The 180-day calendar: how long you can actually winter in Colombia

Every year I get the same email in October: "We'd like to come December through April. Is that allowed?" The answer is "yes, but," and the "but" has three parts. None of them are hard. They're just three different clocks run by three different governments, and nobody publishes them side by side. This article does, and the calendar tool runs them for your dates.

Rule 1: 180 tourist days per calendar year

Citizens of the United States and Canada don't need a visa to visit Colombia. On arrival you're stamped in for up to 90 days under what Migración Colombia calls a Permiso de Ingreso y Permanencia. Before those 90 days end, you can apply for one extension, a Permiso Temporal de Permanencia, of up to 90 more. That's the maximum: 180 days in a calendar year, counted January 1 to December 31.

Three details trip people up.

• The year resets on January 1, not on your arrival date. A trip from December 1 to March 31 uses 31 days of one year's allowance and 90 of the next. That is good news for winter visitors: a long winter that straddles New Year barely dents either year.
• Leaving and coming back doesn't reset anything. A weekend in Panama does not give you a fresh 90 days. The days you've already used this calendar year stay used. The "border run" is a myth people still repeat.
• You'll be asked for an onward or return ticket when you check in for your flight to Colombia, and you fill in the online Check-Mig form before each flight in and out. It's free and takes five minutes.

How the 90-day extension works

If your stay is longer than 90 days, you need the extension, and you need to apply before your stamp expires. I tell people to file around day 80; the system can take a few days, and an application filed after the stamp runs out is a fine and a headache.

1. Go to Migración Colombia's online portal and choose the Permiso Temporal de Permanencia (extension) for a tourist permit.
2. Upload a copy of your passport photo page and your entry stamp, and proof of onward travel.
3. Pay the fee online. The fee is set each year; in 2026 guides were reporting figures in the range of COP 85,000 to 150,000, or roughly US$20 to 40. Check the current amount on the portal, because it changes.
4. Print or screenshot the approval. You'll want it when you leave.

You can also do this in person at a Migración office in Medellín, but the online route is easier and doesn't involve a queue. If you'd like a hand, I've done it with visitors before and it's a 20-minute call.

Rule 2: the 183-day tax-residency line

This is the one people don't know about, and it's the one that can actually cost money. Under Article 10 of Colombia's tax code, you become a Colombian tax resident if you're physically in Colombia for more than 183 days in any period of 365 consecutive days. It is not a calendar-year rule. It's a rolling window, it counts days of entry and exit, and it doesn't care whether you were here as a tourist.

What residency means: Colombia can tax your worldwide income, on a progressive scale, and you'd have to file a Colombian return and potentially declare foreign assets. Foreign pension income does get an exemption up to a threshold that's set in tax units (UVT) each year, and the United States has no tax treaty with Colombia, so an American resident would be dealing with both systems. Nobody wintering in Medellín wants any of that.

The good news: the 180-day tourist limit keeps you under the 183-day tax line by design, as long as this winter is your only time in Colombia inside twelve months. Where people get caught is the second trip. Six weeks in April plus five months from November means the rolling window catches both, and you can cross 183 days without ever exceeding 180 in a calendar year. That is why the calendar tool asks how many days you've spent here in the 365 days before arrival.

Rule 3: your province or state

Canadian provincial health plans require you to be physically present for part of each year. Be away longer than the limit and you can lose coverage, which is a bad thing to discover from a hospital bed abroad. The limits, as published by the provinces and summarized by the Canadian Snowbird Association's advisory service:

Plan	Maximum time away	Notes
Ontario (OHIP)	212 days in any 12 months	Must be in Ontario at least 153 days in each 12-month period.
Alberta (AHCIP)	212 days in a 12-month period	Raised from 182 to 212 in 2013 to match neighbouring provinces.
British Columbia (MSP)	6 months per calendar year; up to 7 with approval	Tell Health Insurance BC before a long absence.
Manitoba	7 months (212 days) per year	Confirm with Manitoba Health.
Quebec (RAMQ)	183 days per calendar year	Trips of 21 consecutive days or less don't count toward the limit.
Other provinces and territories	Generally 183 days (6 months)	Several publish an exact number; check your ministry's site.

