We take the errands of moving to Medellín or Bogotá off your plate: the visa plan, first rental, ID card, bank, phone and health cover. At Colombia Desk, our relocation concierge works on your side through the first months, so each step happens in the order the next one needs.
Moving to Colombia is not hard for an American or a European, but the order is easy to get wrong. A visa comes first, the cédula de extranjería comes within 15 calendar days of it, and banks and health insurers usually want that cédula before they will sign you up. You can start with a short message on our contact form saying who is moving, which city and when.
What Our Colombia Relocation Services Cover
Our relocation concierge covers nine jobs, from the visa plan before you fly to the health cover you need once you are a resident. Most people moving to Colombia can do each job alone. The trouble is the dependencies between them, and a month lost to one blocked step delays the rest.
- The visa route. We match your income and plans to a visa, then build the document list with you.
- The city and the neighborhood. We shortlist areas that fit your budget, your commute and how you like to live, and we show you around them.
- The first rental. We find, view and negotiate a furnished apartment for your first months, and check the lease before you sign.
- The cédula de extranjería. We book your appointment and go with you, inside the 15-day window.
- The bank account. We find out what your chosen bank asks for, and we go to the branch with you.
- The phone. We get a Colombian line working and your foreign phone registered so the network does not block it.
- Health cover. We explain the public health system, run through an Entidad Promotora de Salud (EPS), and private plans, and help you enroll in the one you choose.
- Getting around. Transit cards, airport transfers and a short list of drivers, so you reach the cédula appointment and the bank without guessing at taxis.
- The next step. If you decide to buy, our Medellín buyer’s concierge or Bogotá buyer’s concierge picks up where relocation ends.
The Order That Makes a Move to Colombia Work
A move to Colombia works when each step clears the way for the next one. The timeline below is the order we follow.
| When | Step | Why it comes here |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 3 months before | Gather documents and get them apostilled (pension certificate, criminal record) | Apostilles come from the country that issued each document, so they take the longest |
| 1 to 2 months before | Apply for the visa online | Fees are due within 10 calendar days of the request, and the visa sets your cédula deadline |
| First week | Move into a furnished rental and get a local SIM | You need an address and a Colombian number for nearly everything after |
| Within 15 calendar days | Apply for the cédula de extranjería | Migración Colombia requires it for visas over 3 months, except visitor (V) visas |
| Once the cédula arrives | Open a bank account and join an EPS | Banks and health insurers usually want the cédula itself |
| Months 2 to 6 | Choose a long-term rental or start looking to buy | You know the city by then |
Pick the first rental for flexibility. An apartment that looked right online can sit on a steep street or above a bar, and a short furnished lease lets you leave. We suggest three to six months in a furnished place before you commit, and long-term rentals in Medellín explains how leases of 30 days or more work.
Choosing the Visa Route
Your income and plans decide the visa, and the visa decides what you can do here. These four routes fit most people moving for retirement, remote work or a purchase, with the 2026 minimums from Cancillería.
| Visa | Who it suits | 2026 minimum | Validity | Fee (study + issuance) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M-Pensionado (retirement) | Retirees with a lifetime pension | Pension of COP 5,252,715 a month (about USD 1,640) | Up to 3 years | USD 260 |
| V-Nómada Digital | Remote workers paid from abroad | Income of COP 5,252,715 a month, 3 months of statements | Up to 2 years | USD 194 |
| V-Rentista | People living on passive income who are not pensioners | Income of COP 17,509,050 a month | Up to 2 years | USD 194 |
| M-Inversionista (property) | Buyers of a property in their sole name | Property worth COP 612,816,750 | Up to 3 years | USD 260 |
The fees took effect on April 1, 2026, under Resolución 3969 de 2026. The study fee is not refunded if the visa is refused. Time on the retirement or investor M visa counts toward a resident (R) visa after five continuous years. If you hold an old permanent resident visa, Cancillería has set October 31, 2026 as the deadline to transfer it so you can be issued a cédula.
Visa-exempt nationals can also come in on an ordinary entry permit for up to 90 days, extendable to 180 days in a calendar year. That suits a scouting trip. We can plan that visit as the first stage of your move.
The Cédula, the Bank and the Phone
The cédula de extranjería is the foreigner ID card, and you need it for most of the rest of a move. Migración Colombia’s 2026 guidance requires it for holders of visas longer than three months, except visitor visas. You must apply within 15 calendar days of arrival, or of the visa being issued in Colombia. The 2026 fee is COP 294,000.
The steps are an online form, a free appointment and an in-person visit to a Migración office with your passport and visa. Appointment slots open Sunday to Thursday from 5 pm, so we book yours as soon as the visa is issued.
Banks set their own rules, and they change. Bancolombia’s help page asks foreigners for a visa plus a passport or cédula, and a second photo ID, all as originals at a branch. It does not accept the cédula’s temporary receipt. So we call the branch before your visit and bring a checklist to it.
A phone from abroad works in Colombia while it roams. Once you put a Colombian SIM in it, the operator must register its IMEI, the phone’s serial number, or the network can block it. Under a Comisión de Regulación de Comunicaciones (CRC) concept, a phone blocked for missing registration can still be registered, and the operator must unblock it within 60 hours. Claro lets you register through its app, and we do it with you on the day you get the line.
Health Cover After You Move
Residents who can pay must join the public contributory health system through an EPS, according to the Superintendencia Nacional de Salud. EPS providers normally ask for a cédula de extranjería, and a passport alone is often refused, so enrollment comes after the cédula.
If you are self-employed or a remote worker, your contribution is 12.5% of a base equal to 40% of your income. That base never goes below one minimum wage, per the Unidad de Gestión Pensional y Parafiscales (UGPP). The floor works out to about COP 218,863 a month in 2026. A spouse and children join as beneficiaries at no extra cost.
You can add a private plan (medicina prepagada) on top of the EPS. Premiums rise steeply with age, so we get quotes for your age band before you budget. Until the EPS is active, the travel or health insurance your visa required keeps you covered.
What We Do Not Do
We coordinate a move, and we hand the regulated parts to the people licensed to do them.
- We are not immigration lawyers or officials. Cancillería decides visas, and we bring in a lawyer when a case needs legal argument, such as a refused application.
- We are not a moving company or customs agent. If you ship furniture, a licensed mover and customs broker handle the import. We make sure someone is at the apartment on delivery day.
- We are not tax advisors. Becoming a tax resident has consequences at home and in Colombia, so we connect you with an accountant before you pass the date that matters.
- We are not doctors or insurers. We help you enroll and find clinics, and the medical decisions stay with your doctor.
Who Should Skip a Relocation Concierge
Relocation help is worth it when the move is long and the steps are new to you. It is less useful in three cases.
- Stays under three months. On an entry permit you do not need a cédula, a bank or an EPS. Book a furnished rental and use the trip planning guides instead.
- Spanish speakers who have moved within Latin America before. You already know how a cédula queue and a bank branch work, and the Living Here guides may be all you need.
- People who do not yet qualify for any visa. Fix the income or pension paperwork first. A concierge cannot make an application stronger than its documents.
Our view changes when there is a family, a pet, a purchase or a deadline involved. Each one adds steps that run at the same time, in a second language, and a coordinator keeps one stalled step from holding up the others.
How to Start Your Move
Start with the facts we need to plan: who is moving, which city, the visa you think fits, your monthly income or pension and your target date. We reply with the order we would run your move in and what we would take off your plate.
Send those details through the contact form, and our Colombia relocation services team will come back with a first plan for your move.