For most travellers reading this, the answer is no: you do not need a visa to visit Peru as a tourist. But there are three rules around that answer which catch people out every year, and one of them can end your trip at the airport before it starts.

Rules change. Everything below should be confirmed against Peru's official immigration authority, Migraciones, and your own country's foreign office before you book.

Who does not need a visa

Citizens of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and most European Union countries can enter Peru as tourists without a visa.

The same applies to most of South America. If you hold a passport from a country not on those lists, you will need to apply at a Peruvian consulate before travelling: there is no visa on arrival for nationalities that require one.

Check your own nationality specifically rather than assuming. Lists change, and a neighbour's experience is not evidence about your passport.

The six-month passport rule

This is the one that ruins trips. Your passport must be valid for at least six months. If it is not, you can be refused boarding or refused entry, and no amount of explaining changes it.

Count six months from your date of entry, and check the actual expiry date in the document rather than trusting your memory. If you are anywhere near the line, renew before you book.

How long you are actually allowed to stay

This is widely misunderstood. There is no automatic ninety days.

The immigration officer at the border decides how long to grant you, and typically gives up to 90 days. The legal ceiling is 183 days within any 365-day period.

The practical consequence: ask for the full time you need when you arrive. If you are planning a two-month trip and the officer stamps you for thirty days, that is the stay you have.

Look at the stamp before you leave the counter. Correcting it there takes a minute; correcting it later is a bureaucratic ordeal.

Extensions: there are none

Under rules in force since 2023, tourist stays generally cannot be extended from inside Peru. The old routine of popping to an office to add a few weeks no longer works for most nationalities.

If you overstay, you pay a fine calculated per day against Peru's official tax unit, settled when you leave. It is not a criminal matter, but it is an unnecessary expense and it can complicate a future entry.

This is precisely why the number the officer writes on your stamp matters so much.

What they can ask you for

Officers do not always ask, but they are entitled to, and having it ready costs nothing.

A passport valid for six months or more. Proof of onward or return travel, meaning a ticket out of the country. An address in Peru, which can simply be your first hotel booking. And evidence that you can support yourself during the stay.

Have the return ticket and first accommodation booking reachable offline on your phone. Airport Wi-Fi at the end of a long flight is not where you want to be hunting for a PDF.

A few extra notes

Entry and exit records are handled electronically, so the old paper Andean Migration Card is no longer something you need to keep in your passport.

If Peru is part of a longer South American trip, check the entry rules for each country separately. They vary a lot, and some neighbours ask for documents Peru does not.

Keep a photo of your passport page and your entry stamp on your phone, stored somewhere you can reach offline. It makes a lost passport a much smaller problem.

Reviewed September 2026. Immigration rules change without notice: always confirm with Migraciones and your own foreign ministry before travelling.