Two cautions. Provinces revise these rules, so confirm the current figure with your ministry or through Snowbird Advisor before you book. And the limits count all time away, not just Colombia; a two-week cruise in July eats into the same budget.

Americans have no residency clock. The constraint for you is coverage: Medicare doesn't pay for care outside the United States, and most employer and marketplace plans don't either. That makes travel medical insurance the real limit on an American winter. Look for a policy written for travelers over 65 with a maximum trip length that covers your full stay and clear language on pre-existing conditions; a 90-day policy on a 120-day trip is no policy at all for the last month.

Three worked examples

The classic winter: December 1 to March 15

105 days. Tourist days: 31 in the first year, 74 in the second, both well under 180. Longer than 90 days, so the extension is needed; file it around February 18, before the stamp expires on February 28. Tax line: 105 of 183, fine, assuming no other trips. Ontario or Alberta: 105 of 212, fine. Quebec: 105 of 183, fine. Verdict: works, one form to file.

The long winter: November 15 to April 30

167 days. Tourist days: 47 in year one, 120 in year two. Extension needed, filed by about February 3. Tax line: 167 of 183, under, but with only 16 days of slack, so no other Colombia trip that year. Ontario or Alberta: 167 of 212, fine if this is your only travel; a two-week summer trip abroad would still fit. Quebec: 167 of 183, fine, but a spring trip to Florida would put you over. Verdict: works, but it's your only big trip of the year.

The two-trip year: April 1 to May 15, then November 1 to March 31

Trip one is 45 days, trip two is 151. Tourist days are fine in every calendar year. But the rolling tax window from April 1 catches both trips: 45 + 151 = 196, over 183. You'd cross the line around mid-March, without ever breaking the tourist rule. Verdict: shorten one trip, or accept that you're becoming a Colombian tax resident and plan for it.

Run your own dates in the tool; it walks the trip day by day and tells you the last safe day to fly home.

Want to stay longer? The pensionado visa

If you'd rather be here seven or eight months, or you're thinking about living here most of the year, you've stopped being a tourist and started being a resident, and the tool for that is a visa. The one most retirees use is the Migrant Pensionado visa (visa M, pensionado category).

The core requirement is a lifetime pension, such as Social Security, CPP, or an employer pension, of at least three times Colombia's monthly minimum wage. The minimum wage for 2026 was set at COP 1,750,905 by Decrees 1469 and 1470 of December 29, 2025, so the threshold this year is COP 5,252,715 a month, roughly US$1,300 to 1,400 depending on the exchange rate. You prove it with an official pension letter, apostilled and translated. The visa is issued for up to three years, is renewable, and after accumulating enough time on it you can apply for a resident (R) visa. There's no upper age limit, and health insurance valid in Colombia is required.

The trade-off is the tax line. A visa lets you stay past 183 days, and past 183 days you're a Colombian tax resident. For most people spending one winter a year, that's a bad trade; staying a tourist under 180 days is simpler, cheaper, and keeps your tax life at home. The visa is for people who've decided Colombia is home. If that's you, the next step is a Colombian immigration lawyer, and I can introduce you to two that visitors have used.

The minimum wage, and therefore every visa threshold tied to it, changes every January. That's why I send the Skip Winter email in the first week of the year.

The checklist

1. Pick dates. Keep the trip under 180 days, and if you might visit twice in twelve months, keep the total under 183.
2. Check your province's limit, counting all travel in the same twelve months.
3. Buy travel medical insurance that covers your age, your full trip length, and your conditions.
4. Book a return or onward ticket; you'll need to show it.
5. Fill in Check-Mig before you fly.
6. If you're staying past 90 days, file the extension around day 80.
7. Keep your stamp, your extension approval, and your insurance certificate together.