Many foreigners make mistakes when applying for visas in Colombia. We provide a 2024 update and look at nine of the most common Colombian visa mistakes and how to avoid them.
I have lived in Colombia for many years and successfully applied for four different visas. During this time, I have talked to several foreigners who made mistakes when applying for Colombian visas.
In addition, I have talked to several visa agencies in Colombia about the most common Colombian visa mistakes they have seen.
These visa mistakes are usually due to not knowing the visa rules in Colombia or perhaps knowing the rules but not keeping track of time.
Several of the most common Colombia visa mistakes can be avoiding by using the visa services of a visa agency.
Here are nine common Colombian visa mistakes in no particular order, updated for 2024.
1. Waiting Too Long to Get an Extension on the Tourist Visa/Permit
This has been a very common mistake. Colombia offers instant tourist visas to citizens of many countries for 90 days. These “tourist visas” are really just a stamp in your passport and aren’t visas.
But it is normally quite easy to extend a Colombian tourist visa to enable staying in Colombia for a maximum of 180 days in a year, and we have an up-to-date guide to extending a Colombia tourist visa.
When you enter Colombia as a tourist, an immigration official will stamp your passport. Normally, the official will write that it is good for 90 days, but this is at the official’s discretion and occasionally may be shorter.
Many websites incorrectly call this a “tourist visa, but it isn’t a visa. It is a tourist permit that is just a stamp on your passport. It isn’t a visa, and Colombia has many types of visas that require visa applications.
The current tourist rule is that you can stay in Colombia as a tourist for a maximum of 180 days in a calendar year (January 1 to December 31). In addition, you can’t stay for more than 180 consecutive days.
For example, if you arrive on January 1, 2024, you must depart on the 1st of April. But you could leave Colombia and come back next year, 2025, with a “tourist visa” stamp for another 90 days that can be extended for another 90 days.
If you overstay your tourist time limit, you must pay a fine before leaving the country. If you overstay, you must go to Migracion Colombia less than 15 days before your departure and ask for a “salvoconducto”. In our guide to Colombia tourist visas, we look at what do to when overstaying your tourist visa.
So, when you enter Colombia with a tourist visa, you should keep track of the validity of the stamp in your passport. If you plan to renew, you should do this over a week before the expiration date.
2. Not Obtaining Health Insurance When Applying for a Colombian Visa
Colombia requires health insurance when applying for Colombian visas for all visitors visas and for some migrant visas such as retirement and investment.
Many Medellin Guru readers have asked about the health insurance needed for visas. The insurance broker we partnered with offers a relatively inexpensive travel insurance policy from ASSIST CARD that meets the health insurance requirement for Colombian visas.
3. Not Registering a Colombian Visa and Applying for a Cedula Within 15 Days
Once you receive an email approval of a Colombian visa, you have 15 calendar days to register your visa with Migración Colombia and apply for a Cedula de Extranjeria (Colombian ID for foreigners). If you received your visa at a consulate, you will have 15 calendar days after you arrive in Colombia to register your visa.
It is especially relevant to register your Colombian visa within the allowed time frame. If not, you will be liable for a big fine of up to seven times the minimum monthly salary in Colombia. The minimum salary in Colombia is $1,300,000 COP per month in 2024, so the fine is up to 9,100,000 COP pesos in 2024.
Medellin Guru Visa Service
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 1.377 Medellin Guru reader
In addition, only visas of greater than three months’ duration require a cedula. Shorter-duration visas still need to be registered with Migración Colombia but don’t require a Colombian cedula ID.
Furthermore, we have a detailed and up-to-date guide to applying for a cedula extranjeria in Colombia.
The bottom line is that it’s important to register your visa and apply for a cedula within 15 business days of approval (or 15 days from arriving in Colombia if issued at a consulate).
The visa agency we partnered with has helped many foreigners obtain visas including digital nomad visas, retirement visas, marriage visas, student visas, investment visas, work visas, resident visas and beneficiary visas.
