Colombia or El Salvador
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| Colombia | El Salvador | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 10 years | 5 years |
| Partner can work | no | no |
| Parents | difficult | — |
| Pets | no trouble | no trouble |
| Pet limit | 10 | no limit |
| Quarantine | no | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 744 · estimate | $ 983 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 24,9 | $ 31,4 |
| Life expectancy | 77.91 | 72.3 |
| Homicides/100k | 24.35 | 3.3 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 6.5 | 5.6 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Colombia — 20, El Salvador — 28. Types present in both: work, study, family, investment and retirement. Colombia adds: remote work, talent, repatriation and working holiday.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Colombia: fees range from 51 to 408 USD. Routes with no fee: 2. Routes with a published decision deadline: 20; the shortest is 30 days. El Salvador: fees range from 50 to 690 USD. Routes with no fee: 3.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: Colombia after 5 years, El Salvador after 3 years. Citizenship: Colombia after 10 years, El Salvador after 5 years. Both allow a second citizenship.
Colombia in brief
Colombia offers an unusually detailed set of grounds — nine categories, from an employment contract to digital nomad and person of independent means — and a decision on a family visa is taken within 30 days. The main constraint is family-related: a beneficiary visa carries no right to work, so the second spouse remains without employment, and parents cannot be brought in at all — the list of beneficiaries is closed.
El Salvador in brief
Residence status is granted under the Ley Especial de Migración y de Extranjería (Decree No. 286 of 02 April 2019): the work category (up to 2 years; paid activity requires a separate ruling from the Ministry of Labour), rentista and pensionado (1 year each, requiring foreign income of at least 4 and 3 minimum wages of the trade and services sector respectively — as of 1 June 2025 that is from US$1,635.20 and US$1,226.40 per month respectively), and shareholder and individual entrepreneur categories for non-Central Americans (from US$10,000 and US$2,500 in investment). Permanent residence generally requires 3 years of continuous temporary status; for rentistas, pensionados, and spouses of Salvadoran citizens, 1 year. Naturalisation takes 5 years for most nationalities (1 year for Spaniards and persons of Latin American origin, 2 years upon marriage to a citizen of the country); separately, natives of the states of the former Federal Republic of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica) obtain citizenship not through naturalisation but 'by birth', by simple application, with one year of permanent residence, which is in turn granted to them immediately upon entering the country. The official currency is the US dollar (since 2001). Bitcoin held the status of legal tender from June 2021 (Ley Bitcoin, Decree No. 57); the January 2025 reform (Decree No. 199) preserved that status but made acceptance of bitcoin by businesses voluntary instead of mandatory, and repealed provisions on paying taxes in bitcoin and on state conversion infrastructure. A state-of-emergency regime (Régimen de Excepción, Decree No. 333/22) has been in effect since 27 March 2022 and is extended monthly by the Legislative Assembly; the homicide rate fell sharply over this period, reaching 3.3 per 100,000 people in 2024 (UNODC) — one of the lowest rates in Latin America. The largest cities are San Salvador, Santa Ana, and San Miguel; a notable share of inbound tourism goes to the Pacific coast (surf destinations such as El Tunco and El Sunzal) and to colonial Suchitoto on Lake Suchitlán. The country lies in a zone of high seismic and volcanic activity, with active volcanoes near the largest cities.
Other comparisons
More on each: Colombia · El Salvador. Build your own comparison — up to four countries
This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.