Visas for Foreigners Who Want to Live, Work, or Visit Colombia

Colombia groups its visas into three broad types and, within each one, into categories based on what you will be doing here. Choosing the wrong category is the most common reason an application is denied, which is why we always start there.

Each category asks for its own supporting documents and carries its own validity. We review your situation, tell you which one applies, and prepare the full application; if a different category suits you better, we say so before starting.

What your visa filing includes

• Review of which visa applies to you before filing anything
• Preparation and filing of the application with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Documents, apostilles, and translations, reviewed one by one
• Foreigner ID card processing when the visa requires it
• Support until the visa is in your passport

The three types of Colombian visa

Every Colombian visa falls into one of three types, and the type determines how long you can stay and what you can do while you are here.

V Visa — Visitor

For stays with a specific, temporary purpose: tourism, business, medical treatment, short studies, or remote work for companies outside the country. It is not designed for settling down, although some categories allow a fairly long stay.

M Visa — Migrant

For those coming to stay with a tie that supports it: an employment contract with a Colombian company, a marriage or permanent partnership with a national, being the parent of a Colombian, an investment, among others.

R Visa — Resident

This is the final step. It is reached after accumulating time on an M visa, or through its own paths such as an investment of a certain amount or renouncing Colombian nationality. It offers the most stability and is the natural step before considering nationality.

Which one applies to what you are coming to do?

If you work remotely for clients or companies outside Colombia, the digital nomad visa is yours. If a Colombian company hires you, the work visa, which the company itself backs.

If your partner is Colombian and the relationship is registered, there is the marriage or permanent partnership visa. And if you have already spent time here on a migrant visa, residency is the next step. Each one has its own page with what it requires and what it allows. If you entered as a tourist and need more days, what applies to you is the stay extension.

What nobody tells you before applying

Documents issued in another country usually need an apostille, and those not in Spanish need an official translation. That is prepared beforehand, not once the application has been filed.

Also, the visa is not the end of the process: when its validity exceeds three months you must register with Migración Colombia and obtain the foreigner ID card, within a short deadline counted from its issuance or from your entry into the country. It is an easily forgotten step that carries penalties.

How we support you

We are attorneys licensed in Colombia: we do not just prepare the paperwork, we file the application and follow the process with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the end. Service is available in Spanish and English.

We start with an appointment where we review your case and tell you which category applies, what documents you need, and what deadlines are ahead. From there comes a written quote before we start.