Crossing an international border in South America is, on the whole, very easy. A little too easy in fact. I have crossed 14 international borders in South America since I arrived last August, and once you know how it works the first time, the rest of the crossings should be a doddle. There are still a few things to bear in mind when you are crossing borders in South America.
During my 10 month journey I have crossed the following borders, mostly by land, and a few by air:
1. Bolivia to Peru 2. Peru to Ecuador 3. Ecuador to Peru
4. Peru to Panama (by air) 5. Panama to Venezuela (by air) 6. Venezuela to Brazil
7. Brazil to Argentina 8. Argentina to Brazil 9. Brazil to Paraguay
10. Paraguay to Argentina 11. Argentina to Bolivia 12. Bolivia to Peru
13. Peru to Ecuador (by air) 14. Ecuador to Colombia
This of course does not make me an expert, however after crossing so many borders (including entering Colombia with an emergency passport) I can hopefully help guide you through without any problems!
Crossing Borders in South America by Land or By Air?
Backpackers and budget travellers like myself tend to favour travelling by land, if their timetable allows. Personally I prefer travelling over land because you can see more of the country along the way, and bus travel tends to be cheaper than flying!
However, distances in South America can be vast, so sometimes for convenience and time saving, it is worth flying although cross-border flights are always more expensive than internal flights.
Land crossings can be a little more complex as you are responsible for going to the immigration offices, which sometimes are not clearly signed, and they may not be open 24 hours a day. However, they usually ask fewer questions about onward travel, which is handy if you have no fixed itinerary.
With air crossings, it is impossible to cross borders without going through the immigration procedure, you just follow the signs at the airports. They can be sticklers for questions though, and in some cases will demand proof of onward travel before they let you enter.
Things to remember when crossing borders in South America
Stamps in & Out
Sometimes it seems that no-one cares if you cross land borders illegally or not. In many border towns, locals (and sometimes foreigners) can pass between borders without checks if they are only staying in the next town.
For example, in Santa Elena in Venezuela, it is common to pop over to Brazil to take cash out and buy essentials that aren’t available in Venezuela and come back across to Venezuela without needing to go through the immigration process.
However, this practice makes it inconvenient for those of us planning to travel in the rest of the country. Buses or colectivo taxis across borders often won’t stop at immigration, so make sure you tell the driver you need to get off at immigration to get a stamp before you leave the country.
Crossing from Paraguay into Argentina I had enough time to hop off the bus, get an exit stamp & hop back on while the bus driver waited, although this is rare! Often the best thing to do is hop off at the exit immigration office & get your stamp, walk over the border (often across a bridge) to the new country immigration office, get your entry stamp, and hop on the next bus.
It is your responsibility to get an exit stamp from your current country, and an entry stamp for the new country.
If you don’t get an exit stamp, it appears that you are still in the country, so will have problems if you ever want to return – and more than likely you will be sent back to get am exit stamp before you are allowed an entry stamp for your next country. Failing to get an entry stamp will result in a hefty fine if you are stopped by the police, and possible deportation. So don’t forget!
In Colombia I met a young traveller who forgot to stop at the border for his stamps, and when he realised he asked at the next immigration office in town what he could do. They said he could either pay for an entry stamp there, which would cost around 150 euros, or return to the border 8 hours away and get a stamp for free. He opted to go back to the border!
The Time to Cross the Border
Not all border crossings are open 24 hours a day. If the immigration office is closed I highly recommend staying around until it opens or checking if the immigration office in the next town will be able to stamp you in. It is not uncommon for travellers to have to return to the border to get their stamps.
I prefer crossing borders during the day – partly for safety reasons, and partly because the immigration offices will be open! If you are travelling alone and you arrive at a border town in the evening or at night, it can be better to spend the night in a cheap hotel, and head for the border the next morning, instead of risk a night crossing.
Some borders are very busy at certain times of the year, for example holiday periods like Easter and Christmas, when people travel to spend time with their families. At busy times, try to arrive as early in the day as possible, and bring snacks and water – some borders can have huge queues where you will have to spend hours waiting to cross the border.
Crossing Borders in South America: Requirements for Immigration
You must check the entry requirements of each country well in advance of crossing the border, to make sure you have everything you need.
Some countries will require a visa for some nationalities, and have restrictions on the time allowed in the country. Bolivia for example will only stamp you in for 30 days as a tourist, and you can stay a maximum of 90 days in a year period.
Other countries are easier for long-term stays, and just require a border hop to ‘re-set’ the 30 or 90 days they granted you on entry and you can stay again for another 90 days. This is becoming less common though, as all countries try to crack down on people overstaying and working illegally in the country.
