Colombia Expat Forum

cafetero
Joined 2015
Posts: 2328

7 years ago

Getting a Five Year visa

7 years ago

This is my experience, IN COLOMBIA, and others will vary.

The steps to citizenship in Colombia for a PENSIONER are different for some of the other categories such as Spousal.

For a Pensioner:

1. Arrive on tourist visa first and then apply for Temporary Residency Visa.

2. Alternatively, you can apply for Temporary Residency Visa at the consulate in your country before you come to Colombia.

3. The Tourist visa is good for six months, but it is usually given out for only 2 or 3 months when you arrive. Then you have to go to Migracion Colombia in your city and extend the tourist visa for a month at a time for about 40,000 pesos per month until you reach the six month limit.

3A. You can work the system by having your first six month tourist visa expire at year end, then go outside the country for a day or two, then in the new year return to Colombia and get your passport stamped again for a new 6 month tourist visa.

4. After the tourist visa is used up you have to have a Temporary Residency Visa in whatever category you are applying. For pensioners it is TP7 and is good for a year at a time.

5. Supposedly, after the first five years of temporary 1-year visas you can then apply for a 5-year Permanent Residency Visa.

6. At the end of the 5-year Permanent Residency Visa you can apply for Citizenship.

7. Presumably, for a pensioner, it takes 5 years temporary and 5 years permanent to qualify to apply for citizenship. But for most of us it doesn't work out that way.

7A. You want to renew the TP7 at least a few days before it expires, because leaving it to the last day may result in it expiring, in which case you have to pay hefty fines to get reinstated, AND if you let the visa expire you then have to start your 5-year count all over again.

In the United States, when you renew something, like your drivers license, the new period always starts on the day after your old license expires. NOT true in Colombia. Your Renewal period starts on the day they give it to you and NOT on the day your old one expires.

Also, in Colombia, IN MY EXPERIENCE, they will not give you till the next business day after a weekend or holiday. If your visa expires on a holiday or weekend then on the next business day when you arrive for renewal they will declare your Visa is expired and fine you for being in country without a visa.

7B. When you go in a few days early to renew your TP7 they will start your new visa on the day you are there. Which means you just lost a week on your continuity. Do that for five years and you then find out you have to go for a SIXTH year as a temporary resident before you can apply for the 5-year permanent residency.

7C. Even if you went exactly the day it expired you still won´t always win. SOMETIMES they will stamp your new temporary visa to expire one day early.
That happened to me in 2012 and again in 2015.
Arguing with the immigration officer doesn´t help. In both cases he refused to re-do the new visa to show it ending on the proper day.
As a result, at the end of 5 years I am two days short of qualifying for a new 5-year Permanent Resident Visa.

Bottom line, figure on needing SIX temporary 1-year visas before you can apply for the 5-Year Permanent Resident visa.

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