Colombia Digital Nomad Visa 2026: Income Requirement, Documents and How to Apply
Colombia’s digital nomad visa has become one of the most straightforward routes for remote workers who want to spend serious time in Medellín rather than cycling in and out on tourist stamps. It is also one of the most misunderstood. Nearly every guide online quotes a different income requirement — $1,100, $1,400, $1,000 — and almost all of them are wrong, because the requirement is not denominated in dollars at all.
This guide sets out what the visa actually is, what the 2026 threshold is in Colombian pesos, why that number moved sharply this year, and what you need to have ready before you apply.
What the digital nomad visa actually is
The Visa V Nómada Digital sits in Colombia’s Type V (Visitor) category. It is aimed at people who earn their income from outside Colombia — remote employees of a foreign company, freelancers with foreign clients, or owners of a business domiciled abroad — and who want to live in the country while continuing that work.
It can be granted for up to two years. That is the headline advantage over the visa-free tourist permit, which gives most nationalities 90 days on entry, extendable to a maximum of 180 days in any calendar year. For anyone trying to build a life in Medellín — sign a 12-month lease, open a bank account, put children in school — the two-year horizon changes everything.
The 2026 income requirement, and why it jumped
The rule is fixed in Colombian law as three times the monthly legal minimum wage (SMMLV), not as a dollar figure. That is why the dollar amounts you see quoted online are all slightly different and all slightly stale — they are snapshots of an exchange rate on the day someone wrote the article.
For 2026 the minimum wage was set at COP $1,750,905 per month. That puts the digital nomad visa income requirement at:
| Measure | 2026 figure |
|---|---|
| Monthly legal minimum wage (SMMLV) | COP $1,750,905 |
| Digital nomad visa threshold (3× SMMLV) | COP $5,252,715 per month |
| Approximate USD equivalent | Roughly US$1,380–1,420, depending on the rate |
That threshold is meaningfully higher than in 2025, and the reason is worth understanding if you are budgeting. Colombia’s 2026 minimum wage was set by Decree 1469 of 2025 at a 23% increase — an unusually large jump. In February 2026 the Consejo de Estado provisionally suspended that decree, and for a few days there was genuine uncertainty about which figure applied. The government issued a transitional decree shortly afterwards that kept the increase in place, and COP $1,750,905 remains the operative figure.
The practical takeaway: the peso threshold has risen roughly a fifth in a single year, and the legal position around it has been contested. If you are close to the line, check the current SMMLV before you submit rather than relying on a figure you read months ago.
How you prove the income
Bank statements covering the last three months, showing income at or above the threshold in each of them. Consular officers are looking for a consistent pattern, not a single large deposit. Freelancers with lumpy income should think carefully about which three-month window they submit.
Alongside the statements you will need a letter from your employer or your clients, in Spanish or English, describing the working relationship and what you are paid. If you own the business, that letter comes from the company along with proof that it is domiciled outside Colombia.
Full document checklist
- Passport with adequate remaining validity, plus a copy of the biographic page
- Passport-style photograph meeting Cancillería specifications
- Employer or client letter in Spanish or English, setting out the relationship and remuneration
- Three months of bank statements evidencing at least COP $5,252,715 per month
- Health insurance valid in Colombia for the full intended stay
- Proof of legal entry, if you are applying from inside Colombia
- Police certificate from your country of citizenship; additional certificates may be requested
The health insurance requirement catches people out
A generic travel policy is usually not enough. The policy must explicitly cover Colombia for the period of the stay, and must include accident and illness, hospitalisation, disability, maternity, death and repatriation. Read the schedule of benefits, not the marketing page — repatriation in particular is missing from a lot of standard nomad insurance products.
Fees and processing time
There are two government charges: a study fee paid when you submit, and an issuance fee paid only if the visa is approved. The issuance fee is US$177 for applicants in Europe and Cuba, and US$230 for the rest of the world. Fees are set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and change periodically, so confirm the current schedule at the point of application.
On timing, plan for one to six weeks to assemble documents and two to six weeks for the government to review. Applications are submitted through the Cancillería’s online visa platform. Straightforward files from applicants with clean, well-documented foreign income tend to sit at the fast end of that range; anything requiring clarification sits at the slow end.
What this visa does not let you do
This is the part people miss. The digital nomad visa does not permit paid work for a person or company domiciled in Colombia. Your income has to come from outside. Taking on a local client on this visa is a breach of its terms.
Two further points to raise with a Colombian immigration lawyer before you commit:
- Residency pathway. This is a Visitor-category visa. If your longer-term plan is permanent residency, ask specifically how time on a V visa interacts with the Migrant (M) and Resident (R) categories — the categories behave differently, and assuming continuity is a common and expensive mistake.
- Tax residency. Spending more than 183 days in Colombia in a rolling period can make you a Colombian tax resident, with consequences for your worldwide income. This is independent of your visa category and catches a lot of nomads in their second year.
Where nomads actually live in Medellín
Two years is long enough that the neighbourhood decision matters more than the visa. The three areas that absorb most of the remote-working population are:
- El Poblado — the highest concentration of English speakers, coworking and international dining, and the highest prices. Steep terrain and heavy short-term-rental turnover.
- Laureles — flat, walkable, metro-connected and more residential. Increasingly the default choice for people staying more than a few months.
- Envigado and Sabaneta — quieter, better value per square metre, and popular with people on longer visas who want a real neighbourhood rather than a nomad hub.
A two-year visa also changes the rent-versus-buy calculation. Below roughly a year, renting is almost always right. Beyond that, and particularly if you are considering staying longer, it is worth running the numbers on a purchase — see our guide to whether foreigners can buy property in Medellín and our breakdown of closing costs for foreign buyers.
Getting set up
Most applicants underestimate two things: how specific the health insurance requirement is, and how much a clean, consistent three-month bank record matters. Fix those two and the rest of the file is administrative.
Once the visa is in hand, the practical work begins — finding a long-term lease that a landlord will actually sign with a foreigner, or buying. We handle both. Browse long-term rentals in Medellín or properties for sale, or get in touch and we will walk you through the options for your timeline.
This article is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Visa rules, fee schedules and the minimum wage change — the 2026 minimum wage in particular was subject to legal challenge. Confirm current requirements with the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a licensed Colombian immigration lawyer before applying.