How many trips in a month are allowed?

[mudd]

WHAT IS THE LAW REGARDING HOW MANY TIMES AN AMERICAN CAN COME INTO THE COUNTRY IN  ONE MONTH, SAY FOR WEEKEND TRIPS, OR SAY 3 TO 4 DAY TRIPS?  WHAT IS THE TIME SPAN BETWEEN TRIPS, ONE WEEK?

[Pete E]

... in response to How many trips in a month are allowed?, posted by mudd on Mar 24, 2005

The law is without some sort of a visa you are allowed to be in the country a maximum of 6 months in any 12 month period.There is no limit to the number of trips that I know of but you might be questioned about it if you made alot of trips.
One of my roomates is in the states now working on getting a visa.He has been here 5 months out of the last 12 so he is pushing the limit.
When you enter the country they will usually give you 30 or 60 days to stay.If you go over that you have to go to DAS,Colopmbian Imigration and get it extended.If you don't I hear stories of 1,000,000 peso fines to get out of the country.
I have a pensionado visa.Its not age related,you just need to show them $1200 or so monthly income.One of my friends has a work visa,his US company is letting him work from Colombia.They have to run it through a Colombian company so it looks like he is working for a Colombian company.
You can also get business visas.I guess you need to show a business reason to be here,as in working for a company doing business with Colombia or having a company here.In Ecuador I am told you put $1200 in a bank you can get a business visa.But Colombia is more backward,good luck even opening a bank account.I got turned down 4 times before getting one and I have a Cedula,a Colombian resident ID card.

Pete

[pablo]

... in response to Re: How many trips in a month are allowe..., posted by Pete E on Mar 25, 2005


Hey Pete,

How difficult was it for you obtaining your pensionado visa and how long did it take?  Which consulate did you go through?  I've heard that using Docurapid in Miami is very helpful but as I'm not a Florida resident I'm not sure if I can use the Colombian consulate there.  Gracias.

[Pete E]

... in response to Re: Re: How many trips in a month are al..., posted by pablo on Mar 25, 2005

P,
It wasn't that hard.I went through the Colombian Consolate in San Francisco.
They wanted my pension documents and some bank imformation.The silly thing is they wanted this notory apostile process.
They wanted the imformation notorized,then the notaries  signature certified by the county then both apostiled by the state of California.It was this grand process of stamping documents,but none of these folks had a clue if the imformation was correct,which I pointed out to the Consolate,Their response,"we do not accept incomplete applications."
A guy in my real estate office notorized it,which is only guaranteing a signature.He said "what am I notorizing?"
I wrote a statement that the documents were true and correct.He notorized.The county certified his  signature.The state apostiled,basically stamped the whole thing without any idea what they were stamping.But it made Colombia happy,I got the visa.
I got it 3 days before I came here.I thought hey if I don't get it now I will next summer when I go back.I just might have to leave and re enter the country.BUT,I am damn glad I got it,I couldn't get a cedula or even my internet cable without it.
I had to go to Bogota in November to renew  it.That was fairly easy,but I waited around most of a day.Then I had to go to DAS in Cali to renewmy cedula.That took 4 trips there.Seems they only do a few people a day so you better get their early.I resisted because every other time I was told get there early it wasn't necessary.But at DAS,yes,get there by 8AM.

Pete

[Cali James]

... in response to How many trips in a month are allowed?, posted by mudd on Mar 24, 2005

[This message has been edited by Cali James]


On a tourist visa to Colombia, there is no law as to how many entries but rather how many days in any one calander year.  In year 2000-2002, it used to be 120 days.  But I believe somebody posted within the last year or so that it's now 6 months.  I can't confirm whether the 6 months is in fact the new law but in any event, it should give a person ample opportunity for many trips.

[Onephd]

... in response to How many trips in a month are allowed?, posted by mudd on Mar 24, 2005

You are only restricted as to the number of total days you are in Colombia.  But as far as I know there is not law that restricts the number of visits.  

The only thing that I could think of is that you might get flagged making weekend trips, ha ha ha..  Not even sure if that is a real possibility. ha ha ha.

one

[Ray]

... in response to How many trips in a month are allowed?, posted by mudd on Mar 24, 2005

I've never heard of that law. I guess you could make 30+ trips per month if you wished to.

I could go down here to the border at Tijuana and walk in and out of the country every 10 minuts until I got tired of it. The ICE folks would probably think I'm weird but there isn't any law... :-)

Ray

[mudd]

... in response to How many trips in a month are allowed?, posted by mudd on Mar 24, 2005

n/t