Colombia Investor Visa

The threshold is expressed as a multiple of the statutory monthly minimum wage in force, fixed at the date the application is filed, so the absolute figure changes each year. On the direct foreign investment route the registered amount must exceed 650 monthly minimum wages.

On the real estate route the property must be worth at least 350 monthly minimum wages, and title must be held exclusively in the foreign national own name, not through a legal entity.

Both routes require foreign investment extracts from the Central Bank exchange information system evidencing that the investment is registered in the applicant name

The M visa is for a foreigner who has made foreign direct investment or has acquired property in their own name, and the condition attached is not satisfied simply by buying: the holder must maintain that investment or ownership for the whole validity of the visa.

The legal outcome is an accruing entitlement rather than a permanent status: this visa allows time to be accumulated toward the resident visa, after a minimum period of five years as its holder.

Three attached duties, read directly from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs page, are worth knowing before planning a long stay.

First, on a second and any subsequent application the applicant must prove that the investment or the ownership of the property was maintained throughout the validity of the previous visa — so every renewal re-examines the earlier commitment.

Second, economic means to remain in the country must be shown through bank statements for the three months preceding the application.

Third, the applicant must hold health cover in Colombia or a health insurance policy meeting the requirement.

One point about the source must be stated, because it has changed since the previous verification.

The English version of this page was no longer available on the verification date. So the text above was read from the Spanish version still running on the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' own site.

The visa is valid for up to three years. That time accumulates: after five years holding this type of visa, the foreign national has enough time to apply for the Resident visa.

Resolution 5477 of 2022 sets the processing milestones in calendar days. The study fee must be paid within ten calendar days, failing which the application is treated as withdrawn; the authority may request missing documents up to a third time, and the study fee is not refunded.

Once the file is complete and the fee paid, the authority has up to thirty calendar days to decide, and may take longer where other bodies must be consulted. An applicant already in Colombia must keep a regular migratory status throughout the wait.

If approved, the issuance fee must be paid within ten calendar days. The electronic visa is sent within ten working days after payment, and errors on the visa are corrected if reported within fifteen calendar days.

Supporting documents may be no more than three months old, and bank statements must cover the three months immediately before filing. Visa decisions are not open to administrative appeal, so a refused applicant is left with a fresh filing.

The duty to keep the investment or property for the life of the visa is recorded in the outcome cell of this page. This cell records the remaining obligations while in Colombia.

Any change of circumstances relating to the foreign investment on which the visa rests, occurring during its validity, must be reported immediately by the holder to the Visas and Immigration authority, so that it may reassess whether the visa remains valid.

Article 84 requires that report to enclose a copy of the foreigner identity card.

The route carries a hard absence limit. Under Articles 65 and 112, an M visa lapses automatically, with no decision needed, when the principal holder or a beneficiary is out of Colombia for more than 180 continuous calendar days within any 365-day period counted from the visa's issue.

Absence is counted from the exit date recorded in the passport or in the migration authority's movement records. Anyone aiming to accumulate five years towards the Resident visa therefore has to plan travel around this limit.

When the visa expires or ends early, Article 111 gives the foreign national 30 calendar days to leave Colombia or apply for a new visa, and during that time they remain in a regular migratory situation.

The resolution defines the beneficiary in article 3 and repeats it in article 93, and the class is narrow:

A beneficiary is the spouse or permanent partner, and children up to 25, the common condition being economic dependency on the holder of the principal visa; a child over 25 qualifies only with a duly assessed physical or mental disability preventing economic independence.

Colombia does recognise an unmarried partner, evidenced by a notarial instrument or a judicial decision.

There are no parents, grandparents or siblings: the resolution does not mention siblings anywhere.

The financial condition falls on the principal applicant rather than taking the form of an additional threshold:

That person must show through six months of bank statements or an employment certificate that their income supports the dependants, and must file a letter assuming economic responsibility for the journey, the stay and medical insurance.

The beneficiary visa is never longer than the principal visa, which in this category runs up to three years.

Two provisions tighten this: the beneficiary visa does not permit work; and it lapses automatically when a child turns 25, when economic dependency ends, when the status of spouse or partner is lost or cohabitation ceases, when the principal visa is cancelled or expires, and when the principal acquires Colombian nationality.

The status this programme grants, whether a visa or a residence permit, does not replace the holder's passport. The holder still travels on the passport of their own country, so the figure below belongs to the Colombia passport and becomes the holder's only once they are issued a Colombia passport.

According to the Passport Index of Prosperous Intelligence, on data dated 30 September 2026, the Colombia passport reaches 134 destinations without applying for a consular visa in advance. The figure combines three forms of entry and does not count an e-Visa that must be obtained beforehand:

It is therefore a measure of how easily the holder travels, not a count of visa-free countries in the narrow sense.

For comparison, on the same source and the same method of counting, the Vietnamese passport reaches 44 destinations. The two lists of destinations do not nest inside one another, so the difference is an indication rather than a list of places newly opened.

Prosperous Intelligence dates its data and advises checking with the destination’s official authorities before travelling.

The programme carries no tax regime of its own, but the visa resolution points to the tax statute itself, and that is what makes it worth recording.

Resolution 5477 of 2022 mentions fiscal matters only in the recitals, and there as a cross-reference: article 2 of Law 1607 of 2012, which amended article 10 of the Tax Statute, sets out the circumstances that determine tax residence in Colombia for Colombian nationals and foreigners alike.

Article 79 creates the M Investor category, setting the threshold at foreign direct investment registered with the Banco de la República above 650 times the current lawful monthly minimum wage, or real property held in the applicant own name at a minimum of 350 times that figure.

It grants a visa for up to three years, while saying nothing whatever about tax.

The only obligation placed on the visa holder is article 84, to notify the visa and immigration authority of any change in the circumstances that gave rise to the grant; notification runs to the immigration authority, not to the tax authority.

The applicant must hold health cover in Colombia, or an insurance policy valid throughout the national territory covering all risks, specifically accident, illness, maternity, disability, hospitalisation, death and repatriation, for the whole of the intended stay in the country.

Fees are collected twice, for the study of the application and for issue of the visa. Article 10 leaves the amounts to a separate act of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so Resolution 5477 of 2022 itself prints no figure.

Paperwork costs are often missed. Under Article 21, every document created abroad must carry an apostille or legalisation, and an official Spanish translation where it is in another language.

Bank statements and certificates are exempt from both steps if written in an official language of the Organization of American States, which includes English but not Vietnamese.

The passport must be valid for at least six months at filing and have blank pages for a visa label where one is needed. A property title certificate or investment registration issued too early must be obtained again, because Article 20 requires documents issued within three months before the application is registered.