Digital nomads in Peru: can you work remotely for a foreign employer on a tourist visa?

Which immigration statuses exist today for this situation

Article 29 of the regulations of Legislative Decree 1350, as amended by Legislative Decree 1582 in November 2023, has three statuses relevant to a foreigner who wants to work while in Peru:

• Tourist (29.1.h): “Permite al extranjero realizar únicamente actividades turísticas, de ocio, de salud o similares. No permite trabajar ni realizar actividades remuneradas ni lucrativas” (“Allows the foreigner to carry out only tourist, leisure, health, or similar activities. It does not allow working or carrying out any paid or profit-making activity”). Its limit is up to 183 calendar days, extendable up to 365 days.
• Worker (29.2.h): requires an employment contract, an administrative relationship, or a services contract, “previously approved by the Ministry of Labor.” It presupposes there is an employer or a Peruvian entity behind the contract.
• Digital nomad (29.2.i): created specifically for foreign remote work. Keep reading, because this is probably the one you came to this page looking for — and the one that brings the main problem.

If none of these three fits your situation — for example, because you live off a fixed income or plan to invest in a Peruvian company — check rentier and investor status and the rest of the statuses in types of immigration status in Peru.

The category created for you… that you still can’t apply for

Article 29.2.i defines digital nomad status as follows: “Permite a la persona extranjera ejercer una actividad laboral de forma subordinada, a través del uso de medios y sistemas informáticos, telemáticos o de telecomunicación o mecanismo análogo, cuya relación laboral debe generarse en el extranjero con una empresa domiciliada fuera del territorio nacional. No comprende la realización de actividades remuneradas o lucrativas en territorio nacional que implique ingresos de fuente peruana” (“Allows a foreign person to carry out labor activity in a subordinate manner, through the use of computer, telematic, or telecommunications means or an analogous mechanism, where the employment relationship must have originated abroad with a company domiciled outside national territory. It does not cover carrying out paid or profit-making activities within national territory that generate Peru-source income”). The length of stay is up to 365 days, extendable.

Migraciones’ own official press release, published six days after the decree, explains it in plain terms: this status is “diseñada específicamente para aquellas personas extranjeras que laboran de manera remota para empresas domiciliadas fuera del Perú” (“designed specifically for foreigners who work remotely for companies domiciled outside Peru”), which “hace que no requieran una visa de trabajo, ya que no tienen un empleador local, ni realizan actividades remuneradas que generen ingresos de fuente peruana” (“means they do not require a work visa, since they have no local employer, nor do they carry out paid activities that generate Peru-source income”). That is exactly the profile of the person reading this page.

The problem is that the same press release also says, in its own text: “La calidad migratoria nómada digital empezará a otorgarse una vez que se publique la resolución que reglamente éste y otros cambios realizados a la Ley de Migraciones, y se establezca el procedimiento correspondiente en el Texto Único de Procedimientos Administrativos de la entidad” (“The digital nomad immigration status will begin to be granted once the resolution regulating this and other changes to the Migration Law is published, and the corresponding procedure is established in the entity’s Single Text of Administrative Procedures”). In other words, Migraciones itself acknowledged from day one that the status was not operative until an implementing regulation and a formal procedure existed.

We searched for that regulation in September 2026 in El Peruano and in gob.pe’s procedure catalog, and found neither a supreme decree or resolution regulating article 29.2.i, nor a procedure listing for digital nomads among Migraciones’ services. In other words: the status exists in the law, but in practice it still cannot be applied for. Check this page’s review date and verify for yourself on gob.pe before assuming this hasn’t changed.

In the meantime: the real limits of tourist status

Most people in this situation enter Peru on a tourist visa, because it’s the only option available with no additional procedure. The problem is that article 29.1.h does not distinguish based on where the money comes from: it says, with no textual exception, that a tourist “no permite trabajar ni realizar actividades remuneradas ni lucrativas” (“is not permitted to work or carry out any paid or profit-making activity”).

We found no regulation, directive, or Migraciones resolution that interprets that ban more flexibly for someone who works for an entirely foreign client or employer, without touching the Peruvian labor market or generating Peru-source income. It’s reasonable to think the spirit of the rule is aimed at protecting local jobs and preventing someone from providing services to businesses or people inside Peru without the right immigration status — but the text, read literally, does not make that distinction. In the interest of honesty, we present this as a genuine gray area: we cannot tell you it’s clearly illegal, nor that it’s clearly allowed.

