Work visa vs. worker immigration status in Peru: what you actually need

The mistaken starting point: thinking in terms of a “work visa”

Many people trying to work in Peru as a foreigner start from an idea borrowed from other countries: that a “work visa” is a standalone document, separate from residency. Peru’s immigration system does not work that way. Decreto Legislativo N° 1350, the Migration Law, organizes a foreigner’s stay in the country through immigration statuses (calidades migratorias) — legal categories such as Tourist, Resident, Student, and so on — rather than through separate topic-specific “visas.”

The immigration status relevant to working is called Resident - Worker (Residente - Trabajador). It is a subcategory of the Resident immigration status, defined in more detail in its regulation, Decreto Supremo N° 007-2017-IN. When someone says “I need a work visa for Peru,” in practice they are describing the process to obtain this immigration status.

The two real steps of the process

Broadly, the path has two distinct stages, involving two distinct government bodies:

1. Contract approval by the Ministry of Labor (MTPE). Under D.L. N° 689 (the Law on the Hiring of Foreign Workers), it is the Peruvian employer who must submit the foreign worker’s employment contract for approval to MTPE. This law also sets limits on what proportion of a company’s staff can be foreign, and what percentage of total payroll that staff can represent, with exceptions for certain technical or managerial roles and for nationals of countries with reciprocity agreements.
2. Immigration status application with Migraciones. Only once MTPE has approved the contract can the application for Resident - Worker immigration status be filed with Migraciones. Once granted, you then apply for the carné de extranjería, the document that finally proves your regular immigration status.

In other words: this is not a single procedure at a single agency. It is a labor procedure (MTPE) that is a prerequisite for an immigration procedure (Migraciones).

Why this does not apply to remote work for a foreign company

This process is designed for someone who is going to be employed by a Peruvian entity. It is a different scenario from a foreigner who lives in Peru but keeps working remotely for a foreign company with no legal presence in the country. In that second case there is no Peruvian employer that needs to request contract approval from MTPE, because the employment relationship is not with a Peruvian entity. See remote work for a foreign company for that scenario, which has its own tax and immigration rules.

What happens if you are already in Peru on tourist status

If you entered Peru with tourist immigration status and are offered a job, you cannot simply start working while you sort out the paperwork. Tourist status does not authorize paid work for a Peruvian entity. The correct path is for the employer to start the contract-approval process with MTPE and, once that is granted, to process the change of immigration status. See also working in Peru as a foreigner for the broader picture of rights and obligations, and rights of foreigners in Peru for the wider framework.

What this page does not cover

We do not detail here the exact processing deadlines at MTPE or the specific form currently in use, because we could not confirm them directly in this research session. We also did not go deep into the exceptions to D.L. N° 689’s foreign-staff limit (specialized personnel, managerial roles, reciprocity agreements with specific countries), which deserve their own analysis. Before starting any procedure, confirm the current requirements directly on the official MTPE and Migraciones portals.