Hire in Peru
Republic of Peru — 34 million population, $7,000 GDP per capita. Everything you need to know about employment law, tax, compliance and hiring in Peru.
Capital
Lima
Currency
Peruvian Sol (PEN)
Languages
Spanish, Quechua, Aymara
Time zones
UTC-5 (PET)
Hiring overview
- Typical time to hire
- 2-3 weeks for contractor, 3-5 weeks for full-time
- Entity requirement
- Peruvian SAC or SRL. Registration at SUNARP and SUNAT.
- EOR available
- Yes — from $399/employee/month through a Corpshore entity
- Contractor of record
- Yes — from $39/worker/month
Employment law
- Standard workweek
- 48 hours (8 hours/day, 6 days)
- Maximum weekly hours
- 48 hours
- Minimum annual leave
- 30 calendar days
- Public holidays
- 14 per year
- Maternity leave
- 98 days (49 pre-natal + 49 post-natal), fully paid
- Paternity leave
- 10 consecutive days, fully paid
- Notice period
- No statutory notice for indefinite contracts; severance applies instead
- Severance
- CTS (Compensacion por Tiempo de Servicios): ~1 month salary per year, deposited semi-annually. Plus indemnity for arbitrary dismissal: 1.5 months per year (up to 12 months).
- Probation
- 3 months (6 months for qualified roles, 1 year for management)
- Overtime rules
- 25% premium (first 2 hours), 35% premium thereafter. Overtime is voluntary.
Tax overview
- Income tax range
- 8% to 30%
- Corporate tax
- 29.5%
- Social contributions
- Employer: EsSalud 9%. Employee: pension 13% (ONP) or ~10% (AFP private pension).
- VAT / GST
- 18% (IGV)
- Tax year
- Calendar year (Jan-Dec)
- Treaty network
- ~10 tax treaties
Compliance landscape
- Worker classification
- Strong employment presumption. Locacion de servicios (service contracts) for genuine contractors but courts apply primacy of reality.
- Data protection
- Ley 29733 (Personal Data Protection Law, 2011). National Authority for Personal Data Protection enforces.
- Right to work
- Work visa (carnet de extranjeria) required. Employer must demonstrate foreign hire is needed. 20% foreign workforce limit.
- Non-compete
- Limited enforceability; constitutional right to work takes precedence.
- Collective bargaining
- Protected under the constitution. Sector and company-level bargaining. CGTP is the largest union federation.
Payment rails
Peruvian interbank transfers via CCE. Yape (BCP mobile wallet) is extremely popular domestically. Wise supports PEN.
Key considerations for hiring
- CTS (severance fund) is deposited semi-annually, not paid at termination — a unique mechanism
- Gratificaciones: 2 extra monthly salaries per year (July and December)
- Lima is Peru's overwhelmingly dominant business centre with ~33% of the national population
- Mining sector (copper, gold, silver) drives a strong engineering talent pool
Business and cultural context: Peru
Business culture
Warm and relationship-oriented. Hierarchy is respected. Lima's business district (San Isidro, Miraflores) is modern and cosmopolitan.
Key industries
Talent pool strengths
Historical context
Peru's mining sector produces 10% of global copper output, making it the world's second-largest copper producer. The country's economic stability since the 2000s, anchored by an independent central bank and fiscal discipline, has made it one of Latin America's most investor-friendly economies.
Ready to hire in Peru?
Use our EOR service from $399/month and we handle employment law, payroll, tax and compliance in Peru for you.