New Colombian visa regulations

What you need to consider when applying for a visa

• Study times for any visa will be extended up to 30 calendar days (previously up to five working days). If the Ministry requires additional information, the study time may be extended for more unspecified days.

• For this reason, it is important to clarify that a safe-conduct must always be requested before Migración Colombia if you are about to complete 90 or 180 days (as the case may be) in national territory, if you do not have a previous visa. This is to guarantee your regular stay during the visa application process. It should be noted that the safe-conducts are not counted as accumulated time, in case the foreigner is applying for a resident visa.

• If the visa requested requires a professional degree, it must be duly apostilled or legalized and officially translated into Spanish. It is important to have the certifications that accredit the suitability and expertise of the foreigner to perform the activities for which he/she is required in Colombia.

• Most visas will require the foreigner to have an insurance policy that covers him/her for illnesses, accidents and pregnancy.

• If the foreigner is outside the Colombian territory at the time a visa is required, the application must be made at the Colombian consulate of the country where he/she resides.

• The issuance time of the electronic visa is increased from three (3) to ten (10) working days.

• The category of resident investor visa disappears and the migrant investor visa is created. After the stipulated time has elapsed, it will be possible to apply for a resident visa.

• Those who wish to obtain a Colombian visa, in any category, must have a passport with a minimum validity of six (6) months.

• In case of early termination of the visa, foreigners will no longer have thirty (30) working days to leave the country or make a new application, but thirty (30) calendar days (one month).

• Parents will no longer be considered as beneficiaries for visa applications.

• Among the changes is also that the visitor visa for technical assistance will be valid for up to two years, but the stay in the national territory will be limited to 180 continuous or 365 discontinuous days, counted from the date of issuance.

• The type V "Intracorporate Transfer" visa is renamed "FTA Entrepreneurs".

• The student visa is again grouped in a single category, called type V-Student visa.

• Those who already have a resident visa will have to go through the transfer process every five years. In addition, those who have this type of visa with "indefinite" status, according to the previous regulations, will have to make the transfer in the next two years, counted from the effective date of the issuance of the resolution.

• It should be noted that foreigners wishing to enter Colombia for tourism purposes, may do so as long as it is a visa exempt nationality (you can consult the nationalities that require visa to enter as a tourist/short stay in Colombia, in Resolution 5488 of July 22, 2022). Countries such as China, India, Thailand, Nicaragua, among others, which are required to apply for a visa to enter Colombia as tourists, will be exempt, as long as they have a visa or residence of a member state of the Schengen Area or the United States.

Among others, the following categories are created:

1. Type V Visa -Digital Nomads. Available to provide remote work or telecommuting services, from Colombia, through digital media and internet. It does not allow to work with companies domiciled in Colombia, it is valid for two years.
2. Visa type V or type M - Promotion of internationalization. It is stipulated, depending on the category, for foreigners with high levels of education (master's degree, doctorate or post-doctorate in basic or applied sciences, engineering, mathematics and related fields) with profiles that meet the priorities required by Colombia in its internationalization plans. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will issue in the next few days a profile and more specific information with which the foreigner must comply in order to apply for such visa, which allows accumulating time for the Resident Visa and has a validity of 2 to 3 years.
3. Type V Visa - Seasonal Agricultural Worker. This new category allows the foreigner to perform seasonal agricultural work, under programs established by the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture, which will indicate the estimated quotas available and the work in which the support of labor from other countries is required.

This visa will only be valid for up to one hundred and eighty (180) days and does not allow applications to be made as beneficiary.

1. M visa-Permanent companion of a Colombian national. Unlike the M- Spouse visa, the permanent partner visa is available for those foreigners who have a common-law relationship with Colombian citizens.

It must be taken into account that the public deed, court order or conciliation act of the de facto marital union, must have a date of formalization greater than one (1) year at the time of the visa application. This visa will have a duration of up to one (1) year.

1. Type R Visa- Venezuelans under ETPV (Temporary Status of Protection for Venezuelan Migrants).  The Venezuelan citizen must have been holder of a Temporary Protection Permit (PPT) or a Special Permit to Stay (PEP) for at least five (5) continuous years or that between both permits add up to five (5) years. The PPT must be in force at the time of applying for the visa.

This visa will have a duration of five years, at the end of this time the foreigner must request a transfer.

Important to note:

Registration at Sire 

The SIRE (Foreigners Registration Information System) is a Migration Colombia platform where employers, educational institutions, hospitals, lodging places, among others, must report, on a mandatory basis, foreigners who are hired or use their services. Such registration must be made within fifteen (15) calendar days following the occurrence of the event, which is the date of signing of the contract (engagement) or disengagement of the foreigner (termination of the contract).

Rutec Registration

The RUTEC (Registro Único de Trabajadores Extranjeros en Colombia), is the system by which employers must notify the linkages, either by means of an employment contract (in any of its modalities), or by a contract for the provision of services, in the case of independent workers, of all foreign workers with which the company has. Such registration has two terms: one hundred and twenty (120) days from the signing of the contract and another one of thirty (30) for its termination; both counted in calendar days.

Sanctions:

If the registrations are not made, or failing that, are not made within the stipulated times, the SIRE establishes fines amounting up to fifteen (15) SMMLV. The details of these sanctions can be consulted in Resolution 714 of June 12, 2015 of Migration Colombia.

The RUTEC, on the other hand, although it does not directly specify the sanctions for failure to comply with such reports, through the Substantive Labor Code, sanctions up to five thousand (5,000) SMMLV could be imposed, depending on the seriousness of the infraction.