Colombia

The Colombian visa rules are defined by resolutions made by the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Relations in Bogota, Colombia. The official Spanish version of the 2022 visa rules is defined in Resolution number 5477.

Digital nomads, remote workers and digital entrepreneurs of nationalities that do not require a short-stay visa, established by Resolution 5477. They will be able to enter without a visa and remain in Colombia with an Entry Permit granted by the immigration authority, in accordance with current regulations.

The validity of this visa is up to two (2) years and is a type V Visitors visa.  Please note that the digital nomad visa allows you to stay in Colombia for a maximum of 180 days or 6 months in a year.

There is an option to have beneficiaries. Your request is allowed for beneficiaries of the main owner. There are a few restrictions which are that this visa does not allow you to work or develop paid activity with a legal or natural person domiciled in the national territory.

It is important to note that the scope of the work you do as a digital nomad must be to provide remote work or telecommuting services, from Colombia, through digital media and the Internet, exclusively for foreign companies, as independent or labor-related, or to start a digital content or information technology venture of interest to the country.

The following documents are required for type V digital nomad visa:

• Passport Photocopy: A photocopy of the first page of your valid passport showing your biographical data. The photocopy can be either in color or black and white. • Proof of Legal Entry: A photocopy of the page of your passport showing last stamp of entry or departure of Colombia. • Letter from a Foreign Company: Letter in Spanish or English, issued by one or several foreign companies for which the foreigner provides his services, indicating the type of relationship and the type of remuneration received by the applicant. If you have a contract with said company, provide it, or demonstrate that you are a partner or co-owner of a company abroad and a letter indicating that your work for the company is carried out remotely. • Motivational Letter: In the case of entrepreneurs, submit a motivational letter explaining your entrepreneurship project and the financial and human resources you have or hope to have for your enterprise; • Bank Statements: Demonstrate through bank statements having income equivalent to three (3) Current Minimum Legal Monthly Wages (SMLMV) in the last 3 months: 750 USD APRX. • Proof of Health Insurance: Health policy with coverage in the national territory against all risks in case of accident, illness, maternity, disability, hospitalization, death or repatriation, for the time foreseen for their stay in the country. • Passport photo: Passport style face photo with a white background, sized at 3 cm width X 4 cm height, maximum size of 300 kb jpg file for online application.

This visa is only valid for persons who may enter Colombia with a “tourist permission stamp”, which means you can enter through the airport with a stamp and no visa. Finally, in yellow the visa is clearly limited to a maximum of 180 days in a year. Exactly it reads “ Your period of stay can not be superior to 90 days and can be extended to a maximum of 180 days continuous or discontinuous in a calendar year.”

This is a common limit for many visitor visas. There is much misinformation from other visa agencies which only want to make money off of this visa. This is the official law. Again, this visitor visa limit in the last part of the paragraph is very common with other visitor visas. The dense legal terms are confusing but if you compare to other visitor visas you see the pattern and understand the limits.