About ColombiaGringo

Status:

Expatriate  

Gender:

Male

Currently Lives:

Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia

Citizen Of:

United States

About ColombiaGringo

Hi, Im James, an expat from the United States. I moved to Colombia in 2005. I lived in Brazil from 2003 to 2004. My friends in Miami introduced me to Colombia. I moved down here site unseen. My background in the United States is in Business and Systems development. I worked implementing technical business solutions in Legal and Real Estate fields before jumping ship and moving to South America. I currently own Paradise Realty and Visas y Tramites Internacionales. We set up about 5 new businesses every month for foreigners arriving into Colombia. If you have any questions regarding setting up your new life in Colombia feel free to contact me.

My Website:

http://www.travelcolombia.org

Advice for New Expats

After living in Bogota 1 year i discovered Medellin. A much safer and cleaner city that Bogota. I found that the news was highly misleading regarding crime in Bogota and Medellin. Medellin is 100 times safer than Bogota. Considering crime, health, and everyday living Medellin is 1000 times better than Bogota. Have patience and you can make it work in Colombia. Culture shock is not easy, its normal to get frustrated a bit. Find some other expats to help you adjust.

I would love to live in...

Medellin but with a beach!

HR/Relo
Professional:

Provider of Expat-Related Services & Products

Favorite Websites:

http://www.ColombiaVisas.com
http://www.ParadiseRealtyMedellin.com

Some Forum Posts:

Colombia: morgage:

For foreigners its extremely difficult to loan money. if your an executive or a high salary person with a couple years behind you in Colombia you can sometimes get loans. other than that its a bit difficult. besides that you might want to check out some of the information on www.colombiabankaccount.com cheers, James Lindzey Colombia Legal & Accounting SAS 57-4-444-6634

Colombia: Bringing ham radios:

No problem at all. i have had several radios sent here via aeropostal mail forwarding service. there is no problem sending radios here. operating them then you should have your local permit. you can email me direct for more info at james@colombiavisas.com .... i just got my ham license approved this month! 2 meters works great around Medellin. there's actually a pretty good network in Colombia. As you probably read there only 4,000 licensed hams in Colombia compared to the 750,000 in the states. Cheers, James Lindzey facebook.com/colombiavisa

Colombia: Tax Consultant:

Get a consultation with Colombia Legal & Accounting sas in person. The office is down by parque lleras if your in Medellin. www.colombiaaccountants.com 183 days in any 12 month period means your a tax resident, then you have to qualify by looking at other criteria to see if you have to file. http://www.medellinlawyer.com/colombia-personal-tax-declaration/ Cheers, James Lindzey 57-4-444-6634 / 57-301 337 1881 / +1-305-767-2766

Colombia: Mail Forwarding:

Hey guys for large packages i use a service called aeropostal. efficient, good tracking, and you can load up your own invoice so you can claim lower amounts and then pay lower taxes. just remember there is a ban on shipping cell phones now. http://aeropost.com/ they dont repack. an option which would really help. some services will join shipments into one package. thats what kills me when i order amazon. it goes to my box in three boxes and i get murdered because im paying 3 boxes. cheers, James Lindzey Colombia Legal & Accounting

Colombia: Colombian's receiving 10 year American Visas:

The name 10 year visa is not accurate. its still only allows a person to stay 6 months in any 12 month period. The visa does not have be be renewed for 10 years. you dont have permission to stay 10 years. This is just a tourist visa. when obama came down here the 5 year tourist visa renewal period was changed to 10 years. the duration a person can stay did not change. Cheers, James Lindzey Colombia Legal & Accounting SAS Visas y Tramites Internacionales www.colombiavisas.com www.colombiaattorney.com 57-4-444-6634

Colombia: Employment in Antioquia:

Start your own company or work with other expats. Local jobs dont pay well unless you hook up with an executive job at a major corporation with multinational links.

Colombia: Does TP10 get revoked if I leave Colombia for more than a certain amount of time?:

180 days is the limit you can leave the country for. check out www.colombiamarriagevisa.com for more information or email me directly. james@colombiavisas.com Cheers, James

Colombia: Divorce:

Colombia Lega & Accounting sas does divorces. If there are children involved then its something that should be handeled with someone who has a lot of experience. If an agreement can be reached between the parties the divorces can be done with in just 1-2 months. of course you dont want just any colombian attorney. typical attorneys here file incorrectly, loose documents, and just dont do their job. its the culture really. same thing with accountants. send an email to me if you want more information. james@medellinattorney.com 444-6634 / 301 337 1881 www.medellinlawyer.com

Colombia: Alianza:

the trick is if you want to legalize a foreign investment for a visa or other reasons then atms dont work so its good to use the big investment banks or banks for this.

Colombia: How to get Colombian residency visa:

Civil Union / Union LIbre - A VERY COMMON MISTAKE at the notary is doing the cheap civil union which is 10,000 to 20,000 pesos. This version does not comply with immigration standards because you must actually have the civil union as a public document registered at the notary. in order to do this you must actually ask for a ESCRITURA PUBLICA. This totals 120,000 pesos. If you need help, our attorney can set this up at the notary for you. More info on marriages in colombia check out. http://colombiamarriagevisa.com/colombia-civil-union/ James Lindzey Colombia Legal & Accounting SAS 57-4-444-6634 / 57-301-337-1881 (Colombia) 1-305-767-2766 (USA) www.medellinlawyer.com

Date Joined:

3/31/2010

Total Posts:

245

Posts/Day:

0.10