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Mexico suspends visa exemption for Peruvian nationals

Mexico City, Mexico — As of April 20, Peruvian nationals will require a visa to enter Mexico. Earlier this week, the Government of Mexico announced that they have temporarily suspended the visa exemption for Peruvian nationals.

In a statement, the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE) reported that now, people from that country with ordinary passports must apply for a visa to visit Mexico. This provisional measure helps ensure that those who are originally from that nation do not put their lives, health or respect for their human rights at risk.

During recent years, Mexico has faced an exponential increase in irregular migratory flows that transit through the country toward the north of the continent, which generates a situation of social emergency.

The greatest concern regarding migrants who enter Mexico irregularly and transit through national territory is that they can expose their lives, health and human rights to serious risks, as well as restrictive measures of detention, containment and repatriation.

In this scenario, Mexico has assumed the commitment to coordinate with the countries of the region actions to achieve humanitarian management of irregular migratory flows as one of the components of the comprehensive strategy, through the Mexican model of human mobility.

Recently, there has been a substantial increase in the entry of Peruvian nationals to Mexico by taking advantage of the unilateral decision taken on November 9, 2012 that eliminated the visa requirement.

However, a large number of people enter with the intention of carrying out activities other than those categorized as visitors without permission to carry out paid activities, as stipulated in section I of article 52 of the Migration Law.

For this reason, and with the objective of protecting the safety and well-being of those who are in a situation of human mobility, as well as to collaborate in the fight against human trafficking networks, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), in coordination with the The Ministry of the Interior (Segob) has chosen to temporarily reintroduce the visa requirement for citizens with ordinary passports of the Republic of Peru who wish to travel to Mexico.

The visa requirement will come into force April 20 of this year.

This decision will also contribute to the reduction of non-admissions of Peruvian nationals at points of admission in Mexico by having to have the corresponding visa in advance.

It is important to highlight the immigration facilities that Mexico has implemented for all nationalities that hold a valid and current visa from Canada, the United States of America, Japan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or any of the States that make up the Schengen area, as well as documents that prove permanent residence in those countries, in addition to Chile and Colombia.

Mexico maintains the commitment to promote coordinated actions between nations to mitigate external factors and structural causes that hinder regional development and contribute to irregular human mobility.

Likewise, it is committed to implementing cooperation programs and establishing safe and regular routes for human migration, with special emphasis on labor mobility, with the aim of eliminating the need for a visa in the future.