How to stay in Colombia without having to get out of the country?

Hi everybody,

After having had a tough time finding how I could stay legally in Colombia, I wanted to share with you in a clear way how to stay in Colombia without having to leave the country.
There are basically 3 options. I have experienced all of them and can confirm that the paperwork is NOT complex, as long as you have the documents required.

1/ Tourist Visa

You can go to the DAS in Calle 100 and here is the paperwork that you require.

*** Fill out the form they hand-over
*** Pay the fee to the bank Bancafe located 5 minutes walk from the DAS, close to the Carulla at the roundabout of Calle 100. You will need cash money to go there.
*** Have 2 pictures 4x3 in "fondo azul" - you can make them close to Bancafe.
*** 2 copies of your passport (1st page + page of entrance to country+ other colombian Visa) - you can make them close to Bancafe.

You can extend this visa up to 6 months in country. Note that you can stay a maximum of 6 months per CALENDAR year as tourist.

If all your papers are ok, you will receive your Visa extension on the day itself. Plan about 3-4 hours to go through the whole process.

2/ Student Visa

You can require a Student Visa WITHOUT having to leave the country.

A lot of you will certainly need to learn Spanish if they want to stay in Colombia and settle down in this country.
To do so, you need 1st to register to a University which will give you at least 10 hours of classes per week. I personally took cheap and good classes of Spanish at Universidad Nacional (http://www.humanas.unal.edu.co/lenguas/cursos_extension_2007_I.htm) and Universidad Pedagogica (http://www.pedagogica.edu.co/atra/pages/contenido.php?pag=cont&esquema...).
Document needed from the University for your Student Visa
*** Attestation certifying that you will receive a minimum of 10 hours of training

After this, you should go the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores located close to the Parque de la 93 (carrera 13 no.93-68 oficina 203), everyday between 7.30 am and 12 pm.

You will need the following documents:
*** 2 pictures with fondo blanco 3x3
*** 2 copies of your passport (1st page + page of entrance to country+ other colombian Visa)
*** Copy of a proof of the payment of registration fee to the University
*** Copy of your bank statement proving your solvability
*** Equivalent to 40USD in Colombian Pesos to pay for the Student Visa. They have a bank inside the office, and will prepare the cheque for you to pay it immediately at their own bank.
*** Remember to take with you the certification from the University.

Once you arrive in the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, start queuing and ask the security man to give you the form to be filled out, which you will need to hand-over as well.

You can extend your Visa as long as you take a minimum of 10 hours of classes in a recognized University.

If all your papers are ok, you will receive your Student Visa on the day itself. Plan about 2-3 hours to complete the process.

3/ Visa of Permanent Companion - after Union Libre

You can require this Visa WITHOUT having to leave the country.

This applies if your partner is Colombian and you're a foreigner.

The first thing you'll need is to go to a Notary to do a "declaracion de Union Marital de Hecho", also called Union Libre. Watch out, this is very similar to getting married, the right and obligations are similar and effect on the patrimony is similar too. The only difference is that you can dissolve the Union Libre just by a declaration at the same notary.
If you call various notaries, they will all tell you various requirements to do this. I went to a Notary where I only had to give the following:
- Make a declaration that my boyfriend and me want to make an "ESCRITURA PUBLICA de Union Marital de Hecho"
- Declare that we have been living together for more than 2 years.
*** Give a copy of my passport and of my boyfriend's cedula colombiana.
- Pay the registration fee for the Escritura Publica.
I recommend to ask for 3 copies of the Escritura Publica: 1 for yourself, 1 for your partner, 1 for the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores.
This process takes about 1-2 hours. We could pick-up our Escritura Publica 3-4 days after we had made the declaration at the notary.

Once you are at the Notary, you will also need to do the following (your Colombian partner will have to go to the notary to do so):
- Make an authentication of the photocopy of you Colombian Partner's Cedula
- Your Colombian partner should prepare a letter "Nota escrita autenticada del nacional colombiano solicitando se le expida la visa al extranjero" and have his signature authenticated by the Notary too.
This process should take maximum 1 hour, and you will receive immediately the authentication of the 2 documents.

