Moving to Colombia from the US

Ask for the extension at least five working days before the permit ends. 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. Migración Colombia says the Check-Mig online form is free and not mandatory but speeds up the border interview; since it costs nothing, completing it is an easy precaution.

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 (the US has none), 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 US Social Security retirement 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. 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 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: 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; migrant visas US$56 plus US$204, US$260; resident visas US$56 plus US$183, US$239. 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. 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 US 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.

Whether the Colombian pension and health contribution systems reach a remote-worker visa holder paid from abroad is not answered by the visa rules we read; the pensioner visa expressly does not allow joining Colombian social security. We found no contribution rate for you, so that cost is unknown. This describes the mechanism, not your bill.

We found no priced policy, so that cost is unknown. Medicare usually does not cover health care outside the US. 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.