Colombia's Pensionado Visa (M-11)

The main Colombia visa guide covers the Digital Nomad Visa, built around remote employment income. Colombia separately maintains a Pensionado visa category (sometimes referenced by its M-11 classification) built specifically around foreign pension income — Social Security, government, or private pension payments — rather than active remote work.

Confirmed under Resolution 5477 of 2022: the minimum pension income threshold is 3x Colombia's minimum wage (SMMLV), a fixed peso amount of COP 5,252,715/month as of 2026 — roughly $1,380-1,450 USD depending on the exchange rate at the time of application, since the peso figure is the legally controlling requirement, not the dollar equivalent. The pension must be lifetime and payable regardless of where you live; one-time payouts or lump-sum distributions don't qualify. There's no age requirement, unlike some retirement visa programs elsewhere that require applicants to be 50 or 60+.

Because this route doesn't require any ongoing remote work relationship, it's generally simpler to document for a genuine retiree than the Digital Nomad Visa's employment/client-invoice paperwork — an apostilled pension certification showing the qualifying lifetime amount is generally the core of the application. One real, easy-to-miss detail: holding this visa does not automatically grant access to Colombia's social security or public healthcare system unless a specific bilateral or multilateral agreement applies to your situation — confirm this directly rather than assume the visa itself covers healthcare enrollment.

See the Medellín and Bogotá cost-of-living guides for how Colombia's two largest retiree-relevant cities compare, since both have meaningfully different climates and cost profiles worth weighing against each other specifically for a longer-term retirement stay.