PERU VISA for Indian Passport Holders – Updated 2020

Peru Visa for Indians was not an easy affair especially for a newbie like me. Fortunately, things changed for the better in March of 2017. 

As of March 2017, Indian nationals who do not have a valid Visa or PR from the US, Canada, UK, Schengen, or Australia, are exempted from obtaining a temporary visa to travel to Peru. However, Indian passport holders without such a Visa or PR are required to obtain a Visa prior to traveling to Peru.  

For the ones who still need a Visa (the ones who like me are traveling with a near fresh passport), here are some tips:

Visa Details:

• Cost: Rs. 2250 (USD 30)
• Mode of Payment: Cash
• Processing Time: Ideally 5 working days (Mine took 6)
• Website: http://www.embassyperuindia.in/
• Embassy: New Delhi (There is no embassy in Mumbai)
• Duration of Visa applied: 30 days
• Visa Received: 20 days multiple entries. First entry to be made within a year of issue of visa.

Documents required for Peru Visa on Indian Passport

1. Passport with a minimum validity of Six months
2. Photocopy of the first and last page of the passport.
3. Two copied of  DGC 005 forms filled in black ink.
4. Three recent colored, passport-size photographs with white background. Easy to get it around the embassy in a photo studio.
5. A cover letter signed by the applicant.
6. A no-objection certificate from the employer for employed people.
7. A round-trip ticket to Peru.
8. Day by day detailed itinerary. Try to include the means of transport in-between places as well. And do remember to include rest days as Peru is at a higher altitude so one needs to acclimatize.
9. Hotel reservations for the duration of the stay.
10. Bank statements for proof of funds.
11. ITR for the last 1 year.

Process

Get the above documents ready and head to the embassy between 9 – 5 pm. I would recommend it in the first half.

You could hire an agent to do this. Relying on a friend could be tricky because the embassy is open only on weekdays between working hours for most people.

Once documents are submitted, wait for your Visa and in 5 days you’re ready to collect your passport. Again, anyone could collect the passport for you if they have a slip that is issued by the Peru embassy upon your application submission.

My Experience of getting Peru Visa with Indian Passport

I had to cut short a trip of mine to stop by at the embassy and apply for my Visa. I had gone there armed with all the documents.

I had to get a new set of pictures (It didn’t take very long and there was a photo booth very close to the embassy). The lady who was to accept the documents was quite skeptical about accepting my application. She surprisingly tried to misguide me or maybe that was her way of stress testing me.

She asked me what places I intended to travel to (itinerary was not mandatory back then), I there names that I knew, Cusco, Lima, etc. She proceeded to ask me how did I intend to go from Cusco to Lima.

‘I’ll take a bus’, I responded. She then told me there are no buses from Cusco to Lima (not true, there are many). But I did not know this back then. I still had a full-time job that took most of my time, the remaining time I was busy applying for Visas to countries I had only ever read about online. 

I told her ‘in that case, I’ll take a flight or a cab, whichever is feasible.’ I didn’t know my geography very well back then so I got a little nervous.

There was another person who I assume was from Peru and he was lovely. He was just smiling and told her ‘there are buses from Cusco to Lima’. They took my documents, wrote something with a pencil on them and I left. This was on Friday.

On Monday, I got a call from the embassy asking me for a letter stating ‘I work with so and so organization and quitting on so and so date’. In addition to this, they wanted my 30-day itinerary. Each day plan and how did I plan to go from one place to another. This was like homework waiting for me after office hours. I had no clue what was I going to do except Machu Picchu. 

I managed to make an itinerary with a decent amount of rest days for a 30-day period.

After 5 days, I got my Visa but with an entry for 20 days only. I was annoyed but didn’t know at that point that it was just too less. Peru had so much more to do that 20 days is just about enough to scrape through the country. 20 days is really nothing. I missed out on a lot because of this.

After leaving Peru I did write back to the embassy requesting them to be a little more liberal with Indian travelers. It’s not fair to give a 20 day Visa to someone planning to spend months on the continent. It just seemed so unfair that I had to rush through everything in spite of having to travel to another city, submit a dozen documents, pay for entry, and yet be the one with the shortest permitted time in the country with my European fellow travelers.

I spoke to two other Indian nationals who intend to travel to Peru this year and they both were granted one year Visa. What do I get? 20 days. Are you surprised by the number of Indians you meet on the road?

Pro Tip: Fine for overstaying the Visa in Peru is $1.5 per day. Had I known this earlier, I would have chosen differently.

Peru Visa for Indian nationals from a Third country:

I tried to get the Peru Visa from Ecuador in an attempt to trace back my route before flying back from Sao Paolo, Brazil. However, my plan never saw the light of the day as the very first Visa I needed was from Peru and they declined the Visa from a third country.

Visa on Indian Passport can only be taken from the home country or country of residence.

Do you have any frustrating Visa story that discouraged you from traveling to a country?