Peru or El Salvador
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| Peru | El Salvador | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 2 years | 5 years |
| Partner can work | — | no |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | no trouble | no trouble |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | no | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 846 · estimate | $ 983 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 25,9 | $ 31,4 |
| Life expectancy | 77.94 | 72.3 |
| Homicides/100k | 8.6 | 3.3 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 6.4 | 5.6 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Peru — 41, El Salvador — 28. Types present in both: work, study, family, investment and retirement. Peru adds: talent and working holiday.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Peru: fees range from 19.1 to 162.5 PEN. Routes with no fee: 2. Routes stating an income threshold: 4; the lowest is 1,000 USD a month. Routes with a published decision deadline: 29; the shortest is 5 days. El Salvador: fees range from 50 to 690 USD. Routes with no fee: 3.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: both after 3 years. Citizenship: Peru after 2 years, El Salvador after 5 years. Both allow a second citizenship.
Peru in brief
What makes Peru interesting is the wait for citizenship: two years of legal residence, one of the shortest in this guide, with no renunciation of the previous passport and permanent residence after three years. That is exactly what is changing. Law No. 32421, published on 14 August 2025, raises the period to five years and adds proof of annual income of at least 10 tax units and a broader exam. It is not in force: commencement is tied to publication of its regulation, and the regulation has not appeared. So the country runs on the old rule, which could switch at any moment, and planning a move around the two-year figure is a bet on how fast your own case moves. The second thing that defines Peru is nature: earthquakes 9.6 out of 10 and tsunamis 9.1 on the INFORM scale, with El Niño flooding added along the northern coast. The cost of living outside Lima is low: rent in Chiclayo and Piura is a third of the capital's.
El Salvador in brief
Residence status is granted under the Ley Especial de Migración y de Extranjería (Decree No. 286 of 02 April 2019): the work category (up to 2 years; paid activity requires a separate ruling from the Ministry of Labour), rentista and pensionado (1 year each, requiring foreign income of at least 4 and 3 minimum wages of the trade and services sector respectively — as of 1 June 2025 that is from US$1,635.20 and US$1,226.40 per month respectively), and shareholder and individual entrepreneur categories for non-Central Americans (from US$10,000 and US$2,500 in investment). Permanent residence generally requires 3 years of continuous temporary status; for rentistas, pensionados, and spouses of Salvadoran citizens, 1 year. Naturalisation takes 5 years for most nationalities (1 year for Spaniards and persons of Latin American origin, 2 years upon marriage to a citizen of the country); separately, natives of the states of the former Federal Republic of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica) obtain citizenship not through naturalisation but 'by birth', by simple application, with one year of permanent residence, which is in turn granted to them immediately upon entering the country. The official currency is the US dollar (since 2001). Bitcoin held the status of legal tender from June 2021 (Ley Bitcoin, Decree No. 57); the January 2025 reform (Decree No. 199) preserved that status but made acceptance of bitcoin by businesses voluntary instead of mandatory, and repealed provisions on paying taxes in bitcoin and on state conversion infrastructure. A state-of-emergency regime (Régimen de Excepción, Decree No. 333/22) has been in effect since 27 March 2022 and is extended monthly by the Legislative Assembly; the homicide rate fell sharply over this period, reaching 3.3 per 100,000 people in 2024 (UNODC) — one of the lowest rates in Latin America. The largest cities are San Salvador, Santa Ana, and San Miguel; a notable share of inbound tourism goes to the Pacific coast (surf destinations such as El Tunco and El Sunzal) and to colonial Suchitoto on Lake Suchitlán. The country lies in a zone of high seismic and volcanic activity, with active volcanoes near the largest cities.
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This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.