4. Staying Outside Colombia Too Long When You Have a Colombian Visa
If you have a Colombian visa, it permits multiple entries into Colombia. However, Colombian visas also restrict how long you can leave Colombia without returning to Colombia.
For example, with a migrant visa (M visa) such as a retirement, work, or marriage visa, if you are out of Colombia for a contiguous duration of more than six months without returning to Colombia, the visa expires and is no longer valid.
For a resident visa (R visa), if you are out of Colombia for a contiguous period of more than two years without returning to Colombia, the visa expires and is no longer valid.
In the past year, I have talked to several different expats who didn’t know about this restriction. These expats left Colombia for too long and found that their visas had expired and were no longer valid when they returned.
So, these expats had to incur the expenses of re-applying for the visa they already had but let expire due to being out of Colombia too long. This demonstrates that tracking your time outside of Colombia is important if you have a visa.
5. Using Old Documents for the Visa Application
Any document submitted with a Colombian visa application must be dated within three months of the application.
So, if you have an old official copy of a birth certificate, marriage certificate, or other document, you can’t use it. You need a recent copy.
Why? In Colombia, some documents like birth certificates are living documents that change when you get married or get divorced. In Colombia, a long-form birth certificate will be added when you marry. So, you can find out if someone is married in Colombia from their birth certificate.
If you are in Colombia, it can be a pain to collect documents in your home country. But you can ask friends or family in your home country to help you obtain documents or contact a visa agency who can help you to get them.
6. Using Documents Without an Apostille for the Visa Application
Any documents issued by a foreign country need an apostille for a visa application in Colombia.
In domestic law, an apostille is comparable to a notarization. The apostille certifies a document’s validity for use in a foreign country.
To be eligible for an apostille, a document must be issued or certified by an officer recognized by the authority that will issue the apostille. In the U.S., the authorities that issue apostilles for state documents like birth certificates and marriage certificates is the Secretary of State of each state in the U.S.
Apostille from Australia, photo by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia
Also, if a country is not party to the Apostille Convention or Treaty, you will need to get the document notarized before a public notary and go to the Colombian consulate to sign it before a Colombian Consul. For example, Canada is one country that is not a party to the Apostille Convention.
You can see a list of countries that are party to the Apostille Convention on Wikipedia.
In addition, some companies provide apostille services to help get apostille for documents. The visa agencies in Colombia can also help get apostilles for documents.
US Apostille Service
- Authentication with US Notary
- Apostille certification (Digital)
If the document requires official translation into Spanish, there will be an additional charge.
7. Not Getting an Official Translation for Documents Not in Spanish
Documents submitted as part of a Colombian visa application that are not in Spanish need to be translated to Spanish for a Colombian visa application.
This translation needs to be done by an official translator who will print the translation with the date of the translation.
In addition, all the visa agencies in Colombia provide services to translate documents with official translators. Here you can find a great official translation service.
8. Applying for or Renewing Visas with Insufficient Time in Advance
Remember to apply for or renew a Colombian visa at least one or two months in advance. We now recommend renewing visas two months in advance in case problems arise.
Some categories of visas can take much more time. And a retirement visa may require additional documentation.
In addition, remember that you need time to collect and order the documents needed for the visa application. Getting official documents from another country with an apostille and translation can take weeks.
If you don’t start this process with sufficient time in advance, it is possible to apply for and pay for a Salvoconducto, which is an emergency extension given in specific situations. But it’s better to start the visa process far enough in advance so you don’t need to do this.
Also, don’t forget about renewing passports. We have a guide to renewing U.S. passports in Colombia, and our partner expatgroup.co has the American Passport Renewal service too.
9. Not Including All the Required Documents for a Colombia Visa Application
A common error with Colombian visa applications is that they do not include all the required supporting documents. We have an entire series of articles about Colombian visas, which include lists of the required documents for each visa type.
