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Colombia Investment Visa: A Guide to Buying Property in Colombia as a Foreigner

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Colombia Investment Visa: A Guide to Buying Property in Colombia as a Foreigner and its Visa Requirements – 2022 Update

Introduction: In this article, we will indicate the specific steps to buy a Home/Property/Lot in Colombia, and the correct legalization of the currencies to obtain a type M Investment Visa (Property Owner) with a value higher than 350 SMMLV ($92,000 USD) or type R (direct investment) 650 SMMLV ($171,000 USD) according to the regulations of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Titles Inquiry (Estudio de Títulos), is the verification of the legal history of the property by analyzing the Tradition and Freedom Certificate (Certificado de Tradición y Libertad) of the property to buy and its derivatives. 

The first step to buying a property in Colombia is to establish a clear negotiation of the property to buy, verifying various legal issues of the property before making the purchase that we indicate below:

The Titles Inquiry (Estudio de Títulos), is the verification of the legal history of the property by analyzing the Tradition and Freedom Certificate (Certificado de Tradición y Libertad) of the property to buy and its derivatives.

a. Preliminary Study: Review the Certificado de Tradición y Libertad to validate if it has affectations, encumbrances, domain limitations, resolution conditions, precautionary measures, etc.

b. Definitive Legal Study: Review deeds, offices, judgments, and others to verify the ability of people in the property titling chain, that there are, among others, false tradition, huge injury, sale of something else, hidden defects, resolution conditions, etc. Review space and boundaries and finally, support in the writing process.

C. Certificado de Tradición y Libertad: This document is issued by the Superintendency of Notaries and registration (Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro), which allows knowing the legal situation of the property, including the following characteristics:

-Description of the property with its land and boundaries: Total gross area built, location, nomenclature, etc.

     - Property Registration: Unique identification of the property in Colombia.

– Annotations: History of purchases and sales of the property, with their deeds of the property in the respective notaries, with the value of the negotiation.

In this link, you can buy the certificate of freedom and tradition here.

Purchase and Sell Promise (Promesa de Compraventa). This document is of utmost importance, since, with this, the completion of the business is guaranteed, so it may contain clauses that allow the collection of sums of money by way of criminal clause (early appraisal of the value of damages, in case one of the parties retracts from the celebration of the business).This document must be clear and express enough that it contains all the characteristics of the property and the business that it is intended to carry out; In addition, it is always advisable to be signed by a notary to give more formality to the process.Many times with this contract, a deposit agreement is also signed whereas a guarantee, an advance amount of money is agreed upon and delivered.It must be signed by the buyer and the seller, if in the case the buyer is not in the country, he must send an apostilled power of attorney and officially translated it into Spanish to a proxy.

Once the Promesa de Compraventa has been made where the negotiation amounts and dates were agreed, the buyer must send the money on the agreed date to the seller directly from his home bank.In this step, two important documents are carried out to obtain the Investment visa type M (Property Owner) or Type R (direct investment).a. Trading table and F4: The seller’s Bank receives notification from the buyer’s bank to negotiate the currencies and legalize them through the declaration form to exchange F4 for property purchase.

b. Bank of the Republic of Colombia Certificate: Document issued by the Bank of the Republic (Banco de la República), detailing the history of investments made by a foreign person in Colombia.

Important points: The money sent from the bank of origin to the bank account must be in the name of the foreign person, and must be sent directly to the seller. Triangulations of money are not allowed, that is, the buyer cannot send the money to a bank account local in Colombia and then send it to the seller.

  • The copy of the current deed.
  • The Promesa de Compraventa.
  • The Certificado de Tradición y Libertad (Validity no longer than 30 days).
  • The last property tax canceled.
  •  Valuation tax payment if the property has been valued. In the case of Bogotá Paz and except for recovery issued by the IDU.
  • Chamber and Commerce Certificate (Cámara de Comercio) if the property has a mortgage. Membership minutes, as appropriate.
  • Copy of the horizontal property certificate.

 

  • Payment solvency certificate (Paz y Salvo) payment of the administrator if it is in a horizontal property.
  • National Cadastral Certificate indicating that the owner has the property registered in the cadastral database.
  • Manifestation of civil status.
  • Photocopies of the seller’s and buyer’s cédulas.
  •  If any of the parties are empowered, they must carry the Power.
  • Declaration of eligibility.

 

These documents must be filed so that the notary can prepare the public deed that takes between 1 or 2 working days to call the parties to sign (this is variable, according to the notary).

  • a. Notarial charges 
    •  At the moment that the public deed is ready, the parties must approach the notary to sign and assume the deed expenses that are generally made equally between the seller and the buyer.
    • The deed expenses are 0.54% of the sale value.
    • Another value to be paid is the Withholding Tax, which is 1% of the sale value.
  • Formalization of the sale in the Public Instruments Registry Office (Oficina de Instrumentos Públicos).  
    • When the notary has finished the Public Deed and it has been signed by the two parties, he will deliver an authenticated copy to the interested parties to deliver it to the Oficina de Instrumentos Públicos (in this case it must be done before the southern instruments office of public instruments, located at Carrera 52 # 42-75 La Alpujarra Administrative Center, Medellín (Antioquia) Telephone: 3852760, 3851000. Hours: MONDAY TO FRIDAY: 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM).

From this act, the buyer is understood as the owner, who, from that moment, must assume the expenses of the property.

IMPORTANT: The buyer only owns the property at the time of registration of the public deed in said office. From this moment on, the property sale contract will have been officially perfected.

It should be clarified that the sole celebration of the promise and subsequent purchase agreement do not improve the business and does not generate rights or obligations on the part of the buyer regarding the property being negotiated.

The process of applying for an Investment visa type M (Property Owner) or type R (Direct Investment) in Colombia is carried out before the Foreign Ministry of Colombia in Bogotá and once the visa is approved, the immigration certificate is requested before Migration Colombia of the corresponding city of residence.

The requirements for applying for an Investment visa type M (Property Owner) or Type R (Direct Investment) are as follows:

  • Time granted type M (Property Owner): from one (1) to three (3) years.
  • Time granted type R (Direct Investment): from one (1) to three (5) years.

Requirements:

  • Original valid passport with at least 2 blank pages.
  • 1 digital photo 3 x 4 cm white background without accessories. Printed/physical photos are not accepted.
  • Certificate from the Banco de la República showing the registration of direct foreign investment for the purchase of property in the name of the foreigner requesting the visa, for an amount greater than 350 SMMLV (approximately $92,000 USD) for type M (Property Owner) or an amount greater than 650 SMMLV (approximately $171,000 USD) for type R (direct investment).
  • Public deed of the property duly updated and issued by the notary.
  • The certificate of tradition and freedom granted by the respective Public Instruments Registry Office issued less than one (1) month ago.

Once the visa is approved, the Cédula de Extranjería must be requested on the Colombia Immigration page, Follow the step-by-step here

The Cédula de Extranjería is the identification document for foreigners in the national territory issued by Migración Colombia. This document is issued to foreigners holding a visa of more than 3 months and its use must be in accordance with the visa that has been authorized.

If you need to obtain your Immigration Certificate for the first time or need a duplicate due to loss, damage, or other reason, please let us know to help you with the process.