Retiring in Peru: Rentista Residence Visa, Required Income, Tax on a French Pension and Access to Care

A visa-free tourist stay on a French passport suits a scouting trip (see living in Peru). To settle, Migraciones offers the rentista residence visa: it is aimed at a foreigner who enjoys a retirement pension or a permanent annuity, from a Peruvian or foreign source. The official page specifies that whether the status is temporary or resident depends on the legal provisions in force, the documents supplied and the assessment of the immigration authority.

• Income: for an annuity from a foreign source, a permanent net income of at least USD 1,000 a month, attested by a document from the country of origin. An older Peruvian consular page mentions an additional income of USD 500 a month for each dependant; the Migraciones page does not repeat it, and this point should be confirmed before any filing. The pension or annuity covers in particular retirement, survivor’s or disability pensions, dividends and royalties.
• Conditions: being outside Peru when obtaining the immigration status, and having no police, criminal or judicial record in your country of origin or in countries of previous residence.
• Paid activity: the same consular page states that rentistas are not authorised to carry out paid or profit-making activities; see working in Peru for the other statuses.

The application is made online on the Migraciones digital agency. The documents include the signed application form, a copy of the passport in current validity, a document from the competent authority certifying the absence of judicial, criminal and police records in the country of origin or in those where the person lived during the five years before arrival, a copy of the annuity document from the country of origin establishing at least USD 1,000 a month, and a declaration that the money enters Peru through a banking or financial institution under the supervision of the Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and Private Pension Fund Administrators.

• Fee and time: 58.80 soles (code 07567 at the Banco de la Nación, the state bank, with the number of the travel document used to enter); 30 working days of processing; follow-up through a Migraciones electronic mailbox.
• Carné de extranjería: it is issued after the residence visa is approved, for 24 soles, with an international exchange record of the police (Interpol) less than six months old, except for minors; it proves residence and allows you in particular to be integrated into the public health system.
• Permanent residence: the Migraciones page covers people who have lived three consecutive years as a worker, investor, researcher or religious worker; the situation of a rentista should be confirmed with Migraciones.

• Payment: Assurance retraite (the French national pension insurance) pays the pension every month in more than 180 countries. The guide to receiving your pension abroad details the options. The proof of income required by Migraciones is requested from the pension fund.
• Life certificate: an annual certificate, to be completed by a competent local authority and returned on time, conditions the continuation of payments.
• Suspended benefits: the solidarity allowance for older people (Aspa) and the supplementary disability allowance cease on departure abroad.

For anyone with a tax domicile outside France, Assurance retraite states that the CSG, the CRDS and the Casa are not levied, while a 3.20% health insurance contribution may be withheld under certain conditions of international coordination. The guide to retirement abroad complements these benchmarks.

Peru does not appear in the list of tax treaties in force on 1 January 2026 published in the BOFiP on 29 April 2026, nor in the list of tax information exchange agreements. Without a treaty, each state applies its domestic law and no text shares the right to tax the pension.

• French side: French-source pensions paid to a non-resident bear withholding tax. The 2026 scale provides for 0% up to €17,275, 12% from €17,276 to €50,112 and 20% above (BOFiP, 2 April 2026); the 12% and 20% rates are reduced to 8% and 14.4% in the overseas departments. French tax residence must be assessed: you can remain a French tax resident even though your home is abroad.
• Peruvian side: SUNAT considers a foreigner domiciled if they have stayed more than 183 calendar days in any 12-month period; a domiciled person is taxed on worldwide income, a non-domiciled person only on Peruvian-source income. The foreign-source income of a domiciled person is added to their earnings from work to calculate the annual tax. SUNAT’s examples cite rents, interest and services rendered abroad; the classification of a foreign pension is not detailed there and should be confirmed with SUNAT.

The combination of tax residence status, the nature of the pension and the date of departure is specific to each case: a tax adviser and the French tax office for non-resident individuals confirm the treatment before you move. The Peruvian scale for earnings from work is presented in working in Peru.

For a retiree who lives outside the European Union, Assurance Maladie (the French national health insurance) reserves coverage to twelve states or territories with an agreement (Andorra, Quebec, Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Morocco, Tunisia). Peru is not one of them and form S1 is specific to Europe.

• SIS: public insurance, accessible with a DNI or a carné de extranjería and no other health insurance; the finer eligibility conditions should be confirmed with SIS.
• EsSalud: the seguro potestativo, open to residents with no age limit, has its new individual affiliations suspended until 31 December 2027.
• CFE (retirees’ plan): reserved for retirees of the French basic scheme with no professional activity, with no health questionnaire, from €147 a month. Cover is immediate if enrolment takes place within three months of departure, otherwise a waiting period of three months before age 45 or six months from age 45 applies; the return to France is made with no waiting period.
• First-euro international insurance: reimbursement of actual costs within ceilings, direct billing possible, evacuation and repatriation; the medical questionnaire and medical history determine the exclusions.
• Temporary stays in France: a retiree living outside a country with an agreement is reimbursed if they have at least 15 years of contributions to a French scheme, via the Cnarefe (the French national centre for retirees living abroad).

See the guide to healthcare reimbursement in Peru, the page on retirees’ health insurance abroad and the guide to the healthcare system in Peru.

A retiree’s budget depends above all on the city, the housing, the altitude and the health cover. The official sources consulted do not publish a typical budget by city; the “Economic indicators” block above gives the updated indicators. The minimum living wage, presented in working in Peru, offers a local scale. Residence thresholds are in dollars, while fees and local prices are in soles.

• Altitude and health: altitude sickness is possible above 2,500 metres, according to France Diplomatie; an older person or one with a heart or respiratory condition seeks their doctor’s advice before settling at altitude.
• Safety: heightened vigilance in the historic centre of Lima at night, around Callao airport and in some outlying districts; official taxis only.
• Cities: Lima (Franco-Peruvian international lycée) and Arequipa (Peruvian-French school) have French establishments; the official sources consulted do not rank cities by their appeal to retirees.

Healthcare cost benchmarks are in the guide to budgeting for health when living abroad, and the page on retirement insurance abroad brings together the social protection benchmarks.