VisaColombia’s pension visa requires health coverage as well as pension evidence
Foreign retirees should prepare medical, police and insurance documents alongside proof of a qualifying lifetime pension before applying.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Establish that the income is a qualifying pension
Foreign retirees considering residence in Colombia should establish whether their income meets the M Pensionado category before paying for an application. The foreign ministry’s dedicated page describes regular monthly income from a pension awarded by a state or private pension fund. Savings alone are not the pension evidence described. This is a current-rule guide, rather than an announcement of new eligibility.
The page requires certification of a lifetime monthly pension worth at least three current legal monthly minimum wages. It also lists police or criminal-record evidence covering the country where the applicant stayed during the previous three years, a medical certificate demonstrating physical and psychological fitness, and health coverage for the intended stay. Coverage must address the listed risks, including hospitalisation, death and repatriation; a policy’s name alone does not demonstrate that coverage.
Compare formal documents with the bank-statement exception
Resolution 5477 provides the general document rules alongside the category checklist. Article 20 requires supporting documents, except valid passports or travel documents, to have been issued no more than three months before application registration. Arrange recently issued evidence rather than assuming an old pension award can be submitted unchanged merely because the pension continues.
Article 21 generally requires foreign documents to be apostilled or legalised and officially translated into Spanish when necessary. Its exception permits certifications or bank statements without those formalities when their content is in an official language of the Organization of American States and the visa authority can clearly establish all their contents. The category page expressly requests formal pension certification. Applicants relying on the exception should ask which particular document qualifies, rather than treating an English bank statement as a substitute for the pension-award evidence. A complete application does not guarantee approval.
Choose the receiving office and monitor both payment windows
The ministry’s application ABC describes an online process. Applicants outside Colombia select the nearest Colombian consular office for their country of residence, or a third country where they hold temporary or permanent residence. Applicants in Colombia select the Bogotá office and must have regular immigration status. Upload clear PDF documents and a JPG photograph within the stated 300 KB limit.
The ABC distinguishes payment for assessment from payment for issuance after approval. The assessment payment is due within ten calendar days after creation of the application reference; issuance payment is also due within ten calendar days after approval. Missing either window is treated as withdrawal. Assessment payment is non-refundable and does not secure approval. These payment deadlines do not extend existing permission to stay. The ministry may request additional physical evidence even though the procedure is described as virtual.
Check the applicable fee without assuming one worldwide price
The official visa-cost page uses an activity filter and identifies nationality exceptions. Spanish nationals are listed as exempt from both assessment and issuance charges. For Ecuadorian nationals it lists free issuance, with assessment of 23 euros in Europe and Cuba or 30 US dollars elsewhere. Japanese and Korean nationals are listed as paying assessment but not issuance. These are published exceptions, not a statement that every pension applicant pays the same charge.
The pension category’s standard assessment and issuance amounts were not established from the accessible unfiltered page during this check. Select the activity and receiving office and confirm both components before payment. The page provides PSE, Servibanca and bank-payment guidance for Colombia, while directing applicants abroad to consult their consular office about local payment methods. Do not treat a fee exemption as exemption from the rest of the application procedure.
Address expiring stay through the correct separate procedure
If present permission may expire during the visa process, Migración Colombia’s salvoconducto page is the relevant separate resource. It describes exceptional temporary documents for departure or stay; an application for a pension visa does not itself establish entitlement. The SC-2 for a visa application lasts 30 calendar days and may be extended for the same period with prior foreign-ministry authorisation. An extension is therefore not automatic.
The procedure begins with the online FUT form and supporting PDF documents, followed by a service-centre appointment with originals. The published general 2026 charge is 88,000 Colombian pesos, with specified exceptions, payable at the appointment by the listed card or bank-receipt channels. Officials are not authorised to receive cash. Establish whether this document is appropriate before relying on it to remain in Colombia; a pending appointment is not an issued permission.
