Marrying a Peruvian citizen: how to get residency

Who applies for what

Article 37.1 of Decreto Legislativo 1350 says the Peruvian citizen may request from Migraciones “resident status for any member of their family unit” — this mechanism is called family reunification. That is a power the Peruvian citizen has; the text does not say it is the only route or that the foreign family member cannot file their own request. In fact, Article 38 refers to the family unit “of the national or foreigner who requests family reunification,” and Migraciones publishes procedures on gob.pe such as “Solicitar calidad migratoria de familiar residente para mayores de edad” and “Solicitar cambio de calidad migratoria por la de familiar residente.” We could not open those pages for this review: before filing, confirm there who files, whether it is online or in person, and which documents are required today.

Who counts as the family unit

Article 38 defines exactly who falls within that family unit. The first item is the one that matters here: “the spouse or the partner in a common-law union, as provided under the Civil Code.” This means two things: marriage isn’t the only route — a recognized common-law union counts too — but that common-law union has to meet what the Civil Code requires to be recognized as such.

The immigration status: Familiar Residente

The regulations (Decreto Supremo 007-2017-IN) organize the Resident immigration status into several subcategories, and Article 80(i) expressly includes “Familiar de residente” (Resident Family Member). Article 89 develops that subcategory: it’s granted to foreigners with a “proven family relationship with Peruvian citizens or with resident foreigners,” per the scope of Article 38 mentioned above.

There’s a detail here that changes the term depending on who the relationship is with. Section 89.6 of the regulations says: “The term of grant and stay is up to two (2) years for family members of Peruvians and one (1) year for family members of resident foreigners.” In other words, under the regulations, being married to a Peruvian gets you double the term you’d get being married to a foreigner who is themself a resident of Peru. Migraciones’ gob.pe page (updated 22 April 2024) says the same and adds that you can ask to extend it for the same period.

But since 2023 the law says something else. Decreto Legislativo 1582, published on 14 November 2023, rewrote the “Familiar de residente” status in article 29.2(k) of Decreto Legislativo 1350: “The term of stay is the same as that granted to the resident.” It adds: “For a foreigner who is a family member of a Peruvian, the term of stay remains in force as long as none of the grounds for termination set out in the Regulations applies.” We did not check whether the regulations were later amended to match, and Migraciones’ page still says two years. We don’t know which text Migraciones applies in practice: confirm with Migraciones before the term you are given expires.

Yes, you can work under this status

Section 89.5 settles a common question: the Familiar Residente status “allows the foreign person to enter and/or remain in national territory and engage in paid activity as an employee or independently.” No separate work-permit process is needed.

Migraciones can investigate whether the marriage is real

This isn’t an automatically approved process. Article 167(e) of the regulations expressly authorizes Migraciones to “verify the authenticity of marriages or common-law unions that lead to the assignment of an immigration status,” and for that it can rely on interviews and visits, per the corresponding administrative directive. A sham marriage entered into solely to obtain an immigration status can be detected and rejected through this channel.

What to do

If your spouse or partner is Peruvian and you want to process your residency, the first step is to open the current Migraciones procedure page on gob.pe and confirm who files the family-reunification request and through which channel. Gather the marriage certificate (or the documentation proving the common-law union under the Civil Code) and be prepared for Migraciones to potentially call you both in for a joint interview as part of the verification. Once the Familiar Residente status is approved, you can work immediately. On how long it lasts, confirm with Migraciones which term applies to you (the regulations and the law disagree), and handle renewal or a switch to a different immigration status in time if needed.

Already got residency through marriage? Don’t forget the renewal

Once you hold Resident status through a family relationship, it still needs periodic renewal. See how the residency extension process works.