Keep in mind that the list of required documents for visas can change over time. For example, Colombian visas now require an international medical insurance policy. This is a new requirement. On the Medellin Guru website, we keep our Colombia visa articles up-to-date.
Medellin Guru Insurance Service
The insurance agency we partnered with has helped 1.377 Medellin Guru readers
Also, when applying for a Colombian visa, it is important to ensure that the application has correct information. Incorrect details on the visa application, such as the name, passport number, or date of birth not appearing as it does in the passport, are common for self-submitted visa applications.
While it may seem obvious, some people use information such as a nickname on a visa application that is inconsistent with the name on official documents or identity proof.
10. Not providing the FBI background check in advance if you are a U.S. Citizen
Previously, in Resolution 6045 of 2017, it was the Ministry’s task to verify the background check (Article 38). However, with the entry of the new resolution in 2022, the applicants also must provide the Background Check for the visas that require it as a mandatory document. Also, the government can request additional documentation for any visa category under discretionary authority, including criminal records. Even if your visa doesn’t require the Background Check as a mandatory requirement, if the Chancellery requests it, you must provide it as soon as possible.
Here is proof that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is requesting the FBI Background Check for the Digital Nomad visa application process, even if it wasn’t a specific requirement by law from the beginning.
expatgroup.co can help you obtain your FBI Background Check from Colombia, taking your fingerprints in its office in Medellin. They can make the process for you and receive your FBI Certificate valid for your visa. If you want their professional help, click on the green button below, and we’ll send you to our partner as a referral from Medellin Guru with no additional cost.
FBI Background Check Service
- Filling out the FBI form
- Fingerprinting (Medellín)
- International shipment to USA
- FBI criminal record certificate
- Authentication of the certificate through a public notary in the USA
- Apostille certificate
- Official translations into Spanish
Using a Visa Agency to Obtain a Colombian Visa
If you are in Colombia, you can use a visa agency to obtain a Colombia visa. A visa agency can handle the online application and ensure you have the required paperwork.
Medellin Guru has partnered with what we believe is the best visa agency in Medellín to offer Colombia visa services. Features of this service include:
- Online chat – get visa questions answered fast.
- Online quotes – get immediate visa quotes.
- Office in El Poblado in Medellín.
- Competitive price compared to other visa services.
Successfully Aproved Visas
Through this service we have helped
We reviewed all the Colombia visa agency services in Medellín and found one agency that offers a more efficient visa service with more features and more comprehensive communications including online chat, WhatsApp, video call, email and phone plus a low price and a convenient office in El Poblado.
Our visa partnership is an affiliate relationship (like the Amazon affiliate program). If you use our visa partner, Medellin Guru receives a small commission and you support the website. This is at no additional cost to you. The price remains the same whether you use a button or affiliate link on this website or not.
Furthermore, the partner visa agency offers visa services anywhere in Colombia. So, if you are located in another city in Colombia, you can use this service.
Medellin Guru Visa Service
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 1.377 Medellin Guru reader
expatgroup.co
Getting a Colombian Cedula
After you have successfully received your Colombian Visa you normally have a maximum of 15 calendar days to register your visa with Migración Colombia to get a Cedula de Extranjeria (Colombian ID for foreigners). Or if you received your visa at a consulate, you will have 15 calendar days after you arrive in Colombia to register your visa.
Especially relevant, it is very important to register your Colombian Beneficiary visa within the allotted time frame. If not, you will be liable for a big fine of up to seven times the minimum monthly salary in Colombia. The minimum salary in Colombia is $1,300,000 COP per month in 2024. So, the fine is up to 9,100,000 COP pesos in 2024.
Due to being photographed and fingerprinted this must be done in-person at a Migración Colombia office.
To register your visa and apply for a cedula this must be done at one of the Migración Colombia offices. You can find Migración Colombia offices in major cities in Colombia.
