Mercosur Residency in Colombia
This replaces the general rule for you
Migrant Visa (M) Mercosur - The Agreement's Signatories, Which Leaves Venezuela Out
Two years of temporary residency on requirements lighter than any other Colombian route: a letter explaining what you will do and how you will support yourself, a passport valid six months, a police certificate and an image of your entry stamp. No income threshold, no employer, no medical certificate. Who it reaches is decided by the 2002 Residence Agreement rather than by Mercosur membership, and the agreement names its parties individually - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. Venezuela is a full member of Mercosur and is not one of them, so on the face of this article Venezuelan nationality does not open this visa. Two further conditions: a naturalised citizen of a party state is inside the agreement only five years after naturalisation, and the visa is granted once only, which makes the deadline for what comes next unforgiving.
By default this route does not exist for a given applicant: it is open only to nationals of the states party to the Mercosur Residence Agreement, plus Bolivia and Chile. If that is you, the requirements are among the lightest Colombia offers - but the visa is granted once and once only.
What applies to you
Migrant Visa (M) Mercosur - The Agreement's Signatories, Which Leaves Venezuela Out
Two years of temporary residency on requirements lighter than any other Colombian route: a letter explaining what you will do and how you will support yourself, a passport valid six months, a police certificate and an image of your entry stamp. No income threshold, no employer, no medical certificate. Who it reaches is decided by the 2002 Residence Agreement rather than by Mercosur membership, and the agreement names its parties individually - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. Venezuela is a full member of Mercosur and is not one of them, so on the face of this article Venezuelan nationality does not open this visa. Two further conditions: a naturalised citizen of a party state is inside the agreement only five years after naturalisation, and the visa is granted once only, which makes the deadline for what comes next unforgiving.
- Nationality of a state party to the 2002 Residence Agreement - among the full members, that is Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia
- Venezuela is a full member of Mercosur but is not a party to the agreement this article points to
- If the nationality was acquired by naturalisation: five years must have passed, under the agreement's own definition of a national of a Party
- A letter requesting the Temporary Resident visa under the agreement, explaining the activity you will carry out in Colombia and your means of subsistence
- Passport valid for at least six months
- Police, judicial or criminal record certificate from wherever you have lived for the last three years, apostilled or legalised and translated
- An image of your entry stamp
- issuesResolución 5477 de 2022, art. 71
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