Peru’s Digital-Nomad Visa Still Isn’t Real: What Remote Workers Use Instead

Peru · Digital Nomads

*Peru created a digital-nomad visa in law, but the application procedure has never been published, meaning no one can actually apply and remote workers must still rely on tourist entries or the independent-worker route instead.*

Peru has a digital-nomad visa on the books, but you still cannot get one. The permit was created in law yet never switched on, leaving remote workers to fall back on the same workarounds they used before.

A visa that exists only on paper

Peru created a digital-nomad residence category through Legislative Decree 1582, allowing remote workers to live in the country for up to a year while working for employers abroad. On paper, it looked like one of the region’s more generous options.

In practice, it has never launched. For a visa category to be usable, it has to appear in the immigration agency’s official procedures manual, known as the TUPA, and this one never has.

Why you still can’t apply

Successive updates to the TUPA, in 2024 and again in 2025, came and went without adding the digital-nomad category. As of 2026, there is still no way to file, no published requirements and no fees set.

Migraciones has not said when, or whether, the category will be switched on. Until it appears in the TUPA, the visa remains an announcement rather than an option.

What remote workers use instead

Most digital nomads in Peru simply enter as tourists, with stays that immigration officers grant for up to 183 days in a year. It is the path of least resistance, but it carries no work rights and is increasingly scrutinised on repeat entries.

The more durable route is the trabajador independiente, or independent-worker visa, for those who can show freelance or contractor income. It offers a renewable, formal status that the tourist stamp does not.

The tax and citizenship fine print

Spending more than 183 days in Peru within a 12-month period can make you a Peruvian tax resident, which changes how your income is treated. Anyone planning a long stay should take advice before crossing that line.

Peru has also passed a new nationality law that raises the residency requirement for citizenship from two years to five. It takes effect only once its regulations are published, so the old two-year rule still applies for now.

What to watch

The change that would matter most is the digital-nomad category finally appearing in the TUPA, which would make it filable overnight. Watch the Migraciones site for any update to its list of procedures.

Beyond that, keep an eye on when the new citizenship law’s regulations are published, since that will start the longer five-year clock. Neither is a reason to delay a move, but both shape the long game.

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