Visitor Visa (V) for People Living on Income
Colombia's route for living on income that is not a pension asks for ten monthly minimum wages - more than three times what it asks of a retiree. The income must be periodic and variable from a demonstrable lawful source, which is a looser test than Argentina's requirement that it come from assets in your own estate, and the assets producing it may be in Colombia rather than abroad.
At a glance
- Income threshold
- 10 monthly minimum wages
Against 3 for the pension route - the sharpest internal gap in Colombia's visa regime
- Nature of the income
- Periodic and variable, from a demonstrable lawful source
- Where the assets may be
- Abroad or in Colombia
Argentina requires the income to originate abroad; Colombia expressly allows Colombian assets
- Validity
- Up to 2 years
- Health policy
- Required
- Counts towards permanent residency
- No
A V visa, not an M one - the accumulation table in art. 90 covers M visas
Requirements
- A letter of application declaring the origin of the income
- Certification from a public body or a private company recognised by the relevant government, specifying the income paid or transferred in your name; or proof that you hold assets in Colombia from which income derives
- Income of not less than ten current monthly minimum wages
- Police or judicial record certificate from wherever you have lived for the last three years, apostilled or legalised and translated
- A health policy covering you in Colombia against all risks for the whole intended stay
In detail
Colombia charges a retiree a third of what it charges everyone else
Three minimum wages for a pension, ten for any other kind of income, for what is otherwise the same proposition: supporting yourself without working here. The pension route is also an M visa that accumulates towards permanent residency, and this one is a V visa that does not. For anyone with income that is not a pension, Colombia is the most demanding of the three countries on this site; for a retiree it is the least.
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«Para extranjeros que reciben una renta periódica y variable de fuente lícita acreditable.»Our translation - not official
For foreigners who receive periodic and variable income from a demonstrable lawful source.
About this source
Colombia's foreign ministry, which sets the visa regime by resolution. Resolución 5477 de 2022 is the instrument itself, not a summary of one: it defines every visa category, its requirements and its validity in numbered articles.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Resolutions are amended by further resolutions rather than reissued, so the consolidated version carries notes about articles added or repealed by later instruments - article 80 of 5477, for example, was repealed by Resolución 10434 de 2023. Reading a category without checking those notes can mean reading a rule that no longer applies.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Aportar certificación expedida por entidad pública o empresa privada, reconocida por el Gobierno respectivo, donde se especifique la renta que paga o gira a nombre del extranjero solicitante de la visa; o demostrar que se poseen bienes en Colombia de los cuales se deriva una renta. La cuantía ingresos por rentas no podrá ser inferior a diez (10) salarios mínimos legales mensuales vigentes;»Our translation - not official
Provide a certificate issued by a public body or a private company recognised by the relevant Government, specifying the income it pays or transfers in the name of the foreign visa applicant; or demonstrate that assets are held in Colombia from which income derives. The amount of income may not be lower than ten (10) current legal monthly minimum wages.
Two routes to the same threshold: someone paying you, or assets here producing income. Argentina's equivalent excludes the second by requiring the money to come from abroad.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Colombia's foreign ministry, which sets the visa regime by resolution. Resolución 5477 de 2022 is the instrument itself, not a summary of one: it defines every visa category, its requirements and its validity in numbered articles.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Resolutions are amended by further resolutions rather than reissued, so the consolidated version carries notes about articles added or repealed by later instruments - article 80 of 5477, for example, was repealed by Resolución 10434 de 2023. Reading a category without checking those notes can mean reading a rule that no longer applies.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Vigencia: Hasta dos (2) años.»Our translation - not official
Validity: up to two (2) years.
Hasta, so two years is the ceiling rather than the grant. It is a V visa, and art. 90 accumulates only M visas.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Colombia's foreign ministry, which sets the visa regime by resolution. Resolución 5477 de 2022 is the instrument itself, not a summary of one: it defines every visa category, its requirements and its validity in numbered articles.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Resolutions are amended by further resolutions rather than reissued, so the consolidated version carries notes about articles added or repealed by later instruments - article 80 of 5477, for example, was repealed by Resolución 10434 de 2023. Reading a category without checking those notes can mean reading a rule that no longer applies.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- issuesResolución 5477 de 2022, art. 56
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Colombia)
About this source
Colombia's foreign ministry, which sets the visa regime by resolution. Resolución 5477 de 2022 is the instrument itself, not a summary of one: it defines every visa category, its requirements and its validity in numbered articles.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Resolutions are amended by further resolutions rather than reissued, so the consolidated version carries notes about articles added or repealed by later instruments - article 80 of 5477, for example, was repealed by Resolución 10434 de 2023. Reading a category without checking those notes can mean reading a rule that no longer applies.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source