How to Get a Work Visa in Colombia
Editor’s Note: For more up-to-date information on obtaining a work visa, please visit this post published June 2013.
Falling in love with Colombia and its people is easy, staying here is a little more difficult.
Unless you want to visit the DAS office every month, the best way to stay in Colombia is to study, or work.
With a student visa, you need to find a university to study Spanish or another subject area, and then pay for your classes first. Most schools require that you pay for half the classes you desire.
So, if you want to study for three months, you have to pay for a month and a half in advance. And, if you want to study for more than 3 months, you have to pay more money for your visa because you also have to pay to receive a celula.
Other then that, the process is fairly easy. The school can usually help you find someone to receive your passport and other documents in Bogota, bring your papers to the Embassy and then ship it back to you within 3 days. Again, at an additional cost.
On the other hand, I have read a few blogs about the difficulties of getting a job in Colombia and the visa associated with it. Maybe I was just lucky, but within a week of coming to Colombia, I was hired at a well-known private school along with 2 other Americans.
The school took care of almost everything required to get me a work visa in Colombia, including paying for all the expenses, like sending me to Panama for 2 nights, the hotel room, extra spending money, and taxis to and from the airports.
They set up an appointment with the consulate for me and provided me with all the paperwork I needed to apply for a work visa in Colombia, except for the apostilized diplomas. This had to be done in New York, and was apparently quite a hassle according to my parents from who I had to request their services for the task.
The only thing left for me to do is go to the DAS office for my celula.
Required Paperwork
- Three 3 x 3 photos on white background
- Passport with at least 2 blank pages
- Copy of passport: information page and last page used
- Diplomas of Universities (needs an apostile – which is a hassle in and of itself)
- Contract from the job, provided by the company
- “Solicitud de visa” form SC-FO-15, provided by the company
- Certification of legal representation, provided by the company
Another incorrect statement I found online: “If you are thinking about working as a teacher and you want a work visa you will need a teaching qualification. This rule is quite new. So, no teaching qualification, no work visa as a teacher.”
This is not true, as I do not have a teacher certification and I was just hired 3 weeks ago. However, I have taught for a year in Peru which helped me during the hiring process.
Fees
- $205 for the visa
- $25 processing
- $50 for the appointment
And, it is important to bring currency in the country you are going to.
My job gave me Colombian Pesos to use in Panama, but they didn’t accept them, and I had to change money at a very poor exchange rate, losing money for my school.
Editor’s Note: For more up-to-date information on obtaining a work visa, please visit this post published June 2013.
