Before you start

A passport valid at least six months with two blank pages, from a country that does not need a short-stay visa for Colombia (mandatory for the digital-nomad visa)
Proof of means for your class: three months of bank statements (digital nomad), a pension certificate (pensionado), or a Colombian employer's letter and contract (work)
Foreign civil and criminal documents apostilled in the issuing country and then translated by a Colombian traductor oficial
All-risk health insurance valid in Colombia for the whole visa period, expressly including medical repatriation

Step-by-step

1
Choose the class with residency in mind, not convenience
V covers short-to-medium stays including the Visa V de Nómadas Digitales — up to two years, renewable, no Colombian-source work, and no residency accrual whatsoever. M covers work, marriage to a Colombian, pensionado and investment, and is the only class whose time counts toward permanent residency. R is the permanent tier. Picking V because the paperwork is lighter is a decision that costs years if Cali turns into a life.
OnlineWho: ApplicantBefore travelling, or in the first weeks on a tourist stamp
2
Apostille first, translate second
Police certificates, birth and marriage certificates must be apostilled in the country that issued them before a Colombian traductor oficial touches them — translating first means paying for both again. Cali has a smaller pool of official translators than Bogotá, so start early and confirm the translator is on the Cancillería's recognised list. Budget one to three weeks.
In personWho: Applicant, with an apostille authority and a traductor oficial1–3 weeksRoughly US$100–300 for apostilles and translation
3
Apply and pay through the Cancillería visa portal
Create an account, complete the form, upload documents and pay the non-refundable study fee. The published decision window is thirty days and officers routinely ask for additional documents mid-review, which resets the practical clock. Approval arrives as a PDF and you then pay the issuance fee. Everything is done from Cali without travelling to Bogotá.
OnlineWho: ApplicantDecision within a published 30-day windowStudy fee ~US$55; digital-nomad issuance ~US$180; M and R issuance roughly US$230–400
4
Register with Migración Colombia in Cali within fifteen calendar days
Any visa valid more than three months must be registered within fifteen calendar days of issuance, or of entry if issued abroad. Complete the online form, pay, book an appointment and attend the Cali Centro Facilitador de Servicios Migratorios for fingerprints and photograph. You leave with a paper contraseña; the polymer cédula follows. Appointment availability in Cali is generally better than in Bogotá, but book the moment the visa lands.
Mobile appWho: Applicant, with Migración ColombiaWithin 15 calendar days; card in roughly 3–10 business daysAround COP 294,000 (~US$70–80); confirm the current figure, it is re-set annually
5
Move to an M route early if you intend to stay
Five continuous years on M visas qualifies you for the R (Residente) visa; marriage to or a registered permanent partnership with a Colombian shortens that to roughly three, and a parent of a Colombian by birth can often apply for R directly. Time on any V visa counts for nothing at all. Cali's employment market — pharmaceuticals, agroindustry, nearshore services — is a realistic sponsorship route if you speak Spanish.
OnlineWho: ApplicantAfter ~5 years on M, or ~3 via a Colombian spouseR visa issuance around US$400
6
Carry the cédula and keep it in step with the visa
The cédula's validity is tied to the visa behind it, so a lapsed visa silently breaks your bank account, EPS affiliation and phone contract. Carry the card rather than the passport: it is the document Colombian institutions actually expect at a bank counter, a notary or a police check, and in Cali the police do check.
In personWho: ApplicantOngoing; renew with each visa

Documents you’ll need

Passport (6+ months, two blank pages) and a 3×4 cm white-background photograph
Three months of bank statements, a pension certificate or an employer letter, depending on class
Apostilled and officially translated criminal record, plus marriage or birth certificates for family routes
All-risk health insurance covering Colombia for the visa period, including repatriation
For the cédula: the approved visa PDF, the Migración Colombia online form and an appointment confirmation

Things most newcomers don’t know

The digital-nomad income bar is three times the Colombian minimum wage, and the minimum wage rose 23% for 2026 to COP 1,750,905 a month — pushing the requirement to roughly COP 5.25M (about US$1,300–1,400) monthly.

The threshold is pegged to the decreed minimum wage rather than fixed in pesos, so it moves every January and the 2026 jump was unusually steep — three times COP 1,750,905 is COP 5,252,715. It is also unsettled: the Consejo de Estado provisionally suspended the original decree in February 2026 and the figure now rests on a transitional decree pending a final ruling. An applicant working from a figure quoted in an older guide can be hundreds of dollars a month short without realising it.

Source: Decreto 1469 de 2025 (suspended February 2026) and the transitional Decreto 0159 de 2026; Cancillería, Visa V Nómadas Digitales

Each of the last three months must clear the bar individually — the Cancillería does not average them.

Consultants and freelancers with lumpy billing fail on a perfectly good annual income because one thin month sits in the window. Invoices and contracts are supporting evidence, not proof of receipt; what counts is money landing in a bank account every month. Smooth your deposits for a quarter before you apply.

Source: Cancillería visa portal guidance (2026)

Time on the digital-nomad visa builds nothing toward residency. Only continuous years on M (Migrante) visas count toward the R visa.

Cali is cheap enough and pleasant enough that people settle in without deciding to, renewing V visas year after year. If permanence is even a possibility, an M route — an employer, an investment, a Colombian spouse — should be started early, because the clock does not run retroactively.

Source: Cancillería — classes and categories of visas

The Estatuto Temporal de Protección and the PPT you will hear about constantly in Cali is a Venezuelan-specific regime and almost certainly not your route.

Valle del Cauca hosts one of the largest Venezuelan populations in Colombia, so local advice, lawyers' signage and even some officials default to explaining the PPT. It is a distinct temporary-protection mechanism with its own rules and does not substitute for a V, M or R visa for other nationalities.

Source: Migración Colombia — Estatuto Temporal de Protección para Migrantes Venezolanos

Common mistakes to avoid

Living long-term on the tourist stamp without realising the 180 days are cumulative across the calendar year rather than per entry.
Missing the fifteen-calendar-day Migración Colombia registration window, which exposes you to a fine measured in monthly minimum wages.
Proving digital-nomad income with invoices or a three-month average rather than statements that clear the bar in every single month.
Choosing a V visa for convenience and only later discovering that none of that time counts toward the R visa.
Having documents translated before they are apostilled, which means paying for both a second time.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.