Colombia Digital Nomad Visa

Part 1 — Local tax picture

Colombia uses a resident tax regime once you cross the residency threshold, which means local tax exposure can expand beyond Colombia-source earnings. For this visa, that matters because the structured facts allow remote work, business income, and passive income, and they also label the tax regime type as resident. By contrast, local work is prohibited and local income must remain at 0% of total income, so the usual nomad pattern is foreign-source pay with no Colombian employment.

For capital gains on foreign investments sold through a foreign brokerage, the structured facts do not specify the local treatment, so the only defensible answer is: not publicly specified in the facts provided. The same applies to the exact tax residency trigger; the facts do not disclose a day-count threshold, whether residency is automatic, or whether separate registration starts the clock.

The tax treaty status with the US is listed as unknown, so there is no reliable treaty-based shortcut to claim from the facts alone. That leaves the real-world filing question open as well: no tax ID, declaration deadline, or first-year filing date is disclosed here. In other words, the visa facts define the tax posture as resident, but they do not give enough detail to map the filing sequence.

For US Citizens and Green Card Holders

• FEIE (Form 2555) only shields earned income: remote salary, self-employment, or consulting income up to the 2024 limit of $126,500.
• It does not cover dividends, capital gains, pension distributions, or Social Security.
• For this visa, the Physical Presence Test is the more obvious route if you are genuinely outside the US for 330 days in any 12-month period; the Bona Fide Residence Test is harder to anchor when the country’s tax regime is resident and the visa duration is 24 months but the facts do not disclose a stay rule.

• FTC (Form 1116) helps only when Colombian tax on a specific income stream exceeds the US tax cost on that same stream.
• If the local effective rate on foreign-source income is zero or unproven, the FTC does not shelter that income.
• Because the structured facts say the tax regime is resident but do not disclose the treatment of foreign dividends, capital gains, or passive income, the FTC analysis has to start from local filing and sourcing rules, not from the visa category.

• FBAR (FinCEN 114) is required if your foreign accounts exceed $10,000 at any point in the year.
• That filing is separate from FATCA Form 8938.
• A US CPA who works in expat taxation for FEIE, FTC, and FBAR, plus a local Colombia tax advisor for residency registration and filing, is the right two-person setup; the $1,500–$3,000 spent in year one often pays for itself in avoided penalties and cleaner elections.