Getting U.S. Documents Ready for Peru

If you are an American preparing to move to Peru, most of your headaches will come from one place: getting U.S. documents into a form Peru will accept. The translation is the easy part. This is the playbook.

The two requirements, every time

For immigration in Peru, each foreign document generally needs:

1. An apostille, obtained in the United States — the country that issued the document.
2. A certified Spanish translation by a colegiado translator recognized by the Peruvian state. A CTP-certified translation meets this.

Peru is a Hague Apostille member (in force since 30 September 2010), and the U.S. is too, so the apostille route applies. Peru's MRE apostilles only Peruvian public documents — your U.S. documents are apostilled in the U.S., not in Peru.

Where U.S. apostilles come from (in general)

This is where Americans get tripped up, so understand the structure rather than guessing:

• State-issued documents (birth, marriage, divorce records, many notarized documents) are apostilled by the relevant state-level authority in the U.S. state that issued or notarized the document.
• Federal documents (such as the FBI Identity History Summary) are apostilled by the U.S. federal authority that handles federal-document apostilles.

We are a translation provider, not a U.S. apostille service, so confirm the exact office and current process for your specific document and state through official U.S. channels. The key takeaway: a state document and a federal document do not go to the same place.

A typical American document set

For a residence file you are often assembling:

• Birth certificate (state) — see Birth certificate translation for Peru
• Marriage certificate or divorce decree (state) — see Marriage certificate translation for Peru
• FBI Identity History Summary (federal) — see FBI background check translation for Peru
• Income/pension documentation, if income-based — see Pension and income letter translation for Peru

The sequence that avoids rework

1. Order each U.S. document from the right issuing authority (and order time-sensitive ones, like the FBI check, with your filing date in mind).
2. Apostille each one in the U.S. — state office for state documents, federal office for federal documents.
3. Get CTP-certified Spanish translations of the apostilled documents, including the apostilles.
4. Submit to Migraciones.

Translating before apostilling is the classic mistake — you'll pay to redo translations so the apostille is covered.

Confirm requirements; don't guess fees or timelines

Document lists, the acceptable age of a background check, government fees, and processing times are set by Migraciones and change. We don't publish those. Confirm them with Migraciones or via PeruVisas.com, which covers the residence process itself.

The state-vs-federal split, spelled out

The single most common American misstep is assuming all U.S. documents get apostilled in the same place. They do not, and internalizing this saves weeks. U.S. apostilles follow the document's origin. A birth, marriage, or divorce record is a state document and is apostilled by the authority in the U.S. state that issued or notarized it — and crucially, that means the state where the event was recorded, which may not be where you live now. An FBI Identity History Summary is a federal document and is apostilled by the U.S. federal authority that handles federal-document apostilles. Sending a federal document to a state office, or a state document to the federal one, gets it returned unprocessed.

Plan around this from the start. List your documents, tag each as state or federal, note which U.S. state issued each state document, and route each to the correct apostille authority in parallel rather than discovering the split midway. We are a translation provider, not a U.S. apostille service, so verify the exact current office and process for your specific document and state through official U.S. channels. Once each document is apostilled, the translation step is the fast, predictable part.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I apostille my U.S. documents — in Peru? No. They are apostilled in the U.S.; Peru's MRE apostilles only Peruvian public documents. State documents go to the issuing state's authority; federal documents (like the FBI summary) to the U.S. federal apostille authority.

Birth certificate from one state, living in another — which state apostilles it? The state that issued the record, not where you currently live. Order a fresh certified copy from the issuing state if needed.

Translate before or after apostille? After — always. Translating first usually means redoing the translation so the apostille is covered.

Do you state the income threshold or government fees? No. Those are set by Migraciones and change. Confirm current requirements with Migraciones or PeruVisas.com.

Can you bundle a typical American set? Yes — birth, marriage/divorce, FBI check, and income documents together bring each to $130 instead of $150.

Get the translations done

Order at /order — $150 per document, $130 each for three or more (an American residence set is usually several documents). For immigration context see /visa-translations; for degree recognition see /sunedu-translations.

Related reading: Apostille vs. legalization explained and Spanish to English certified translation for USCIS from Peru.