would be a hella sweet deal if you could travel around Latin America, using Peru as a base for a couple of years, and get a citizenship.
Of course living full-time in Peru is also appealing to me, but having some ability to move around would be nice, and is certainly an option worth exploring in my opinion. Of course it may be that, after I have actually BEEN there, I find that I don't like it.

Nonetheless I want to have as much information about opportunites as is possible.

You said in order to get a residence visa, one needs to be 'gainfully employed'. Does this mean that one needs to be signed to one particular company on a long term contract, and working full-time for them alone? Or what exactly is the deal?

Thank you kindly for your already provided information. Much appreciated.

[Justin Trullinger]

Apparently some people have some confusion as to why it's (sometimes) easier for South Americans to get residency in Spain. (It's not as easy as all that. Ask all the illegals from Peru and Ecuador who you meet in Spain.)

They are more likely to be able to demonstrate blood ties with Spain. And due to a common language, they are more likely to be able to demonstrate the necessity for their skills in professional situations.

A naturalized Peruvian would be unlikely to find that either of these situations applied to him or her, and would therefore just go straight into the low grade labour work visa lottery. And wait years, like everybody else does.

Another note: while some countries recognise dual nationality, you need to look into the circumstances. Many will recognise the dual nationality of a person with parents of different nationalities. (Logical enough) Many will respect your right to dual nationality if you marry someone of a different nationality. (Seems fair) Many will not recognise it if you simply naturalize in another country.

The idea of becoming Peruvian in order to become Spanish, while it sounds logical, is pretty far fetched. Does anybody know anybody who has done this? Or even anything like it?

Regards,
Justin

[mahajosh]

Justin--
Good point about the Spain thing. Before I moved here, I was actually weighing the two, but decided Peru would be a better lifestyle. As far as getting naturalized in Spain due to your Peruvian citizenship.....Definitely not. The treaty with Spain is because of the crapload of Spanish people who moved here when the country was screwed economically, and then because of the civil war and Franco. It�s for people of Spanish heritage.

I could do it, as my mother-in-law�s grandmother was spanish (I'd have to take her over and get her citizenship there, and then have her petition for my wife and I). But why? Spain is a pretty cool place and everything, but not quite worth all that. You can travel in Latin America pretty freely on a US passport, the only pain is the $100 visa for Chile and Brasil. Dude, if you wanna live in Peru, go ahead, get the citizenship. But if you want a second citizenship just to have one, there are probably better places. Also, if you're from ANY English speaking country, there'll be no shortage of people who's be ELATED to do a sort of citizenship-trade with you if you know what I mean
Josh