Work Visas in Colombia

How to get a work permit and which routes actually exist

Employment in Colombia normally requires an M visa in the worker category, which is tied to a specific Colombian employer that signs the application alongside the applicant. Remote workers who are paid from abroad use a different route entirely — the digital nomad visa, which sits in the visitor family and carries a much lower income threshold.

The three visa families

Every Colombian visa is one of three letters. V is for visitors: short stays, business trips, treatment, and the digital nomad category. M is for migrants: the categories that imply settling, including work, study, marriage, pension income, passive income and investment. R is for residents, the long-term status reached after a qualifying period on an M visa.

The ladder normally runs V to M to R, though it is not compulsory to pass through V, and several M categories can be applied for directly from abroad. What matters is that the years counted toward an R visa are years held on an M visa in a qualifying category.

Being employed by a Colombian company

• The employer signs the application, provides its chamber of commerce registration and tax identification, and undertakes responsibility for the worker's return travel.
• The role and the employer are named on the visa, so changing job generally means a new application rather than an amendment.
• There is no points test and no published salary threshold beyond the legal minimum for the sector, which makes this route administratively simple but economically weak.
• Employers must observe statutory ratios of Colombian to foreign staff in some contexts, which is why smaller firms are often reluctant to sponsor.

The digital nomad visa

Colombia introduced a visitor category for remote workers in 2022. It is aimed at people employed by, or providing services to, entities outside Colombia, and the income requirement is commonly described as around three times the monthly minimum wage — a low figure by comparison with European digital nomad schemes.

Applicants typically show recent bank statements, a letter from the foreign employer or client contracts, and health insurance valid in Colombia. The visa is generally granted for up to two years.

Because it sits in the visitor family rather than the migrant family, time on it does not normally build toward a resident visa. People who intend to stay usually move to an M category once they qualify for one.

Registration after arrival

Holders of visas valid for more than three months are required to register with Migración Colombia and obtain the cédula de extranjería, the foreigner identity card. The registration deadline is short — commonly stated as fifteen calendar days from entry or from the visa being issued — and missing it attracts a fine.

The cédula, not the visa sticker, is the document banks, clinics, mobile operators and landlords ask for in daily life.

Official sources

• Visa categories and requirements
• Migración Colombia — cédula de extranjería

Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.

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