Colombia

Visa speed

After payment for the examination of the application, the visa service has up to 30 calendar days to decide (Resolución 5477 de 2022, art. 13); the period is extended where additional documents or an interview are requested. After approval, 10 days are given to pay the issuance fee — the "ABC de visa" page refers to working days and the FAQ section to calendar days, a discrepancy within the Cancillería site itself. After payment the electronic visa arrives by email within 10 working days. In case of refusal — 30 calendar days to leave and a 6-month ban on filing a new application.

Degree required

no

Changing employer

The M Trabajador visa grants a work permit solely for the position, the organisation and the occupation for which it was issued. A change of position within the same company, a change of the company's name under the same tax number, or the addition of a second employer are handled through the traspaso de visa procedure — provided the new work is related to the activity covered by the current visa, with notice to Migración Colombia and the Ministry of Labour; the validity of the visa is not extended by this. Moving to another employer outside these limits requires a new visa. The R visa grants an open work permit.

Visa types: M Trabajador — an employment contract with a legal entity, up to 3 years; the work permit covers only the stated position, organisation and occupation · M Profesional Independiente — a regulated profession, up to 3 years; recognition of qualifications and a professional council licence are required, with income at or above the established threshold · M Socio o Propietario — establishing a company or a capital share of at least 100 minimum monthly wages (SMMLV), up to 3 years; work only in one's own company · M Inversionista — investor category · M Pensionado — a lifelong pension of at least 3 SMMLV · V Nómada Digital — remote work only for foreign companies, up to 2 years; income of at least 3 SMMLV over the last 3 months · V Prestador de Servicios — obra o labor — a service provision contract, up to 2 years, stay of up to 180 days per year; work only for the stated legal entity · V Rentista — rental income of at least 10 SMMLV · R Residente — an open permit for any lawful activity

For an unregulated occupation the degree can be replaced with employment and experience certificates confirming the qualification — there is no strict degree requirement. For a regulated occupation, the foreign national and the employer must obtain a permit or licence from the relevant professional council (Consejo Profesional); this document is mandatory when applying for a second and any subsequent visa. An employer under the M Trabajador visa must show, with statements for the last 4 months, an average monthly income of at least 100 minimum wages (SMMLV) and explain why a Colombian citizen has not been hired for the job. The V Nómada Digital visa is available only to holders of passports from countries exempt from the short-stay visa (the list is in Resolución 5488 de 2022), does not permit work for Colombian companies and individuals, but does allow beneficiaries. Source: Cancillería, “Tipos de Visa” (Resolución 5477 de 2022).

Permanent residence after

5 years

Citizenship after

10 years

Language

Spanish — an examination for those for whom it is not a native language; plus an examination on the Constitution, history, geography and culture of Colombia

Dual citizenship

allowed

Absence limits: A migrant visa (M) lapses automatically if the holder is absent from the country for more than 180 consecutive calendar days within each 365 days from the date the visa was issued. A resident visa (R) lapses after 2 consecutive years of absence. A salvoconducto (a temporary permit issued by Migración Colombia) does not count as continuity and does not count towards the time accumulated for an R visa; continuity is preserved if the next visa is issued before the previous one expires. A separate rule applies to naturalisation: leaving Colombia for 1 year or more interrupts the count of domicile (Ley 2332 de 2023, art. 9). The holder of an R visa must go through the traspaso procedure every 5 years. After a visa terminates automatically, 30 calendar days are allowed to leave the country or file a new application. Source: Cancillería, “Tipos de Visa” (Resolución 5477 de 2022).

10 years is the sum of two officially published periods for a person in salaried employment, not a rule of its own. First the resident visa (R): it is granted on the basis of time accumulated on a migrant visa (M), and for the M Trabajador category that period is 5 years (Cancillería, “Tipos de Visa” (Resolución 5477 de 2022)). Then naturalisation: a valid R visa is required (as principal applicant or as beneficiary) together with 5 years of continuous stay in Colombia, counted from the date the R visa was issued (Cancillería, “Naturalización” section; Ley 2332 de 2023, Constitution art. 96). The naturalisation period is reduced to 2 years for those married to or in a registered partnership with a Colombian citizen, those with Colombian children and citizens of Spain. The thresholds for the R visa differ by category: 2 years for parents of a Colombian citizen and for migrants under the Mercosur and Andean Community agreements, 3 years for the spouse of a Colombian citizen, 5 years for a permanent partner, refugee, worker, business co-owner, independent professional, retiree, investor and beneficiary of an R visa. Meeting the time requirement does not guarantee that the R visa will be issued: the decision remains discretionary. Naturalisation is a sovereign discretionary decision of the president, delegated to the minister of foreign affairs. Exempt from the examinations are graduates of Colombian educational institutions (school, bachelor's, master's, doctoral), persons over 60, people with cognitive disabilities and members of indigenous communities of border territories (Ley 2332, art. 13); a foreign degree recognised in Colombia does not exempt the holder from the examination. Discrepancy within official sources: the Cancillería frequently-asked-questions section gives the exemption age as 65, but that page refers to the repealed Ley 43 de 1993 — the text of Ley 2332 takes precedence. The examination may be retaken once, no earlier than 6 months later. The reduced period of 1 year for citizens of Latin American and Caribbean countries was a rule of the repealed Ley 43 de 1993; under Ley 2332 they fall under the general 5 years, and they are not listed among the grounds for the two-year period on the Cancillería requirements page. The cost of the procedure as of July 2026 is COP 808,558.

