A Guide to Staying in Colombia if Peace Corps Is Shut Down

By Patrick Walsh

Hopefully, this guide is useless. I’d love to finish out my two years of service, head back to the U.S., and call it a day. However, as of late, I and many others have feared an early exit. First, when Presidents Trump and Petro went head to head in the first great Twitter war of 2025, and, more recently, when the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) visited Peace Corps Headquarters.

It wasn’t all bad. In the first confrontation, we learned that President Petro is a big Paul Simon fan. Right on, Gustavo! Maybe after DOGE is done with us, the Peace Corps will get its own crypto currency. Who wouldn’t love to see our digitized dove spreading peace throughout the e-market?

After both incidents, the predominant feeling among volunteers was one of uncertainty. What would a U.S.-Colombia trade war mean for our neighbors, communities, and local industries? How will our jobs be affected by an increasingly negative view of Americans? Will we even have jobs tomorrow?

If someday soon, we’re told we do not, in fact, have jobs tomorrow, I don’t want to leave Colombia. After talking to other members of my cohort, I know that’s a common sentiment. So, for myself and others who plan to remain in the lively Caribbean or the scenic Andes, here’s an extremely unauthorized guide to staying in Colombia.

I would like to emphasize that this information is completely unauthorized. I am neither a lawyer nor an immigration expert. This article is a summary of several hours of scrolling through the Colombian consulate’s website. Please do your own research! Reach out to the relevant government agency or consult a lawyer if you have to. I may very well have gotten something wrong.

Leaving the Country to Stay in the Country

Famously, and often confusingly, we entered Colombia on our no-fee passports issued specifically for our service in the Peace Corps. We are in Colombia under a special visa arrangement between our two countries, tied to those passports and not our personal ones. If our no-fee passports were to be canceled, you would need Colombia to recognize your personal passport instead. To get this recognition, you will have to leave the country and return on your personal passport. Hopefully, you can do so without putting too big of a hole in your pocket. For many, the cheapest option would be to take a Peace Corps-provided flight to your home of record and then head back to Colombia. However, if you don’t want to travel all the way back to the U.S., these are the cheapest round-trip flights, according to Google Flights’ April pricing (all prices in U.S. dollars):

From Barranquilla to:

• Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá ($271.85)

• Quito, Ecuador ($283.63)

• San José, Costa Rica ($291.02)

From Bogotá to:

• San José, Costa Rica ($144.37)

• Cancún, México ($210.40)

• Lima, Perú ($222.03)

Returning to Colombia

Upon arriving in Colombia, Americans can stay in the country for 90 days without a visa. However, you must fill out this CheckMIG form before entering the country.

As your initial stay winds down, you can apply for a 90-day extension. For approval, you only need to fill out the form, upload some passport photos, and show proof of an outgoing flight. The application typically only takes a couple days to be processed. Without any visa, your time in Colombia is limited to 180 days within a 365-day period.

Acquiring a Visa

If you plan to stay longer than 180 days, you will need to apply for a visa through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This can be done while you are inside Colombia. Your application should be processed within 30 work days. While Colombia offers over a dozen types of visas, the Visa M - Worker is the most applicable for your average PCV and costs $270.

To obtain a work visa, you will need an employment contract and proof that you’re qualified for the job; for example, you might need a TEFL certificate to prove that you’re qualified to teach English. More information and paperwork is required from your contractor. As a result, you will need an employer willing to invest their time and effort into helping you with the visa process. With the work visa Visa, you may stay in Colombia for up to three years.

Although you might not currently have a Colombian job offer, you could enter the country and find a job during your 180 days in country. You might consider starting to look for an employer now.

Final Considerations

Before making this decision, please take into account your individual financial, medical, and mental health situation. Do you have the economic means to stay? Without a work visa, can you support yourself through a U.S. source of income or an unofficial Colombian income, perhaps tutoring English under the table? How would your health fare without medical insurance? Do you have the funds for an emergency hospital stay? If you are on medication, can you find that medication in Colombia? Mental health-wise, do you have a community to support you? How would you handle the uncertainty of living abroad independently, without the Peace Corps’ help and guidance? If you are set on coming back to Colombia, you can always wait until you have a more secure situation.

Disclaimer: The content of this publication is generated by individual volunteers. The opinions and thoughts expressed here do not reflect any position of the United States government or the Peace Corps.