If you are in Peru with a tourist or student visa and you need to sign a contract, you need to apply for a special permission. Luckily, now you can obtain your permit online. All you have to do is go to Migraciones’ website and fill out a short form.
Obtaining this permit is pretty easy, but if you don’t know when to get it and how it actually works, in the long run it could delay your procedure (known as a tramite in Spanish) at Migraciones (Peru’s Immigration Office), which is something you definitely want to avoid. In this article we explain everything you need to know about obtaining a permit to sign contracts.
The most important requirement for obtaining a special permit to sign contracts is that you have to be in the country with a valid migration status. This means that if you entered the country as a tourist, your visa should be valid at the moment of requesting the permit. If you have overstayed your visa, or if you have only a few days left, then you will first need to request an extension of your tourist visa before you can obtain the permit to sign contracts. Keep in mind that you are only allowed to stay in the country for 183 days per calendar year, and you might not be able to get an extension after staying as a tourist for longer than this period of time.
Once you know everything is okay with your migration status, you can proceed to pay the fees for the permit to sign contracts (S/. 16.00) at any Banco de la Nación. You will need your receipt at the moment of registering online, so keep it in a safe place.
A few things to remember:
- Your passport or travel ID should be valid at the moment of obtaining your permit.
- When registering online, remember to use the same kind of documentation as the one used to make the payment at Banco de la Nación.
- Remember that you have to tramit your permit with the same documentation used to enter the country.
- Verify your personal information before submitting the form, and make sure it matches the one in your passport.
- The permit to sign contracts lasts for up to 30 days, depending on the amount of days left on your visa. After these 30 days have passed, you will need to request a new permit in order to sign contracts.
- Make sure the date on the contract you sign falls within the days allowed on your permit, as immigration officers tend to verify the dates in order to validate that it was signed during the time established in your permit.
For information about changing your migration status in Peru, visit our article on visa requirements.
