What No One Else Is Telling You About Colombia
By Nancy Kiernan

"I never considered Colombia as a place to retire until I heard your presentation." I must hear that at least 150 times during each International Living conference. As IL's Colombia Correspondent, one of the best parts of my job is getting to share the ground truth about what life is like in South America's rising retirement haven.

Colombia is full of colorful surprises.

I keep a glass jar on the corner of my table at IL conferences. When attendees ask me if Colombia is safe, I ask them to put a dollar in the jar. It's a joke of course, but I do it to demonstrate that this is one of the most common questions I get asked during the conferences. By the way, I´ll give you the answer and save you the dollar...Medellín—where I live—ranks safer than many U.S. cities according to statistics.

Here's a few more surprises about modern-day Colombia...

Medellín, Colombia's second largest city, is the fastest growing choice for retirees, digital nomads, and snowbirds. The perfect, year-round, spring-like weather and stunning mountain views are attracting more and more people every year. Some come for a few months, others choose to make Medellín their permanent home. When you add in that the city has an impressive gastronomy scene, universities, art and culture museums, a philharmonic orchestra, sporting activities, and international festivals for jazz, fashion and flowers, you can easily understand why so many people want to call Medellín home.

Colombia is the gateway to South America. The country sits at the northern tip of the continent making travel back and forth to the U.S. to visit family and friends easy and quick, as well as being a hub to easily explore Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and the rest of South America. There are direct flights to Florida, New York, and Texas out of the international airports in Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Pereira.

Colombia has world-class healthcare. Of the 191 countries ranked by the World Health Organization for quality of healthcare systems, Colombia came in at number 22. That outranks Canada at number 30 and the U.S. at number 37. According to the 2019 América Economía publication of Latin America's top 58 hospitals, 24 of those hospitals were based in Colombia. That means that 41% of the top Latin American hospitals are located in Colombia. Four of these hospitals are Joint Commission International accredited, the gold standard in world health.

If all of this sounds good to you, then you're probably wondering, "How do I figure out how to live in Colombia?" Well, you can come for a visit to check things out and stay up to 180 days in a calendar year on just a tourist stamp in your U.S., Canadian, or EU passport. If you want more time than that, you will need a visa, but thankfully the process is straightforward. The most common types of visas are the pensioner visa, the real estate owner visa, and the business-owner visa. Each of these has a different income or investment threshold and lasts for three years.

Seeing is believing. Put your boots on the ground and check out Colombia for yourself. I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.