Moving to Colombia from the UK

UK passport holders can visit Colombia visa-free for up to 90 days, but living there takes a residence permit. The self-funded residency routes we track start at an income of about $4,932 a month or an investment of about $49k, and our residency index rates Colombia 80/100 for UK citizens (comparatively open). We estimate €2,140 a month for a couple living centrally in Cartagena and €2,297 in Bogotá. Colombia is in our low to medium tax tier. Check the official requirements before you apply.

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Short stays
Visa-free 90 days
UK passport
Residency
80/100
Comparatively open, our index
Tax tier
Low to medium
Moderate personal income tax
Est. cost for two
From €2,140/mo
Cartagena, our estimate

Living there long term

Our residency index: 80/100, comparatively open. It is our own rating of how realistic long-term residency in Colombia is for UK citizens, based on the routes Colombia publishes. Colombia offers several long-term routes for capable applicants, including passive-income (rentista) and pensioner visas, company or real-estate investment visas, and family or work-based options, all M-category visas that build toward permanent (R) residency.

The cheapest self-funded routes we track:

  • Income: about $4,932 a month (Colombia Rentista visa: passive income of 10x the monthly minimum wage = COP 17,509,050/mo (the cheaper Pensionado route is 3x = COP 5,252,715/mo but requires an actual pension); converted at COP 3,550/USD.; as of June 2026)
  • Investment: about $49k (Colombia Visa M Socio o Propietario (company investment): 100 SMMLV = COP 175,090,500 one-time, lower than the real-estate investor visa at 350 SMMLV = COP 612,816,750; converted at COP 3,550/USD.; as of June 2026)

Check the official requirements before you apply: amounts, conditions and exchange rates change, and what a couple needs can differ from a single applicant's threshold.

For short visits, UK passport holders can visit visa-free for up to 90 days, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit.

Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).

Where in Colombia to start

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold UK passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

  1. 1. Bogotá

    73% match
    Est. cost
    €2,297/mo
    Avg temp
    13°C
    Safety index
    45/100

  2. 2. Medellín

    71% match
    Est. cost
    €2,195/mo
    Avg temp
    20°C
    Safety index
    45/100

  3. 3. Cali

    68% match
    Est. cost
    €2,207/mo
    Avg temp
    22°C
    Safety index
    45/100

  4. 4. Barranquilla

    59% match
    Est. cost
    €2,160/mo
    Avg temp
    28°C
    Safety index
    45/100

  5. 5. Cartagena

    59% match
    Est. cost
    €2,140/mo
    Avg temp
    28°C
    Safety index
    45/100

Cost of living for two

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €2,140 a month in Cartagena to €2,297 in Bogotá. For comparison, we estimate €4,315 a month in London. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

Source: our cost model: a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026). An estimate, not a survey of current prices.

Taxes

Colombia is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax); the UK is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in the UK after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.

Compare cities in Colombia

Lists with cities in Colombia

Moving to Colombia from elsewhere

Every country and origin we cover

How we built this page

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

  • Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
  • Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
  • City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding UK passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
  • Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
  • Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.