Colombia

DIAN, explanation of article 10 of the Tax Code. For tax purposes a resident is a person who was in the country continuously or intermittently for more than 183 calendar days, counting the days of arrival and departure, within any period of 365 consecutive days. If these days fall into two calendar years, the person is considered a resident from the second year. For citizens of Colombia there are separate criteria: half of income, property or assets in the country. Non-residents file a return on form 110. Our conclusion from two sources: the visa-free 180 days are counted by the Ministry per calendar year, while the tax threshold is counted over any 365 consecutive days, so someone who spends the end of one year and the beginning of the next in Colombia can become a tax resident without breaking any migration rules.

The statistics agency DANE, from the GEIH survey, data prepared for the 2026 minimum wage negotiations: for January–October 2025, employees earned an average of 2,158,174 pesos a month and the self-employed 1,384,199. In the 13 largest cities with their suburbs (Bogotá, Medellín, Cali and others) the figures are 2,575,541 and 1,911,991. Male employees: 2,209,324; female employees: 2,093,408. Caveats: this is cash income from the main job, an average, not a median, and it is for 2025: there is no more recent average in open sources. The distribution is more telling than the average: 48.9% of employed people in 2025 earned less than that year's minimum wage (1,423,500 pesos), and another 10.3% exactly the minimum wage. The minimum wage for 2026 is 1,750,905 pesos a month: it was set provisionally by Decreto 0159 of 19 February 2026, until the Council of State rules on case 0004-2026, so the amount may change. In dollars at the end-of-September 2026 rate (3,300.87): employees about 654, the self-employed about 419, the minimum wage about 530.

The minimum wage for 2026 is 1,750,905 pesos a month. It was set provisionally by Decreto 0159 of 19 February 2026, until the Council of State rules on case 0004-2026, so the amount may change. For comparison: 48.9% of employed people in 2025 earned less than that year's minimum wage (1,423,500 pesos), and another 10.3% exactly the minimum wage. In dollars at the end-of-September 2026 rate (3,300.87): about 530.

Page of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs “Do I need a visa” (Resolución 5488 de 2022 and 3717 de 2023). List A, where passports are exempt from a visa for short stays, includes Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova. The page does not name Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan at all; Uzbekistan and Tajikistan appear only in the list of countries with a transit visa. So they are not on the visa-free lists, and under the general rule a visitor visa is needed; check the conditions for your passport with a Colombian consulate. Citizens of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan need a visa even for a layover at a Colombian airport. During a visa-free stay you may not receive payment from Colombian employers. For remote workers with a visa-free passport the Ministry says directly: you can enter without a visa with the permission of the migration service and stay up to 90 days, extendable to a maximum of 180 days per calendar year, if there is no payment from Colombian companies.

Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visitor visa V, category Nómada Digital: for remote work from Colombia exclusively for foreign companies, as an employee or freelancer, or for launching a digital startup. Requirements: a passport of a country exempt from a visa for short stays, a letter from the foreign company about the nature of the work and pay (or a contract, or proof of co-ownership of the company), bank statements showing income of at least three minimum wages for the last 3 months, a health insurance policy for the whole stay covering illness, pregnancy, hospitalization and repatriation. The 2026 minimum wage is 1,750,905 pesos (decree 0159 of 19 February 2026), so the threshold is 5,252,715 pesos a month. The term is up to two years; family members can be registered as beneficiaries. Working for Colombian companies is not allowed. Important for residency plans: in the Ministry’s table, time on visa V does not count toward the period for the permanent visa R; only M visas count.

Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Resolución 5477 de 2022. The migrant visa M is issued for up to three years to those who plan to settle; it lapses if you leave for more than 180 consecutive days. The permanent visa R by accumulated time: 5 years on M Trabajador, Socio, Profesional Independiente, Pensionado, Inversionista and other visas; 3 years for the spouse of a Colombian; 2 years for parents of a Colombian, citizens of Mercosur and the Andean Community. Continuity counts only if the new visa is issued before the old one expires; a temporary salvoconducto pass does not close the gap. M Pensionado - a pension of at least three minimum wages; you may not work and may not join the public health insurance. M Inversionista - an apartment in your own name worth at least 350 minimum wages (612,816,750 pesos in 2026) or direct investment of more than 650 wages. Visa R gives an open right to work, is renewed every 5 years, and is lost if you spend two years in a row outside the country. Even when the required period has been completed, visa R, according to the Ministry, is not issued automatically.

Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, naturalization under Ley 2332 de 2023. You must be a holder or beneficiary of visa R and have lived in Colombia continuously for five years before applying. The period is shortened to two years for spouses and permanent partners of Colombians, for parents of Colombian children and for citizens of Spain. Leaving the country for a year or more interrupts the period. The exam on the constitution, history, culture and geography and on Spanish (if it is not your native language) can be taken up to two times; those who graduated from a school or university in Colombia are exempt from it. Minor children with a visa R as beneficiaries can be included in a parent’s application. All migration documents must be valid until the end of the procedure; Migración Colombia may check the address. The page does not specify whether years on an M visa count toward these five years or whether the count starts from the issue of visa R. In the second case the path for a family without Colombian relatives takes about 10 years: 5 years on an M visa before visa R and another 5 years with it.

Decreto 2353 of 2015, article 17: participation in the Sistema General de Seguridad Social en Salud is mandatory for all residents of Colombia, except for special regimes. The contributory regime (contributivo), where contributions are paid by the person or the employer, includes foreign residents with a Colombian employment contract, as well as independent workers and rentiers. The document for registering a foreigner is a cédula de extranjería, a passport, a diplomatic card or a salvoconducto. At the same time, the Ministry requires a private policy for the whole term for the digital nomad visa, and the M Pensionado visa does not allow joining the public system unless there is an intergovernmental agreement. We do not give contribution amounts in this fact: they are not on the pages we opened.