Expert: Cesar - 9/26/2009

Question
You recently posted a question to Marta Ramirez in category Colombia:

I would like to retire in either Medellin or Bucaramanga and would like to know the type of Visa required to reside in either one of them.  I am an American citizen (US).
Which of the two cities is considered safer?  
Is there a visa for retirees or pensionados? longer than 3 months? Any benefits for retirees?
Is there health insurance for persons over 65 years old?
Thank you
Anthony


Unfortunately, Marta Ramirez has been unavailable to respond to your question. Your question has been moved to the question pool and may be picked up by other experts in that category. Feel free to repost your question to another expert by clicking on the link http://www.allexperts.com/el/Colombia/

We apologize for any inconvenience caused.


Answer
Dear Anthony:

To live in most countries people normally need a resident visa. Foreigners usually get tourist visas in Colombia (US citizens get an automatic 90 days and can get an extension for another 90 days) and a lot fewer apply for other kinds of visas, which could be harder to get. Most countries do not issue resident visas right away. Ecuador issues some kind of resident visa if you buy a property of -I belive- at least US$25,000. I have not seen that in Colombia. Normally, it is difficult to get a resident visa unless you get married to a citizen of that country. Most people accumulate time and eventually get the resident visa. To do that they start as tourists, asks for extensions, and then continue to ask for visas that would allow them to stay longer and eventually accumulate enough time to apply for a resident visa. Some people do that thru employment: they work for a couple of years (get like a work visa, in Colombia are issued for 2 years) and then apply for another 2 years, and so on until they complete the minimum number of years in that country (usually 5) that makes them qualify for a resident visa. In Colombia you could apply for a Temporary Special visa (2 years with multiple entries), which is for several special situations such as for retired (pensionado) people. For details about that visa you could visit:

http://consuladocolombiala.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109&Ite...

For other visas:
http://consuladocolombiala.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Item...

You could use a translation service such as the one from Google to translate the page for you. I suggest you to contact a Colombian consulate for assistance and to apply for the visa. There is no need for you to use other people for help. The consulate will stamp the certificate you have about your retirement document from your employer.

For a list of Colombian consulates you could visit:
http://www.cesarusa.com/consulates.htm

If you have more doubts or questions you could email me and I can call you. I am currently living in Medellín. I have not been in Bucaramanga in many years, but Medellín is a more important city. To me Bogotá is the largest and the second in importance is Medellín. Cali is also an important city. I am not sure which one is safer. Medellín has a lot more people and has a lot of police and military taking care of the safety of the population. Bucaramanga is a smaller city and it would have less population and would be more quiet, but I am not sure since it is closer to the border with Venezuela which causes risks of guerrilla being closer. To know more about Bucaramanga you could visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucaramanga

You could visit a page about Medellín at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn

For healh insurance you probably have to purchase one, which I do not think is expensive since health care here is very cheap (a doctor will see you and prescribe you medicines for $30 or less). There is also very cheap funeral insurance for $10 per month and the like. There is Sisben (which is medical care for the general public, but is for people who is poor, like the people who do not have employment or live in very poor neighborhoods that they call estrato 1 and 2 (like level 1 and 2 of poverty out of 6). The higher the neighborhood cathegory level the higher the rates you will have to pay for utilities.

Best wishes,

Cesar
CesarCalifornia@hotmail.com