The one thing that ruins a Bolivia trip at Kasani is not the queue. It is leaving the window without a stamp.
Nobody notices at the time. The problem surfaces weeks later, at an airport. An officer looks through the passport and finds no record of the traveller ever entering the country. That is a fine, an argument, and sometimes a missed flight.
Everything else about the Kasani border crossing is straightforward, and it has recently become a great deal easier. We cross it regularly with clients, so here is what actually happens.
What changed in December 2025
Bolivia stopped requiring visitor visas for most Western nationalities on 1 December 2025.Citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of the European Union now enter Bolivia visa free for tourism. The United States Embassy in La Paz confirmed the change in a notice to its citizens on 3 December 2025.
For Americans this is a genuine shift. Until that date a US passport holder paid 160 dollars at the border, in clean unmarked notes. They also produced a photograph, a hotel booking and an onward ticket. All of that has gone.
Most pages you will find online still describe the old system. Some of them are the official looking ones, which is worse. Check the date on anything you read about this border.
Where is Kasani?
Kasani sits on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca. Copacabana is about 10 kilometres away in Bolivia, Yunguyo about 8 kilometres away in Peru.
It is small. Two immigration buildings on a single road, a few hundred metres of no man’s land between them, a row of money changers with handwritten boards, and some snack stalls. That is the whole border.
The altitude is roughly 3,850 metres. People who have come straight up from the coast feel it here. Standing in a queue at that height is more tiring than it sounds.
What happens at the Kasani border crossing?
You do it on foot, in two halves, at two separate offices belonging to two separate countries.
First, Peru stamps you out. You queue at the Peruvian migration office and hand over your passport. An officer checks your record and stamps your exit. There is no exit fee. Anyone who asks you for one is not a migration officer.
Then you walk. A few hundred metres of road separates the two buildings. You are technically in neither country while you do it. Money changers work this stretch. Their rates are what you expect from people who know you have no alternative.
Then Bolivia stamps you in. You fill in an entry form, queue again, and an officer processes you. Most nationalities now pay nothing.Thirty to sixty minutes covers it on a normal day. Add time if a full bus arrives just before you.
The stamp is the whole job
Do not leave either window until you have seen the stamp in your passport with today’s date on it.
This is the single piece of advice on this page that matters. Everything else is convenience. This is the part that goes wrong, and it goes wrong quietly.
It happens because borders get busy, officers wave people through, and travellers assume a returned passport is a stamped passport. A missing Peru exit stamp means Peru still has you inside the country. A missing Bolivia entry stamp is worse. Bolivia has no record of you arriving, so on the way out you are someone who has been in the country illegally the whole time.
Two habits fix it permanently.
Open the passport at the window, in front of the officer, and look. If something is wrong you are still standing in the right place to fix it.
Photograph both stamps on your phone before you walk away. It takes four seconds and it has resolved more problems for our clients than anything else we tell them.
On our crossings a guide checks every passport in the group before the group moves on. It is not that we distrust the officers. A mistake caught at the window costs nothing. The same mistake caught at El Alto airport costs a great deal.
SIGEMIG, the new form nobody mentions
Bolivia requires every foreign visitor to complete an online pre registration called SIGEMIG before arriving. It is free and it produces a QR code you present at the border.
Skipping it does not stop you entering. Officers will register you on the spot. It catches up with you on the way out, in the form of a fine. Current fine, reported as UFV 100, roughly 250 bolivianos.
Do it before you travel rather than at the border, where the signal is poor and the queue is behind you. We send clients the link with their pre departure notes.
You lose an hour going into Bolivia
Bolivia runs one hour ahead of Peru. Cross eastbound and it is suddenly an hour later than your phone said.
That sounds trivial and it is not, because the border does not open around the clock. Arrive late in the day, lose an hour on the Bolivian side, and you sleep in Yunguyo. Offices also close for lunch, usually somewhere between one and two.
Coming back the other way you gain the hour, which is pleasant and nobody ever complains about it.
Kasani or Desaguadero?
Two land borders connect Peru and Bolivia on this side of the lake, and they serve different journeys.
Most people crossing here are bound for La Paz and then the salt. Our Bolivia salt flats tour from Uyuni is the usual end of that road. We quote the connection with it. If you would rather not piece the buses together yourself, our 3-day Uyuni salt flats tour from Puno crosses here at Kasani and includes every bus, there and back.
Kasani puts you in Copacabana, on the lake shore, ten minutes from the border. From there Isla del Sol is a boat ride away. Anyone who wants Lake Titicaca on both sides of the frontier crosses here.
Desaguadero is the faster, uglier option, further south, on the direct road to La Paz. It skips Copacabana entirely. It is busier, it handles freight, and there is nothing there worth stopping for.
We route through Kasani. The reason is not the border, which is much the same either way. Copacabana and Isla del Sol are the point of coming this way at all. Desaguadero throws them away to save a couple of hours.
What to carry
Your passport, valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates.
Your SIGEMIG QR code, saved offline rather than sitting in an email you cannot open without signal.
Small notes in soles for the Peruvian side and bolivianos for the Bolivian side. Change money in Puno or Copacabana rather than at the border stalls. The rate there is worse and the arithmetic is fast.
A yellow fever certificate only if your wider trip takes you into Bolivia’s lowlands or the Amazon. Nobody asks for it at Kasani.
Frequently asked questions
Do US citizens need a visa for Bolivia?
No. Bolivia stopped requiring visitor visas for US citizens on 1 December 2025, along with the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of the European Union. The 160 dollar fee no longer applies.
How long does the Kasani border crossing take?
Thirty to sixty minutes on a normal day. It takes longer if a full bus arrives just ahead of you, and the offices close for lunch.
Is there a fee to cross at Kasani?
No. Peru charges nothing to stamp you out and most nationalities now pay nothing to enter Bolivia. Anyone asking you for a fee at the border is not collecting one on behalf of either government.
What happens if you do not get a stamp?
You are recorded as never having left Peru, or never having entered Bolivia, or both. The problem appears when you next deal with an immigration officer, usually at an airport, and it costs a fine and a long conversation. Check the stamp at the window and photograph it.
Is Kasani open 24 hours?
No. The border keeps daytime hours and closes for lunch. Overnight buses sometimes wait at the frontier until the offices open.
How high is the Kasani border crossing?
Around 3,850 metres, on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Anyone who has arrived recently from sea level will notice the queue more than they expect to.