Document certification

apostille

The country is party to the 1961 Hague Convention: a degree or certificate is authenticated with a single apostille in the country that issued it.

Limit

10

Quarantine

no

Antibody titre test

not needed

Preparation

~1 months

About the limit: Up to 10 animals of one species per application for a CIS veterinary certificate; a separate application is filed for each species (dogs, cats). An earlier ICA note (“ABC para entrar a Colombia con tu mascota”, 2024) gave the limit as 5 — the current source is the 2026 page with the figure of 10. ICA does not publish the threshold beyond which transport ceases to be personal and becomes a commercial import.

Banned breeds: Staffordshire terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, Bull Terrier, Pit Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, crossbreeds and hybrids of the listed breeds

There is no separate import permit. Before arrival, an application for the veterinary certificate Certificado de Inspección Sanitaria (CIS) is filed and paid for through the SISPAP system; a printout of the application and the receipt are presented at the ICA office at the airport, seaport or land border crossing point, where the CIS is issued after the documents are checked and the animal is examined. Documents: a veterinary certificate from the official veterinary service of the country of departure, issued no earlier than 10 calendar days before entry, confirming treatment against internal and external parasites within the 60 days before the trip. Vaccinations: for dogs — rabies, canine distemper, infectious hepatitis, leptospirosis (canicola and icterohaemorrhagiae), parvovirus, coronavirus, parainfluenza; for cats — rabies, panleukopenia, viral rhinotracheitis, calicivirus. For a first rabies vaccination, the shot must be given at least 21 days before departure; the minimum age of the animal for entry is 15 weeks. Colombia does not require a rabies antibody titre test: serology is mentioned on the ICA website only as a recommendation for those planning to return to EU countries, and it is advised that it be done before leaving for Colombia. There is no quarantine on a standard import. Home quarantine (cuarentena domiciliaria) is imposed in two cases: if rabies vaccination is not carried out at all in the country of departure — the animal is then vaccinated in Colombia with products registered by ICA; and if the check at the border produces an unsatisfactory result — detention, home quarantine, return shipment or humane euthanasia at the owner's expense are then possible. ICA does not publish the number of quarantine days. The absence of vaccinations against diseases other than rabies does not entail quarantine where there is a certificate from the official veterinary service stating that such vaccination is not carried out in the country. The preparation figure of 1 month is a rounding of the hard minimum of 21 days after the first rabies vaccination; ICA does not publish a consolidated timeline. The breed ban is a policing rule rather than a sanitary one: Ley 1801 de 2016, art. 132 as amended by Ley 2054 de 2020 prohibits the import of the Staffordshire Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Bull Terrier, Pit Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier and their crossbreeds; an exception is made for private security and law enforcement dogs. A separate, broader list of "dogs requiring special handling" (art. 126) may be imported, but their keeping is regulated — leash and muzzle in public places, registration in the municipal register, a permit and liability insurance: American Staffordshire Terrier, Bullmastiff, Dobermann, Dogo Argentino, Dogue de Bordeaux, Fila Brasileiro, Neapolitan Mastiff, Bull Terrier, Pit Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, Presa Canario, Rottweiler, Staffordshire Terrier, Tosa Inu. The source for the sanitary rules is the ICA page "Ingreso de perros y gatos a Colombia"; the ica.gov.co domain did not respond from this network, and the text was checked word for word against the Wayback Machine archive copy of the official page dated 24 July 2026.

Bread, 500 g

$ 1,50

Milk, 1 l

$ 1,28

Eggs, 12

$ 2,57

Chicken breast, 1 kg

$ 6,10

Cheese, 1 kg

$ 6,18

Rice, 1 kg

$ 1,27

Potatoes, 1 kg

$ 1,21

Apples, 1 kg

$ 2,85

Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 l

$ 1,93

Total

$ 24,9

The same set for every country, so the comparison is fair.

Rent, 1 bedroom

$ 437 a month

Rent, 3 bedrooms

$ 885 a month

Utility bills

$ 97,7 a month

Home internet

$ 25,0 a month

Monthly transport pass

$ 42,2 a month

Single transport ticket

$ 0,91

Petrol, litre

$ 1,14

Cold medicine

$ 6,25 for a week

Country averages. City prices, where collected, are shown above and are more precise.

Life expectancy

77,9 years2024

Homicides

24,4 per 100k2024

Road deaths

16,2 per 100k2021

Unemployment

8,3 %2025

Unemployment, ages 15–24

17,7 %2025

Inequality (Gini)

54,42024

Health spending per person

$ 644 a year

Air pollution, PM2.5

18,4 µg/m³2023

Access to clean water

97,1 %2024

Internet, fixed line

221,8 Mbit/s2026

Internet, mobile

45,5 Mbit/s2026

Governance

Political stability

below average · -1

Control of corruption

below average · -0,3

Rule of law

below average · -0,6

Government effectiveness

below average · -0,1

World Bank estimates on a −2.5 to +2.5 scale, higher is better.

Natural hazards

Earthquakes

8,9 out of 10

River floods

7 out of 10

Coastal floods

6,2 out of 10

Tropical cyclones

4,1 out of 10

Droughts

2,7 out of 10

Tsunamis

8,1 out of 10

Each value carries the year it refers to. “Data lags behind” means this country's figure was collected noticeably earlier than the rest. Natural hazards use one 0–10 scale and are meant to be compared against each other.

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