Colombia Digital Nomad Visa Requirements

Last verified: 2026-08-05 against Resolución 5477 de 2022 (arts. 21, 32 and 46), the resolution that governs this visa.

Colombia asks for three things and no more: a letter from your foreign employer or client — accepted in English, with no certified translation — three months of bank statements showing income of at least 3× the Colombian minimum wage (COP 5,252,715 / about $1,400 a month in 2026), and a health policy valid in Colombia. There is no minimum account balance, no criminal-record certificate, and no consulate visit.

Eligibility

• You must hold a passport from a country or territory exempt from Colombia's short-stay visa requirement. This is art. 46(1) and it is the one hard gate — nationals who need a short-stay visa for Colombia cannot use the nomad category.
• Remote work or freelance activity for foreign entities. The visa expressly forbids paid work for any person or company domiciled in Colombia.
• Income of at least 3× the Colombian monthly minimum wage (COP 5,252,715 ≈ $1,400 in 2026), evidenced by bank statements for the last 3 months.
• Valid health insurance covering Colombian territory for accident, illness, maternity, disability, hospitalisation, death and repatriation, for the length of your stay. Art. 46(5) names all seven; a policy missing repatriation is the usual failure.

Do you even need this visa?

Often not. The parágrafo to art. 46 lets nomads from visa-exempt nationalities enter with no visa at all on the ordinary Permiso de Ingreso and stay 90 days, extendable to a maximum of 180 days continuous or non-continuous per calendar year — provided no Colombian company pays them. The Visa V is what you need to cross 180 days a year, to bring dependants, or to get a Cédula de Extranjería. Below that, it buys you nothing.

Income threshold

Evidence: 3 months of bank statements showing qualifying deposits. Cryptocurrency balances and savings on their own do not satisfy the test — the visa specifically requires regular income.

Is there a minimum bank balance?

No. Colombia's nomad visa has no minimum account balance, and a large balance does not substitute for income. Art. 46(4) requires you to show "mediante extractos bancarios contar con ingresos mínimos equivalentes a tres (3) Salarios Mínimos Legales Mensuales Vigentes durante los últimos 3 meses" — ingresos, income, arriving over the last three months. The test is on the money coming in, not the money sitting there. A statement showing $60,000 parked and no deposits fails; one showing $1,400 arriving each month and a near-zero closing balance passes.

Two practical consequences most guides miss:

• Bank statements need neither apostille nor translation. The parágrafo to art. 21 exempts "las certificaciones o extractos bancarios" from apostille and from official Spanish translation when they are in an official language of the Organization of American States — Spanish, English, French or Portuguese — and can be read in full by the visa authority. An American, British, Canadian, Australian or Irish applicant sends their statements as-is.
• Money must land in your account. Payments held on Stripe, PayPal, Wise or Deel and never withdrawn do not appear as deposits. If you normally leave earnings on a platform, move three months of them into a bank account before you apply.

The employer letter: exactly what Cancillería asks for

The letter is accepted in English. You do not need a certified Spanish translation of it. Art. 46(2) requires a "Carta en español o en inglés, expedida por una o varias empresas extranjeras para la cual preste sus servicios el extranjero" — a letter, in Spanish or English, from one or more foreign companies you provide services to. The two-language allowance is written into the visa's own article, so it overrides the general translation rule in art. 21.

The article names only two things the letter must state:

1. el tipo de vínculo — the type of relationship (employee, contractor, consultant, partner)
2. el tipo de remuneración — the type of remuneration you receive (salary, hourly, per-project, retainer)

Anything beyond those two is optional. There is no required letterhead wording, no notarisation, and no signature formality in the resolution.

Art. 46(2) then adds two variants depending on your situation:

• If you have a contract with that company, attach it too. The letter does not replace the contract; where one exists, the resolution asks for both.
• If you are a partner or co-owner of a foreign company rather than its employee, prove the ownership and supply a letter stating that you carry out your work for the company remotely.

Freelancers with several clients are explicitly covered: the article says "una o varias empresas extranjeras", so letters from multiple clients are acceptable and are the normal route when no single client reaches the income floor on its own.

