Customs in Peru

[luna_azul0609 6]

Hello,

I will be flying to Lima in 17 days to visit my fiance and stay with him while we wait during the K1 Visa process. I intend to live with him until he gets the visa, which could be quite a few months since I haven't sent the I-129F petition yet. I will do everything I need to in order to live in Peru legally, but I'm concerned about what will happen when I pass through customs at the airport. I bought a return ticket with a false date (Dec. 1) because I know sometimes they won't let you leave the US without one. I didn't have any trouble passing through customs the last time I visited him, but that was before we became engaged and started the visa process. Now I'm afraid they will think I'm going to stay there illegally with him since I don't really have any ties to the US (besides the fact that I'm going to pay $455 in order for us to get married and live in the US!!! Of course I don't want to screw this up!!)

Should I wait to send the I-129F until after I enter Peru? I could easily have my mom bring it to the post office once I'm there. That way I could just tell customs I'm visiting my friend and leaving on December 1st in order to enter the country with no problems. I just hope it won't cause any problems later in the interview if they ask why I sent the petition after I was in Peru

[conquest 0]

As far as I understand it you can stay in peru for 180 days then you hve to leave the country and then return. Depending on where you will be at some go to ecuador some go to bolivia or chile. You can return the same day and ten te process starts all over again. THe other ting you can do is stay in the country at which time you will have to pay a fine of $1 perday for each day overstaed or $365 a year.

You could also get a rentista visa and make it completely legal. Over staying in peru isnt like overstaying here in the USA. IF you want to learn more about it go to WWW.expatperu.com and become a member of that site.

MAny people there are USC's that live there and know all about living in peru and what to do about customs and imigration

[Mike B. 231]

I've never come close to having a problem with DIGEMIN (It's really DIGEMIN, not customs you should be worried about, unless you plan on drug smuggling) at all. If you fill out the "visiting friends/family" on your tarjeta andina they give you a tourist stamp in your passport. Tell them you want 90 days. It might not hurt to say you're visiting your friends so you can go on some tours. If you end up having to stay more than the 90 days you can go to the DIGEMIN offices and pay for a parroga de permenencia that will last thirty days. You can do that three times before you'll be required to leave. The penalties for not leaving on time are minimal, but I'd rather be inside of the law than outside of it, especially that leaving by crossing the border with Chile and then coming right back counts.

Remember, Peru is one of the poorest countries in South America. They don't have a problem with people illegally immigrating into the country. Their problem, to be absolutely blunt about it, is people leaving, especially when said people are taking cocaine with them. DIGEMIN/Customs has bigger fish to fry.

You might want to check out livinginperu.com