- Barranquilla – Carrera 42 # 54-77, Barrio El Recreo
- Bogotá – Calle 100 #11B-27
- Cali – Avenida 3 norte # 50N-20
- Cartagena – Carrera 20 B # 29-18, Barrio pie de la Popa
- Medellín – Calle 19 #80A-40, Barrio Belén (the entrance is on the other side of the building on Calle 19A)
A complete list of the Migración Colombia offices is found here. In addition, we have a guide to applying for a Cedula Extranjeria in Colombia.
Dual Citizenship
After having an migrant (M) retirement visa for five years you are eligible to receive a resident (R) visa. And after having an R visa for five years you can apply to become a citizen of Colombia.
Also, you won’t have to give up your existing citizenship. Colombia permits dual-citizenship, as does the U.S. and many other countries.
Once you become a dual citizen with Colombian citizenship, you will no longer need to deal with visas anymore. Also, you will be able to travel to a few counties as a Colombian citizen without a visa such as Russia, which require a visa for U.S. citizens.
Also, if you have Colombian citizenship, this benefits you with the Mercosur trade block. Nationals of Member States (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and Associated States (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) do not need a passport or visa to travel around the region, with only a national identity card required.
In addition, the Mercosur Agreement grants the right to residence and work for citizens with no requirement other than nationality. Citizens of the Member States and Associated States that are part of the agreement enjoy a facilitated procedure for applying for a residence visa, as long as they have a valid passport, birth certificate and a negative certificate of criminal record.
To become a citizen, Colombia requires a citizenship test, just like the U.S. does. You will be required to pass a test related to Colombian history, geography and the constitution. Also, a basic Spanish oral test is required. Those who have a bachelor’s degree from a Colombian university or are over 65 years old are exempt from these tests.
Medellin Guru's Comprehensive Visa and Passport Series
The Colombian visa changes that went into effect in October 2022 were significant. So, on the Medellin Guru site, we have a comprehensive series of visa articles that are kept up-to-date and should answer most visa questions. These articles include:
- Colombia Visa Guide: Ultimate Guide How to Get a Colombian Visa
- How to Obtain a Colombian Visa with Up-to-Date Info – an overview of all the Colombian visas
- Popular Colombian Visas for Foreigners: Which Visa is the Most Popular?
- Coronavirus Impacts on Colombian Visas and Tourist Visas
- Visa Agencies: A Guide to Visa Agencies in Medellín and Colombia
- 9Common Colombian Visa Mistakes: How to Avoid Them
We have looked in detail at the nine most popular Colombian visas used by foreigners:
- Digital Nomad Visa
- Retirement visa
- Marriage visa
- Investment visa
- Business Visa
- Resident visa
- Work visa
- Student visa
- Visitor visa
Also, we have looked in detail at three additional Colombian visas, which are less popular for foreigners:
- Rentista visa (annuity visa) – for foreigners with a fixed income
- Beneficiary visa – for relatives of visa holders
- Expertise visa – for professionals
In addition, we have a guide to Colombia tourist visas and how to extend a tourist visa. Also, we have a guide to renewing U.S. passports in Colombia and a guide to obtaining a Colombian passport.
Furthermore, we provide information about travel insurance that meets the insurance requirement for Colombian visas. And we have a guide to how apply for a cedula extranjeria in Colombia and a guide to using notaries in Medellín and Colombia. Finally, Medellin Guru has partnered with a visa agency to offer Colombia visa services.
All of our Colombia visa articles are up to date (2023) and constantly receive updates in 2024.
The Bottom Line: 9 Common Colombian Visa Mistakes – How to Avoid Them
In this article we looked at nine of the most common Colombian visa mistakes made by foreigners. These mistakes are usually due to not knowing the visa rules in Colombia or perhaps knowing the rules but not keeping track of time.
Several of the most common Colombia visa mistakes can be avoiding by using the visa services of a visa agency. While I was able to obtain three visas on my own in the past, I now recommend using a visa agency, as you can avoid a trip to Bogotá and benefit from the experience of a visa agency.
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