Employer letter template (English — submit as-is)

Copy this, put it on company letterhead, and have whoever manages your contract sign it. It contains both required elements and nothing that can contradict your bank statements.

[Date]

To: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Colombia — Grupo Interno de Trabajo de Visas e Inmigración

Re: [Your full name], passport [number], [nationality]

To whom it may concern,

[Company legal name], a company registered in [country] under registration number [number] with registered address at [address], confirms that [your full name] provides services to this company as [an employee / an independent contractor / a consultant] under a [permanent / fixed-term / rolling services] agreement in force since [start date].

[He/She/They] is remunerated by [monthly salary / hourly rate / per-project fee / monthly retainer] of [amount and currency] per [month / hour / project], paid by bank transfer to [his/her/their] personal account on approximately the [Nth] of each month.

All work is performed remotely. [Company legal name] has no domicile, branch, or commercial establishment in Colombia, and [your full name] performs no work for and receives no payment from any person or entity domiciled in Colombia.

[Signature]
[Name], [Title]
[Company] — [email], [telephone]

The third paragraph is not required by art. 46, but it pre-empts the one substantive restriction on this visa — that it "no permite trabajar o desarrollar actividad remunerada con persona jurídica o natural domiciliada en el territorio nacional" — and costs you nothing to include.

If you are self-employed with no employer

Write the same letter from your own company (if you are its partner or owner, per the art. 46(2) variant), or supply client letters. A sole trader with no company at all leans on client letters plus the contracts, since art. 46(2) is written around a company that can issue a letter.

Document checklist (fully online submission)

• Passport valid for at least 6 months with 2 blank pages (scan of bio page)
• Recent passport-sized photo (digital, white background, 3×4 cm)
• Bank statements for the last 3 months showing qualifying income — no apostille, no translation (art. 21 parágrafo)
• Employer or client letter stating relationship type and remuneration type — Spanish or English, no certified translation (art. 46(2))
• Your contract with that company, where one exists; or proof of partnership/ownership plus a letter confirming remote work
• Letter of intent explaining the activity you intend to carry out in Colombia (art. 31(1), which applies to Visa V applications made in your own name)
• Health insurance policy valid in Colombia covering all seven risks named in art. 46(5)
• Proof of accommodation in Colombia (hotel reservation for initial stay or rental agreement — not named in art. 46, but routinely requested in practice)
• Visa application fee payment (~$223)

Document translation — when it is actually required

Less often than nearly every guide claims. Art. 21 sets the general rule that foreign documents need apostille and official Spanish translation, but two express exceptions cover the documents a nomad applicant actually files:

So the letter and the statements — the two documents every applicant files — are exempt, and the certified translations you may still need are for the contract and any dependants' civil-registry documents. Where translation is required, Cancillería maintains a list of approved traductores oficiales; budget ~$30–80 per document.

Family application

Spouses, civil partners, and dependent children under 25 (if studying or economically dependent) can be added to the same application. Each dependent is a separate file with relationship evidence (marriage or birth certificate, translated and apostilled) and adds ~$50% to the income threshold per dependent.

Common rejection reasons

• Income inconsistency — dipping below the 3× threshold in any of the last 3 months.
• A letter that omits one of the two required elements — plenty of employer letters confirm employment but never state the type of remuneration, which art. 46(2) names explicitly.
• Letter and statements that disagree — a letter saying $3,000/month against statements showing $1,900 deposits is the most common substantive failure, and translating the letter does not fix it.
• Insufficient health insurance coverage — art. 46(5) names seven risks including maternity and repatriation; travel policies routinely omit one.
• Prior immigration issues in Colombia (overstays, denied entries) — surface in review and can block approval.

Sources

• Resolución 5477 de 2022, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores — art. 46 (Visa V Nómadas digitales: nationality gate, letter in Spanish or English, the two required letter elements, 3 SMMLV over 3 months, seven insurance risks, 2-year validity, parágrafo on visa-free stay); art. 21 and its parágrafo (apostille/translation rule and the bank-statement exemption); art. 32(4) (letters in Spanish or English for nomad applicants); retrieved 2026-08-05.