How Colombia's New Digital Nomad Visa Came to Be Under Government Turmoil

Colombia has launched a dedicated visa for digital nomads, which is quite an achievement considering the country's recent political upheavals.

The visa was spearheaded by entrepreneur Ilana Milkes, who founded World Tech coding bootcamps. And when she presents the new digital nomad visa alongside government agency ProColombia at Mobile World Congress later this month, her brief moment on stage will represent the culmination of nearly two years of work.

She’ll discuss how the visa lets visitors stay for 24 months, compared with six months for tourists, and how it offers state ID, meaning access to banking and the right to register a company in the country. She'll probably go into less detail about all the effort it took to launch.

Work began in March 2020, prior to volatile election campaigning and protests that would eventually see left-wing politician Gustavo Petro take power.

Milkes initially talked to the Mayorship of Medellin about the benefits digital nomads could bring to the city, and the country as a whole. Once approved, more meetings followed.

“You need a lot of patience talking with politicians,” Milkes said. "We talked to the president’s team, ministers, the chancellor's team, even the mayorship’s team. It was almost like a year and a half of meetings and writing the law itself, and making lots of presentations. This was during the pandemic as well.