According to the declaration of public health emergency made by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, effective until March 30 of 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Resolution 1296 of 2020, issued on April 21 of 2020, established new measures on migratory procedures:
Visa Applications under the public health emergency
Visa applications will only be allowed by the electronic form submit application, and if and only if the foreigner is currently in Colombia. Furthermore, foreigners with a current visiting visa (V) will not be able to apply to another category of visa, and shall apply to the same category (V) while being in Colombia.
Consequently, the visas applications submitted by the foreigner in the Colombians Consulates, are suspended.
Stamps
During the public health emergency, stamp will not be required for visas with a current validity longer than three months, and the registration will not require the stamp, which implies that during the emergency, the registration may be done with the electronic visa.
Suspension of the Effectiveness of Visas
The whole period of the public health emergency, which in principle will last between march 12 and May 30, 2020, will not be taken into account for the visas’ validity or effectiveness of foreigners that are currently outside of Colombia, for the following visas:
- Visiting (V) visas that allow the foreigner to work and visiting visas (V) that allow the foreigner to occupy a position in Colombia being a part of a multinational company.
- Migration (M) visas authorized, no matter the activity holds in the application form.
Therefore, the effectiveness of the visa will be suspended and reactivated after the emergency. For example, if the Visa was pending 15 days of effectiveness by march 12, 2020, this 15-day period will still be pending after May 30, 2020.
Cancellation of Visas V and R
The period of public health emergency declared by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, will not be taken into account for an early cancellation of the visiting (V) and residence (R) visas, of foreignness settled abroad.
Passport Procedures
During the emergency, cancellation of unclaimed passports within six months after the expedition, will be suspended.
Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Colombian Consulates will issue ordinary and executives passports.
Procedures regarding nationality
During the emergency, the renunciation to the Colombian citizenship submission will be suspended as long as the procedure of the acceptation of the resignation. Also, the procedure re-acquiring the Colombian citizenship, will be suspended.
