Moving to Colombia

Resolución 5477 de 2022 art. 46 (Visa V Nómadas digitales). Open only to holders of a passport from a country or territory exempt from Colombia's short-stay visa, as set by resolution. Requires a letter in Spanish or English from one or more foreign companies stating the type of relationship and of pay (or the contract, or proof of being a partner or co-owner of a foreign company for which the work is done remotely) — or, for an entrepreneur, a motivation letter describing the venture and its resources; bank statements showing income of at least 3 times the legal monthly minimum wage (SMMLV) over the last 3 months; and health insurance covering the whole stay. Granted for up to 2 years, and beneficiaries may apply with the holder. It does not permit work or paid activity for any person or company domiciled in Colombia. Because the income floor is a multiple of the SMMLV it rises every January with the minimum wage. As a V visa it is not among the visas whose time counts toward the R resident visa under art. 90.

Resolución 5477 de 2022 art. 77 (Visa M Pensionado). A certificate of a lifetime monthly pension of at least 3 times the legal monthly minimum wage (SMMLV), issued by the competent body and apostilled and translated, or issued by the diplomatic or consular mission of the country that granted it; and a criminal-record certificate from wherever the applicant lived in the last 3 years. Granted for up to 3 years. It does not permit work in Colombia and does not let the holder join the Colombian social-security system, except as a bilateral or multilateral agreement provides. Beneficiaries may apply with the holder. The minimum wage is reset every January, so the peso threshold moves with it. Five years as the holder of M visas makes the R resident visa available under art. 90 — a time requirement that is not by itself a guarantee of the grant (art. 90 parágrafo 3). Citizenship is a separate, later clock: Ley 2332 de 2023 art. 9 counts the five years of domicile for naturalisation from the date the resident visa was issued, so years on the M visa do not count toward it.

Resolución 5477 de 2022 art. 56 (Visa V Rentista) — a VISITOR visa, not a migrant one. Requires a letter declaring where the income comes from; a criminal-record certificate from wherever the applicant lived in the last 3 years, apostilled or legalised and translated; a certificate from a public body, or from a private company recognised by its government, stating the income it pays or remits to the applicant — or proof of owning property in Colombia that produces an income — for at least 10 times the legal monthly minimum wage (SMMLV); and health insurance for the whole stay. Granted for up to 2 years; beneficiaries may apply with the holder; it does not permit work in Colombia. As a V visa it is not among the visas whose time counts toward the R resident visa under art. 90, so on its own it leads to neither permanent residence nor citizenship.

Resolución 5477 de 2022 art. 79 (Visa M Inversionista). Either a foreign direct investment registered in the applicant's name with the Banco de la República's international exchange department, above 650 times the legal monthly minimum wage (SMMLV) on the date of application; or real estate held solely in the applicant's name worth at least 350 SMMLV, with the Banco de la República's record of the foreign direct investment that bought it. The investment or the property must be kept for the life of the visa, a second visa needs proof that it was kept throughout the first, and any change must be reported at once. Granted for up to 3 years; beneficiaries may apply with the holder. Five years as the holder of M visas makes the R resident visa available under art. 90, and the naturalisation clock under Ley 2332 de 2023 art. 9 starts only when the resident visa is issued. A smaller company stake has its own category, the M Socio o Propietario visa (art. 75), at 100 SMMLV of paid-up capital. Confirm the current SMMLV before committing funds.

Resolución 5477 de 2022 — the visa resolution in force since 21 October 2022, which repealed Resolución 6045 de 2017 — lists the R visa categories in art. 22 as renunciation of Colombian nationality, accumulated time, the temporary protection statute for Venezuelan migrants and the special peace resident, with a stateless-person category added at art. 92.1; none is an investor category. The 650 SMMLV figure now belongs to the M Inversionista visa (art. 79), which leads to the R visa through art. 90 after 5 years as an M visa holder. This row is kept, marked closed, so that a reader who goes looking for the direct investor residence route is told it does not exist rather than left to infer it; the date it stopped being available was not established from the archived text and is left unstated.

