Moving to Peru from New Zealand

New Zealand passport holders can visit Peru visa-free for up to 180 days, but living there takes a residence permit. The self-funded residency routes we track start at an income of about $1,000 a month or an investment of about $147k, and our residency index rates Peru 80/100 for New Zealand citizens (comparatively open). We estimate €2,118 a month for a couple living centrally in Iquitos and €2,347 in Lima. Peru is in our low to medium tax tier. Check the official requirements before you apply.

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Short stays
Visa-free 180 days
New Zealand passport
Residency
80/100
Comparatively open, our index
Tax tier
Low to medium
Moderate personal income tax
Est. cost for two
From €2,118/mo
Iquitos, our estimate

Living there long term

Our residency index: 80/100, comparatively open. It is our own rating of how realistic long-term residency in Peru is for New Zealand citizens, based on the routes Peru publishes. Residency is realistic mainly through the Rentista (independent-means/pension) route for those with steady foreign passive income, the Inversionista (investor) route, or employer-sponsored work visas, with citizenship reachable after two years.

The cheapest self-funded routes we track:

  • Income: about $1,000 a month (Peru Rentista (independent-means) visa, USD 1,000/mo net permanent foreign-source passive income (plus USD 500/mo per dependent); as of June 2026)
  • Investment: about $147k (Peru Inversionista visa, PEN 500,000 one-time capital in a Peruvian company (~USD 146,800 at 1 PEN = 0.2936 USD, Jun 2026); as of June 2026)

Check the official requirements before you apply: amounts, conditions and exchange rates change, and what a couple needs can differ from a single applicant's threshold.

For short visits, New Zealand passport holders can visit visa-free for up to 180 days, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit.

Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).

Where in Peru to start

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold New Zealand passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

  1. 1. Cusco

    68% match
    Est. cost
    €2,127/mo
    Avg temp
    12°C
    Safety index
    48/100

  2. 2. Arequipa

    66% match
    Est. cost
    €2,189/mo
    Avg temp
    16°C
    Safety index
    48/100

  3. 3. Lima

    62% match
    Est. cost
    €2,347/mo
    Avg temp
    19°C
    Safety index
    48/100

  4. 4. Trujillo

    59% match
    Est. cost
    €2,182/mo
    Avg temp
    20°C
    Safety index
    48/100

  5. 5. Iquitos

    59% match
    Est. cost
    €2,118/mo
    Avg temp
    26°C
    Safety index
    48/100

Cost of living for two

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €2,118 a month in Iquitos to €2,347 in Lima. For comparison, we estimate €3,812 a month in Auckland. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

Source: our cost model: a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026). An estimate, not a survey of current prices.

Taxes

Peru is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax); New Zealand is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in New Zealand after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.

Compare cities in Peru

Lists with cities in Peru

Moving to Peru from elsewhere

Every country and origin we cover

How we built this page

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

  • Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
  • Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
  • City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding New Zealand passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
  • Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
  • Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.