Visas may need to be applied for in advance, when you have to send them your passport for checking, whereas some can be done online, and others just require a visa on arrival, with some sort of fee to be paid. These vary per country, depend on your nationality and can change without notice though, so keep up to date!
Vaccinations
Several countries in South America require a vaccination certificate for Yellow Fever if you are coming from a country where yellow fever exists. I highly recommend getting the vaccination before you leave home, and carry a copy of your certificate with your passport. You should also take copies or a photo of it in case it gets lost or stolen.
Other vaccinations are recommended but are not legally required, such as typhoid, hepatitis and rabies – check with your doctor what they suggest, or use your country’s government travel advice website.
Proof of onward travel
Some countries such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Brazil (among others) can demand proof of onward travel to show you will be leaving the country when you say you are going to. If you have a flight out of the country that is best, as they won’t accept the typical backpacking story that you’re travelling by land and don’t know when you will leave.
If you have no idea when you will be leaving the country (within the legal time limit allocated) then before you cross the border you could book a refundable flight ticket and cancel it once you are safely in the country. Make sure you read the terms and conditions carefully though as the last thing you want is to be stuck with a hefty cancellation charge!
How to Avoid Purchasing Onward Travel Tickets:
Some people say they photoshop an old reservation to show a new date, but if the airline checks up on you there is a risk you will be denied boarding.
There are several websites that offer “proof” of onward travel by booking a flight for you on the date you request it and sending you a travel confirmation that you can use to show airline check-in agents or immigration officials. Then, 24 or 48 hours later they will cancel your booking. Of course, you still have to make sure you adhere to the conditions of your visa, and not over-stay your time in the country!
I used to use a site called FlyOnward for this service, but their website no longer works. I have been recommended these alternatives: onwardflights.com, returnflights.net or Bestonwardticket.com although I haven’t used any of these myself yet. If you know of any that definitely work please let me know!
Crossing Borders in South America: Don’t Break the Law!
Make sure you are aware of what is legally allowed to cross borders, and what is not. For example, coca leaves are legal to buy & use in both Peru and Bolivia, but crossing the border between the 2 countries with coca leaves definitely is not!
It may be obvious but I feel I have to say it: do not carry any kind of drugs or illegal substance across borders, and don’t attempt to smuggle anything. Don’t agree to carry anything across the border, even from people you know.
There was a high profile case of 2 British women caught smuggling cocaine into Peru in 2013, who were caught and sentenced to 6 years in prison in Peru. It is not worth the risk – remember Bridget Jones? We don’t all have a handsome human rights lawyer who will come to our rescue.
Crossing Borders in South America: Get the Most Up To Date Information
For British travellers, use: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ for up to date travel advice and entry restrictions.
Americans can use the Department of State website: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel.html
Canadians click here for Canada’s requirements: https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories
Australia has Smart Traveller to help: http://smartraveller.gov.au/
Apologies if your country isn’t listed here – a quick google search for (country name) gov travel advice should bring up the relevant information for your country. I hope this guide will help you crossing borders in South America, I wish you safe and happy travels!
Do you have any more tips for travellers crossing borders in South America? Please share them in the comments below!
If you’re looking for travel insurance for your trip to South America, get a quote now from World Nomads.
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Thank you so much for preparing my mind about the various vaccines. A quick question, is there any complications getting entering and exit stamps just for border crossing or i must have to get a visa to spend some days before moving on??
Is there anyone that recently cross these SA countries borders?
Am planning to travel across these countries to mexico from Suriname on bus
Please help if there are recent updates
Competent and wise observations. Muchas Gracias! Obregado to Talesofabackpacker.
We use https://www.onwardticketvisa.com .
Simple,fast and efficient. Response time is awesome.
Highly recommended.
It was very easy to communicate with them because they have a live chat available. They are very cheap price also .
We use https://www.onwardticketvisa.com .
Simple,fast and efficient. Response time is awesome.
Highly recommended.
It was very easy to communicate with them because they have a live chat available. They are very cheap price also .
Hi Tim! Thanks for reading 🙂 I’m afraid I have no idea about taking vehicles across the border; I’m sure you do need some sort of paperwork but I don’t know what or how you get that. You could try googling taking a motorbike across borders in South America and see what you can find? ioverlander is a popular app which has recommendations for camping spots for people with their own vehicles but I don’t know if they have that kind of information about borders. You could also ask in Facebook groups – I’m in a Backpacking South America FB group which sometimes has questions about vehicles but there may also be a more specific group for that. Good luck and I’m sorry I can’t answer your question myself!
