Visas · Business owner visa
The business owner visa starts with real capital in a real company.
Colombia grants a migrant visa to a foreigner who owns or partly owns a Colombian company whose paid-in capital exceeds the legal threshold. For a company limited by shares, the proof is a shareholding certificate signed by a public accountant. That signature is ours, and it has to be supported by books that agree with the commercial registry.
- The threshold is paid-in capital, not revenue.
- Proven by a shareholding certificate signed by a public accountant.
- Buying shares on the secondary market does not qualify.
Visa M — Socio o Propietario · Article 75 of Resolución 5477 de 2022
Start with the financial side.
Tell us what you hold today. We answer the same business day.
Category
M · Migrant
Duration
Granted for up to three years, conditioned on maintaining the shareholding.
Work permit
Work is permitted only in the company in which you are partner, shareholder or owner.
Counts towards residency
Five continuous years as an M-Socio o Propietario holder count towards the R resident visa.
The financial threshold
Written in law as minimum wages, not in pesos.
Colombian visa thresholds move every January with the minimum wage, and article 79 measures them at the date you file. The peso figures below are calculated from the 2026 wage, currently $1.750.905 a month, set transitionally by Decreto 0159 de 2026.
Paid-in capital or shareholding
$175.090.500one-off
At least 100 monthly minimum wages
Article 75 requires not less than 100 minimum wages, measured at the filing date.
Requirements
What the file has to prove.
Consulates apply these differently in practice, and the detail changes between resolutions. Treat this as the shape of the file, then have it confirmed for your nationality before you submit.
- A Colombian company in which you are a partner, shareholder or owner.
- Paid-in capital or a shareholding of not less than the legal threshold, at the date you file.
- For a company limited by shares, a shareholding certificate signed by a public accountant.
- An application letter stating the company's legal name, domicile, tax number, main activity and the number of direct jobs it creates.
- On renewal, evidence of ongoing economic activity and solvency: three months of bank statements, the income tax return, social security contributions, the lease and municipal tax receipts.
- Health cover valid in Colombia.
Who does what
We are accountants. That is precisely why this works.
This visa turns on a financial fact somebody has to establish and certify. That is our work, and it is where applications fail. The immigration filing is prepared with the firm’s immigration counsel, briefed and supervised by us, so one team holds the whole file and you deal with one point of contact.
Handled by the firm
The financial half, signed by a licensed accountant.
- Incorporating the company, or reviewing the one you already have against the threshold.
- Subscribing and paying capital so the figure is real and evidenced, not merely written into the bylaws.
- Registering the foreign capital contribution with Banco de la República.
- The shareholding certificate and the financial certifications, signed by a licensed Colombian public accountant.
- Ongoing accounting, so the company can still evidence activity and solvency when the visa is renewed.
Coordinated by the firm
The immigration filing, by counsel we brief and supervise.
- The visa application and the consular filing.
- The foreigner registration and cédula de extranjería process after approval.
- Corporate legal work beyond incorporation, such as shareholder agreements.
We do not present coordinated work as our own, and we do not quote processing times or predict approvals. Those belong to the authorities.
The part most sites get wrong
What this visa does to your tax position.
A company that exists mainly to support a visa carries every obligation of a company that trades: monthly and annual filings, electronic invoicing, and payroll with social security if it employs anyone. Renewals ask for the income tax return, social security contributions and municipal tax receipts, so a dormant, unfiled company does not merely accumulate penalties, it removes your ability to renew.
After approval
Foreigner registration and the cédula de extranjería.
Register within
15 calendar days from entering Colombia, or from the date the visa is issued if it was granted while you were in the country
Apply for the cédula
at the moment of registration, or within 3 business days where the registration was completed electronically
Applies to holders and beneficiaries of any visa valid for more than three months, and is issued by Migración Colombia. The exemption list covers tourism, business, crew, events and two courtesy categories are exempt regardless of the visa's validity. Source: Decreto 1067 de 2015, articles 2.2.1.11.4.1 and 2.2.1.11.4.4, and Resolución 9316 de 2024.
In short
The essentials, in three lines.
- 01Colombia's M business owner visa, under article 75 of Resolución 5477 de 2022, requires a shareholding or paid-in capital of not less than 100 monthly minimum wages in a Colombian company, measured at the filing date.
- 02For a company limited by shares the shareholding is proven by a certificate signed by a public accountant, and the work permit is limited to that company.
- 03Acquiring shares on the secondary market does not qualify for this visa, and renewal requires evidence of ongoing economic activity and solvency.
Questions
What people ask about this visa.
Not on the secondary market. Article 75 states expressly that acquiring shares on the secondary market does not give rise to this visa. The capital has to be subscribed and paid into the company rather than bought from an existing shareholder, which is a distinction that catches people who assumed any shareholding above the threshold would do.
The company has to be genuine, with capital actually paid in, and it carries full Colombian compliance obligations from registration. Renewal expressly requires evidence of ongoing economic activity and solvency, so a shell with capital on paper and no filings fails at the second application even if it passes the first.
No. The work permit attached to this visa is limited to the company in which you are a partner, shareholder or owner. Taking employment with a different Colombian company requires a different visa category, and doing it anyway puts your immigration status at risk.
For a company limited by shares it is signed by a public accountant, which for us is the ordinary course of the engagement rather than a favour. It has to reconcile to the corporate books and the commercial registry, so where those three disagree we fix them before anything is certified.
Who answers
The accountant who signs the certification, not a call centre.
Kathiuska Villegas Padilla is a Colombian Contadora Pública with a postgraduate specialization in Tax Management. Where a visa file needs a shareholding certificate, an income certification or evidence of registered investment, it carries her signature and she answers for it.
We work inside your company's software
QuickBooks
- Zeus
Other routes into Colombia.
M · Migrant
Investor visa
For foreigners with registered direct investment, or Colombian real estate above the legal threshold.
Read moreV · Visitor
Digital nomad visa
For remote workers earning from abroad. The tax question it raises is the important one.
Read moreV · Visitor
Rentista visa
For foreigners living on periodic income. A visitor category, which matters if residency is the goal.
Read more
Where this comes from
- Resolución 5477 de 2022, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
- Cancillería, visa requirements by category
Verified on 10 September 2026 against the consolidated text of Resolución 5477 de 2022 and its amendments. Immigration rules change by resolution and consulates apply them differently in practice. This page is general information about how the financial requirements work, not immigration advice, and nothing here is a promise of approval or of a processing time.
Free initial call
Start with the number the application turns on.
Before anything is filed, someone has to establish the investment, the capital or the income, and be willing to certify it. That is where we start, and it is the part that decides whether the file is worth submitting.
What decides your tax position
183 days
Tax residency starts at 183 days of presence in any rolling 365-day window. No visa category changes that, and the tax authority has said so in a published ruling.
Find out whether your file actually holds.
Free initial call with the director. We reply the same business day.
Talk to the firm
Two ways to start. Both answer today.
Free initial call
Thirty minutes that order the year.
- TodayWe write back to confirm a time.
- 30 minA call with the director, in English.
- 24 hA written proposal with scope and fees.
WhatsApp, direct
Message us now. The firm replies, not a bot.
A specific question, a deadline this week or a letter from the tax office. We reply the same business day.
+57 316 664 6068
Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00 Colombia time