After this, you should go the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores located close to the Parque de la 93 (carrera 13 no.93-68 oficina 203), between 7.30 am and 12 pm everyday.

You will need the following documents:
*** 2 pictures with fondo blanco 3x3
*** 2 copies of your passport (1st page + page of entrance to country+ other colombian Visa)
*** The Escritura Publica from the Notary - the one that the Notary will give you.
*** The authenticated copy of your partner's cedula
*** The authenticated copy of the letter from your partner requiring that they give you a Visa de Union Libre/Companero/a Permanente.
*** Equivalent to 160USD in Colombian Pesos to pay for the thisVisa. They have a bank inside the office, and will prepare the cheque for you to pay it immediately at their own bank.

Once you arrive in the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, start queuing and ask the security man to give you the form to be filled out, which you will need to hand-over as well.

With these documents, the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores will issue a Visa mentioning occupation "Hogar" (means that your occupation is to take care of your home, you can also be a student with that Visa), and mention in "Entity/Mission" "Family (your partners' family name) + (your family name)".
IN CASE YOU WANT YOUR VISA TO ALLOW YOU TO WORK, you will need to present additionally the following documents, that the company who wants to hire you will provide you:
- Contract that you have with a company in Colombia
- Certificate of proporcionality (Certificado de proporcionalidad expedido por el Ministerio de Protección Social)
- Certificate from the Camara de Comercio
- Letter from the company mentioning that you're capable to do the job you will perform in their company.

If all your papers are ok, you will receive your "Spouse Visa" on the day itself, valid for 2 years. Plan about 3-5 hours to complete the process.

----- CEDULA DE EXTRANJERIA ----
Last but not least: once you receive a Visa that allows you to stay for more than 3 months in Colombia (f.i. Permanent Companion Visa - Union Libre), you HAVE TO register it at the DAS within 15 days after having received the visa (if not, they'll fine you) and ask for your Cedula de Extranjeria. Once you have registered it, you should receive your Cedula within 1 week.

Procedure to receive your Cedula de Extranjeria
You should go to the DAS office in Calle 100 with the following documents.
*** Fill out the form they hand-over
*** Certificacion de Grupo Sanguino - Blood type certificate. You can go to any laboratorio in Bogota and ask them to take a blood sample for issuing this document. You'll receive the certificate 1 day after they took your blood sample.
*** Pay the fee to the bank Bancafe located 5 minutes walk from the DAS, close to the Carulla at the roundabout of Calle 100. You will need to pay 120 500 pesos on the bank account 056990203 (Bancafe Calle 100 has clear information hanging on their walls about how to do this)
*** Have 2 pictures 4x3 in "fondo azul" - you can make them close to Bancafe.
*** 2 copies of your passport (1st page + page of entrance to country+ other colombian Visa) - you can make them close to Bancafe.
More info on http://www.investinbogota.com/resources/getresource.jsp?ID=1629

If all your papers are ok, you will receive your "Cedula de Extranjeria" 3-4 days later. Plan about 1-2 hours to complete the process.

I hope this information will clarify the process to follow.

For more informacion about Visas, you can go to:
- http://www.cancilleria.gov.co/WebContentManager/webapp/display.jsp?sid...
- http://www.minrelext.gov.co/wps/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_...

Good luck!

B.

By Bene on Oct 2, 2007, 19:57 in Visa & paperwork.

---

RussianFred says on Oct 2, 2007, 20:44: The link below has all of the different visa options with cost. http://www.colhouston.org/english/visas.php Annual Drug Deaths: Tobacco: 395,000, Alcohol: 125,000, 'Legal' Drugs: 38,000, Illegal Drug Overdoses: 5,200, Marijuana: 0. Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?--Ralph Nader 0 funny, 0 helpful.

Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Oct 2, 2007, 23:51: This is a great guide, thanks! Poor but snappy 0 funny, 0 helpful.

RedDevil says on Oct 3, 2007, 02:41: Just wanted to say that this is a really useful post...thanks. I am looking to move from London to Bogota in about mid-December for 6 months of Spanish studies. I have one or two friends there from previous visits but it's still a bit of a scary step. Regarding Spanish studies in Bogota...has anyone had a good look at the pros, cons of the various universities? Does any have a particularly good reputation? I'll be needing accomodation in Bogota also...hopefully sharing a flat somewhere. Is there a website or some other resource where I can keep an eye open for this? Finally, I'm wondering about how to access my funds in the UK from Bogota when it comes to paying for rent, school and other larger expenses. For day to day use, I can just use the bank machines but for non-cash transactions I'm a little concerned... Thanks for any help here...great forum. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

chrispej says on Oct 3, 2007, 05:04: This is definitely good stuff. Thanks. Now, I have a question. I am looking to apply for a a student visa so I can obtain a cedula and open a bank account in Colombia. You state the student visa is only good if you have 10 hours of class each week. Is it possible to keep a valid student visa if you were to have 3 or 4 month breaks between classes? In other words, I come only 4 months a year, 2 months at a time. Tourist visa works fine for me except I cannot open a bank account in Colombia. Does anyone know if this is possible? 0 funny, 0 helpful.

ozgringo says on Oct 3, 2007, 07:51: Thanks very much I will be using this information very soon, as I will be applying for some form of visa so I can live with my colombian g/f here in Medellin. tried to think of something deep to write here.. but couldn't think of anything.. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

jorgeaev says on Oct 3, 2007, 14:32: If you need any kind of legal advice or any kind of procedure with the DAS here in Colombia let me know. I have a good lawyer who will help you with whatever you need. He used to work with the DAS and now he is helping foreigners to get the papers legally and quick. so let me know if you need his help. jorgeaev at yahoo.es 0 funny, 0 helpful.

iamgringotoo says on Oct 11, 2007, 10:28: welcome to colombia where the burocracy of paperwork is inmense. Always where is a line you will find somebody telling you that they will do the paperwork for a sum. If you are gringo you will never see him again. I am colombian and I know the pain! 0 funny, 0 helpful.

vicshere says on Oct 11, 2007, 11:10: remember none of the above options allow you to work legally that's another different process listo 0 funny, 0 helpful.

avinash says on Oct 26, 2007, 09:48: This is really useful and yea it's true that none allow to work legally but gives you time on hand to find something more certain which is important while you are already here.(like me huh!) 0 funny, 0 helpful.

la campiña says on Oct 26, 2007, 19:48: this is good info but obvious, normaly you get a 2 month stamp when entering locombia, then you can visit DAS 4 times monthly after with fotos and all the other nonsense to continue here, but only for a calender year. If you time it right and when your tourist visa expires get a student visa, salsa or spanish is the most common, many people make the mistake of not attending classes, especialy for the first 2 or 3 weeks, because DAS maybe will call and its like school, not there , absent , DAS are not stupid, but it works if you play the game, then when your student visa runs out , ( if youve timed it right) oh great its Enero , another 6 months and on it goes. you may have to venture down to Tulcan, ecuador, but wow what a great bus ride, or fly with Tame 0 funny, 0 helpful.

avinash says on Oct 27, 2007, 08:02: Here's the question: I'm currently on a student visa until December so do you think I can get this Tourist Visa without leaving the country and by just following the instructions above on the same? Let me know please. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

avinash says on Oct 28, 2007, 00:01: LOL---good one. Now back to my question: I really want to know if I can get the Tourist Visa without leaving Colombia as I have a student visa currently. Please let me know. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

Buongone says on Oct 28, 2007, 01:03: Do you have to go to Bogota? Can these steps be done in Cali? 0 funny, 0 helpful.

More posts by the same author:

Salsa classes for beginners in Bogota 0