Why worker status isn’t the answer either

If you were hoping to solve this with worker status (29.2.h), in practice it doesn’t fit your situation. That status requires “un contrato de trabajo previamente aprobado por el Ministerio de Trabajo” (“an employment contract previously approved by the Ministry of Labor”), which presupposes there is a Peruvian entity — or at least a formal relationship with the Peruvian labor system — behind the contract. If your employer has no legal presence in Peru and your employment relationship originated entirely abroad, this status wasn’t built for your case: that’s exactly the situation article 29.2.i (digital nomad) was created to cover separately.

A gap within the gap: if you’re a freelancer, not an employee

Even assuming the digital nomad regulation is published tomorrow, there’s an additional limit worth anticipating: article 29.2.i’s text describes labor activity carried out “de forma subordinada” (“in a subordinate manner”). That describes a dependent relationship with an employer — someone who hires you, pays you a salary, and gives you instructions — not a freelancer who bills several clients independently in different countries.

We did not read a regulation clarifying this point, because the regulation itself doesn’t exist yet. But if your situation is that of a freelancer or independent contractor with no single fixed employer abroad, it’s worth not assuming digital nomad status will automatically apply to you once it’s finally implemented, until the regulatory text is published and it becomes clear exactly how it defines “subordinate labor activity” for these purposes.

The other problem, beyond Migraciones: SUNAT

Even if your immigration situation were resolved, a separate tax matter remains, and there’s an important distinction here that almost no one makes:

• The tourist visa’s 183-day limit (article 29.1.h) is enforced by Migraciones and decides how long you can stay in the country under that status.
• The 183-day threshold in article 7.b of the Income Tax Law is enforced by SUNAT and decides whether you become tax-domiciled: “Las personas naturales extranjeras que hayan residido o permanecido en el país más de ciento ochenta y tres (183) días calendario durante un periodo cualquiera de doce (12) meses” (“Foreign natural persons who have resided or stayed in the country more than 183 calendar days within any 12-month period”) are considered domiciled. And under article 6, a domiciled taxpayer is taxed “por la totalidad de sus rentas gravadas” (“on the totality of their taxable income”), including income received from abroad — not just what they earn inside Peru.

It’s the same number, but two different authorities with two entirely different consequences. You can perfectly comply with the tourist stay limit and still cross the tax-domicile threshold if your 183 days fall within any 12-month window (not necessarily a calendar year).

There’s a point that’s even less well known, and here we prefer to be honest about what remains unresolved: article 9, item f), of the same law treats as Peru-source income “las originadas en el trabajo personal que se lleven a cabo en territorio nacional” (“income originating from personal work carried out within national territory”), without conditioning this on having reached 183 days or on your immigration status. Read literally, this suggests that the income you generate while physically working inside Peru — even if your employer is abroad, pays you in dollars, and you bill from an account outside the country — could qualify as Peru-source income from day one, independent of the domicile threshold. We found no SUNAT report, Tax Court ruling, or regulation that specifically resolves this scenario for remote dependent work for a foreign employer, so we cannot give you a definitive answer — but we also don’t want to hide from you that the question exists, and that the rule, read as written, points in that direction.

What you can do today, while there’s no procedure

There’s no magic fix while the digital nomad regulation remains unpublished. The most honest thing we can tell you is:

1. Track your days of stay, keeping both the tourist stay limit and the 183-day tax threshold in mind separately — they’re two different counts worth monitoring on their own.
2. Avoid, as much as possible, any activity that could be read as paid work inside Peru while on a tourist visa, and keep evidence that your employer, your clients, and your payments originate and remain abroad.
3. Periodically check Migraciones’ procedure catalog and El Peruano’s publications, since the situation could change at any time if the regulation is finally published.
4. If you need a stable, long-term solution right now, assess whether you qualify for rentier or investor status — neither was designed for remote work, but both are statuses you can apply for today.
5. For high-risk or uncertain cases — for example, if you’re approaching 183 days, or if your situation is independent contracting rather than a subordinate relationship — a targeted consultation with an immigration lawyer or an accountant specialized in international taxation is worth more than taking on a risk you don’t understand.

Bottom line

Peru did recognize, in law, the need for an immigration status for a foreigner who works remotely for an employer abroad. But when we checked, in September 2026, the regulation that would let you apply for it — which, by Migraciones’ own official statement, it depends on — had still not been published. In the meantime, someone working remotely in Peru on a tourist visa is operating in a genuine immigration gray area, and someone who stays more than 183 days — or possibly even earlier, under a literal reading of article 9(f) — can face tax consequences before SUNAT that don’t depend on Migraciones resolving its part of the problem.

If your question is about how long you can stay before falling into an irregular immigration situation, check overstay in Peru: what to do. And if you ever decide to look for formal employment in Peru, the difference between needing a work visa and worker status is explained in work visa vs. worker immigration status.