Resolución 5477 de 2022 art. 74 (Visa M Trabajador). For work under an employment contract with a legal entity (persona jurídica). The file includes the Ministry's contract-summary form signed by the employer's legal representative and the worker; the employer's motivation letter setting out the worker's suitability and duties and why a Colombian is not hired for the post; the employer's bank statements for the last 4 months showing average monthly income of 100 times the legal monthly minimum wage (SMMLV); and, for a regulated profession, the licence from the competent professional council. The employer undertakes to pay the return travel of the worker and their family when the contract ends or the visa is cancelled (art. 66 parágrafo). The work permit is limited to the post, entity and activity the visa was granted for, so a change of job needs a new visa. Granted for up to 3 years; beneficiaries may apply with the holder. Five years as the holder of M visas makes the R resident visa available under art. 90, and naturalisation's five-year clock under Ley 2332 de 2023 art. 9 starts only when the resident visa is issued. A visa valid for more than three months carries a cédula de extranjería issued by Migración Colombia (art. 3).

Resolución 5477 de 2022 arts. 67 to 70. Four M categories: spouse of a Colombian (art. 67, up to 3 years, open work permit); permanent partner (compañero(a) permanente) of a Colombian (art. 68, up to 1 year, open work permit — the public deed, court decision or conciliation record declaring the unión marital de hecho must have been formalised more than a year before the application); mother or father of a Colombian national by birth (art. 70, up to 3 years); and mother, father or child of a Colombian national by adoption (art. 69, up to 3 years). The time these visas need before the R resident visa is available differs by category under art. 90: 3 years for a spouse, 2 for the parent of a Colombian by birth and for the parent or child of a Colombian by adoption, but 5 for a permanent partner. Naturalisation then needs 2 years of domicile rather than 5 — Ley 2332 de 2023 art. 9 shortens the term for someone married to, or the permanent partner of, a Colombian, or who has Colombian children — and that term is counted from the date the resident visa was issued. The years shown for this route are the spouse's: 3 to the R visa and 5 to citizenship. Beneficiaries may apply with the holder.

Resolución 5477 de 2022 art. 36 (Visa V Estudiante). For in-person, virtual or distance study at any level from pre-school to higher education, including arts and trades and vocational training, or for student placements and exchanges between higher-education institutions. Requires a certificate of admission or enrolment naming the programme and its length, health insurance for the whole stay, and the general visitor-visa requirements of art. 31 (applying on one's own account) or art. 32 (backed by a legal entity). Granted for up to 2 years; a second visa needs a certificate of attendance and completion. Except for virtual or distance study, more than 90 days outside Colombia ends the visa automatically. Only postgraduate university students may work, up to 20 hours a week once the employer has reported it, and only postgraduate students may bring beneficiaries. Nationals of visa-exempt countries need no student visa for a stay of up to 180 days. As a V visa it is not among the visas whose time counts toward the R resident visa (art. 90); graduates in fields with a shortage of skills in Colombia, and every doctoral or postdoctoral graduate of a Colombian university, may apply for a work visa (art. 36 parágrafo 2).

Governed by Ley 2332 de 2023, in force 25 September 2023, which repealed Ley 43 de 1993 outright (art. 54) - any guide still quoting the 1993 Act is quoting a dead statute. Under art. 9 the applicant must hold or be a beneficiary of a Visa de Residente at the time of applying and throughout, and must have been domiciled in Colombia for 5 continuous years immediately before the application. That term drops to 2 years where the applicant is married to or the permanent partner of a Colombian, has Colombian children, or where reciprocal treatment by the state of origin is verified. Because the term runs from the resident visa, someone who arrived on an M visa first needs 2 to 5 years on it before the resident visa, and the naturalisation clock starts only then. The term is counted from the date the resident visa was issued, and leaving Colombia for a year or more interrupts it. The file is a reasoned letter to the Foreign Minister, the resident visa, a current cedula de extranjeria, the passport biographic page, a birth record, evidence of the applicant's occupation or of the person they depend on, and either a Colombian secondary or university diploma or the knowledge examinations of art. 13 (the Constitution, history, culture and geography of Colombia, and a Spanish test where Spanish is not the mother tongue), from which people over sixty, applicants with a cognitive disability and members of indigenous communities that share frontier territory with Colombia are exempt. Naturalisation is expressly the sovereign and discretionary decision of the President delegated to the Foreign Minister (art. 6), and art. 8 says in terms that lodging the application does not grant it. Colombia permits dual nationality.