Colombia · Residency by investment
R Visa — Resident
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Last verified July 2026
You can reach this status either through 650 SMMLV of direct investment, or by accumulating qualifying time on an M visa. Either way, a mandatory five-year traspaso, or transfer period, applies.
The R visa is the only Colombian status that starts a citizenship clock. The USD 350,000 direct route buys that clock immediately, rather than after five years of M visa renewals. Whether it is worth doing comes down to one question: can you tolerate the wealth tax.
Qualifying routes
1138.1M COP
Direct foreign investment of 650 SMMLV
650 × SMMLV 1,750,905 = COP 1,138,088,250, roughly USD 349,954 at TRM 3,252.11 (15 July 2026).
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Accumulated time on an M visa
5 accumulated years on most M visas, or 2 years on certain M categories, such as being the spouse or parent of a Colombian.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- 1138.1M COP
- Total landed cost
- Roughly USD 350k in investment, or nothing beyond fees if you are converting from M time, plus USD 3–8k in legal costs.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 1–4 months (Processing itself is fast. The real constraint is the qualifying period.)
- Physical presence
- The R visa lapses after a continuous absence of more than two years.
- Family
- Spouse or permanent partnerChildren under 25
- Permanent residency
- The R visa is itself the resident status.
- Citizenship
- 5 years on R, or 2 if you are married to, or the parent of, a Colombian.
- Language test
- The exam covers the Constitution, historia patria, geografia, and castellano, plus a culture module added 25 September 2023. Applicants over 60 are exempt.
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- 650 SMMLV in registered direct investment, or qualifying accumulated M timeInvestment must be registered with the Banco de la RepúblicaClean criminal recordHealth insurance valid in Colombia
What can go wrong
- Time spent on a V visa, including the digital nomad visa, does not count toward the R visa. Only M time accumulates. This is the single most common, and most expensive, planning error in Colombia.
- Colombia taxes worldwide net assets from the very first day of tax residency. That is why most ultra-high-net-worth families should hold a Colombian visa without ever becoming tax resident. The wealth tax applies above roughly USD 1.16M of net assets, at rates of 0.5–1.5%. The 1.5% top rate runs from 2023 to 2026, then falls to 1.0% above 122,000 UVT starting in 2027.
- The R visa comes with a mandatory five-year traspaso. It has to be renewed, and the status has to be actively maintained, not just left in place.
- Thresholds tied to the SMMLV reset every January, and the SMMLV itself is currently under litigation. The Consejo de Estado suspended Decreto 1469/2025 on 12 February 2026, and Decreto Transitorio 0159 of 19 February 2026 now governs the matter until a final judgment is issued.
- We were not able to confirm the 350/100/650 SMMLV thresholds directly from the text of Resolución 5477. The Cancillería's normograma returns an error on every route we tried. Multiple sources agree on the figures and the math holds up, but we have not verified them against the primary source.