Hey thanks for the information,
I had a question about vehicles crossing borders. If I buy a bike in Brazil (for example) do I need to register it in each country I visit or is it enough that it is registered in the original country. I’m guessing a paid tour would sort this out for me but I’d prefer to drive where I like.
Hi Alison! Thanks for reading 🙂 I didn’t visit Chile so I’m not sure of their visa requirements, but they may ask for proof of return flights or at least that you’re leaving the country within the 90 days. However, I don’t think there would be a problem leaving the country then coming back to reset the 90 days, unlike other countries where it is a maximum of 90 days within a certain period. Having said that, the UK government website doesn’t mention anything specific but it recommends getting in touch with the Chilean embassy if you have questions https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/chile/entry-requirements I would contact them to check if you’re not sure. Good luck!
Loved the blog … this may be a silly question but i just need all the advice I can get at the minute. So I am about to fly to Chile to visit my boyfriends family on a tourist visa … I currently don’t have a return ticket to the uk as I was thinking to do a visa run into Argentina for a month and then return to Chile. Am I able to do this?? I don’t intend to work so I don’t see how it wouldn’t be possible…but are there any laws that say how many times you can enter on the tourist visa?? Any advice would be so helpful!! Because I was then wanting to book my flight home to the UK March 2020 so I would need to obviously do two 90 day tourist visas if that makes . Thank you
Don’t pay bribes. Ever. If you are asked for a bribe directly, just smile and politely but firmly refuse. If they still demand it, simply ask for their commanding officer or to be taken to a police station/immigrations office: that usually ends the discussion. If you are asked for a bribe indirectly, smile, pretend you don’t understand, and move on. Paying bribes only feeds the corrupt system and paves the way for bribe extortion from the next motorcycling gringo, so just don’t do it!
Great blog. In my experience, when flying to South America from Europe airlines always wanted to see the return ticket. Immigration never cares. So instead of wasting my money on a refundable return ticket, I just create my own in photoshop. Has worked travelling to the US, to Brazil, to Mexico, to Colombia, to Canada…. airline stuff only wants to see the return date is within the allowed time (if you only booked one way with the airline). Of course choose another airline for the fake return ticket. Is this legal? As legal as booking a ticket and cancel it. It saved my ass many times. So don’t spend money on refundable tickets, just use photoshop. Trust me airline members at the check in dont have time to check if the ticket is actually real or not, it’s only about APPEARANCES. If it appears to them that you have a return ticket, that’s all they wanna see.
Yes, you have to be really careful to get stamps! That was nice of him – in that case there wasn’t a queue, I just hopped off, got a stamp & hopped back on – lucky!! 🙂
I had no idea about the lax immigration between countries and how that can really impact you when trying to leave. Stamping in and out is so important and can save you a world of headache down the road. I also thought that it was nice of the driver to wait for you to get clearance first even though it was really rare.
Ah yes, i’m lucky as a Brit to not need visas to go anywhere in South America – Other nationalities of course may have visas to deal with. Hope it worked out in the end!
To be fair no-one actually asked to see it but they can deny entry if you don’t have it. I think its pretty rare but better safe than sorry!
Hehe everyone loves bridget jones 🙂
This was very detailed information. I have only crossed the border from Argentina to Chile by plane and it was very easy. But getting my visa when I went to Brazil was not so easy! I am glad to know that I should be sure to get an exit stamp if I am leaving and returning to a country.
I think it’s really interesting to read that you really need that proof of vaccinations in South America. I’ve only been to Peru in SA and didn’t have to get vaccinations for it, but when I went to Southeast Asia I had a few vaccines that were required and they never once checked my vaccination record. I would’ve maybe not brought it with me on every trip, but this is good to know! Thanks for the future help! Cheers!
LOL at your Bridget Jones reference. Wow, you crossed a LOT of borders while you were in South America! These are all great tips, especially about knowing the difference between land vs air. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Jo, indeed – even if the only one they ask to see is Yellow Fever, the others are important too!
Brings back memories from when I used to live in Venezuela. And you certainly want to have all your vaccinations in place. Great guide.
Haha yeah no-one ever looked at mine but you never know 🙂 I came North from Ecuador to Colombia via Las Lajas, it is a beautiful place! Shameless plug alert – here’s the post if you want to read it 😉 https://talesofabackpacker.com/2016/06/02/santuario-de-las-lajas-ipiales-colombia/
Every person I meet on a night out wants to have a look at my yellow fever certificate haha! Thanks for sharing brings back lots of memories. Crossing from Colombia to Ecuador was a great one for me. We got to visit Las Lajas Sanctuary which was incredible. Check it out it you haven’t already seen it, but you may have even popped by.