Moving to Colombia from Canada

Ask for the extension at least five working days before the permit ends; Migración Colombia's 2026 tariff sets a temporary-stay extension at COP 150,000 (about CA$67). The Cancillería says remote workers from visa-exempt countries may enter without the remote-worker visa on the same 90-day and 180-day limits, provided their stay generates no payments from Colombian companies. Canadians pay an entry control fee of COP 270,000 (about CA$121), which Migración Colombia's 2026 tariff sets for Canadians on grounds of reciprocity; you are exempt if you hold a valid Colombian visa, are under 14 or over 79, or are going to San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina. The Government of Canada says you can pay it online in advance or by card at immigration, that you may be refused entry if you do not pay, and that you must complete the free Check-Mig form within 72 hours to 1 hour before boarding. Migración Colombia's answer to one enquirer calls Check-Mig not mandatory but a time-saver, so the two differ; since it costs nothing, completing it avoids the question.

We found no official rule on renewing it or on a maximum total stay, so both are unknown. Longer routes are written for other kinds of money. The pensioner visa (visa M) needs a lifelong pension, certified and apostilled, of at least three minimum wages (to be safe, have more than COP 5,300,000 a month); it is granted for up to three years, does not allow work, does not let the holder join Colombian social security except under bilateral agreements (Canada has none with Colombia), and after five years as a pensioner it leads to the resident visa. The Cancillería's text speaks of pensions from a State or a private pension fund; we did not find whether a Canada Pension Plan or Old Age Security benefit qualifies, so check that with a consulate. The rentista visa is a visitor-group visa (article 56 of the resolution), not a migrant one, for periodic income from a lawful source certified by a public body or a company recognised by its government, or from property in Colombia, of at least ten minimum wages (to be safe, have more than COP 18,000,000 a month); it lasts up to two years, bars work and is not on the list of visas that count towards the resident visa. The investor visa (visa M) asks for foreign direct investment of more than 650 minimum wages (to be safe, have more than COP 1,200,000,000) registered at the Banco de la República, or a property held in your own name worth at least 350 minimum wages (to be safe, have more than COP 620,000,000), on the filing date; it lasts up to three years and, after five years, leads to the resident visa. The resident visa (R) allows any lawful work, but it lapses after two consecutive years outside Colombia and has to be transferred every five years.

Documents must be dated within three months of filing. Canada joined the Apostille Convention on 11 January 2024: Global Affairs Canada authenticates name-based criminal record checks at no fee, and Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Québec and Saskatchewan issue apostilles for their own documents. The pensioner visa adds an apostilled criminal record certificate from the authority of the country where you lived over the last three years, a medical certificate and the pension certificate. The Cancillería can ask for more documents or an interview, and meeting the list does not guarantee a visa. You apply online on the Cancillería's platform (about 30 minutes, with a JPG photo under 300 KB and PDF documents totalling under 5 MB). The Colombian Consulate General in Toronto says it handles only the visitor visa itself and that every other visa is applied for online, with all documents loaded on the platform; it gives the study period as under 30 days, and we found no Canadian-dollar fee or Canada-specific requirement on its guide. The Cancillería has up to 30 calendar days to decide once everything is filed and the study fee is paid, and longer if it consults other bodies. Once approved you have 10 calendar days to pay the issue fee, and the electronic visa is sent within 10 working days of payment. Fees are in US dollars for applications outside the euro zone, and Canadians are not on the list of fee exemptions: visitor-group visas (including the remote-worker and rentista visas) cost US$56 for the study, which is not refundable, plus US$138 to issue, US$194 in total (about CA$277); migrant visas US$56 plus US$204, US$260; resident visas US$56 plus US$183, US$239. If a mission takes payment in another currency, its head sets the exchange rate, so a Canadian-dollar amount may differ from our conversion. These fees do not include stamp tax, whose amount we did not find, so it is unknown. A visa holder with a visa valid for more than three months must ask Migración Colombia for the identity card (cédula de extranjería) by appointment, within 15 calendar days of arriving, or of the visa being issued if you get it while in Colombia; the 2026 fee is COP 294,000 (about CA$132). If you are in Colombia while the application is studied, you must stay in regular status, for example on your entry permit. We found no processing times beyond the 30-day study period.

Article 10 makes you resident if you spend more than 183 calendar days in Colombia, continuously or not, including arrival and departure days, in any period of 365 consecutive days; when that stay covers more than one tax year, you count as resident from the second year. The extra tests for Colombian nationals (family, income and assets in Colombia) do not apply to you as a Canadian citizen. Neither the visa rules nor the Tax Statute that we read give a remote-worker visa holder a tax exemption, so the visa does not decide your tax status; your days do.

If you keep significant ties you are usually still a factual resident of Canada, taxed there on worldwide income. You usually become a non-resident on the latest of the day you leave, the day your spouse and dependants leave, and the day you become resident of the country you settle in. If you are also resident in a country that has a tax treaty with Canada, you can be treated as a deemed non-resident. On leaving, you are treated as having sold most property at fair market value; Canadian real estate, RRSPs, RRIFs and TFSAs are among the exceptions. Form T1161 applies if your property is worth more than CA$25,000 (cash, bank deposits and registered plans do not count towards the total), and Form T1244 lets you defer the tax until you sell, with security required if the federal tax owing is more than CA$16,500 (CA$13,777.50 for former Québec residents). Form NR73 asks the CRA for its opinion on your status. This describes the mechanism, not your bill.

We found no priced policy, so that cost is unknown. Provincial cover differs and the Government of Canada says most provincial plans are extremely limited abroad. Ontario can keep OHIP for up to two years for an absence of more than seven months if Ontario stays your primary home and you were in Ontario at least 153 days in each of the two 12-month periods before you leave, with emergency inpatient payments abroad capped (up to CA$400 a day for intensive care and similar units, CA$200 a day for lower levels of care). British Columbia ends MSP at the end of the month you leave Canada. The Government of Canada also says good health care in Colombia is available in major cities but limited elsewhere, and that private clinics usually require advance payment in cash or by card. Bogotá sits at about 2,600 metres, and high-altitude illness can be serious.

It is valid for as long as the visa. The DIAN identifies foreigners who must register with Migración Colombia by that card in the tax register (RUT); we did not find how a foreigner enrols, so ask a Colombian accountant.