This article explains the key challenges (and how to navigate them) you will face as an expat digital nomad in Colombia.  The advice comes from an expat who has over 1.5 years experience living in the cities of Barranquilla and Cartagena, Colombia as an American expat remote worker. 

The Language

Don’t consider being living long-term in Colombia without picking up a decent bit of Spanish in advance. As you’ll be working over the internet, and likely for a company or clients in your own language (be that English or otherwise) you’ll thus really only need survival Spanish. I’d recommend gaining a much better handle on the language than that, however. 

You should know numbers in Spanish, how to ask whether a store has something or not (the verb “tener”), and its various conjugations in the present, simple past and simple future forms. 

You need to know how to express that you want something, and whether you agree with something. Basic demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those) are also necessary.

Finally, it is very easy these days to use a tool such as ChatGPT to help you collect a list of the 500 most common vocabulary words in Spanish. If you buy chatGPT, you will get lists of the 20 most common verbs in Spanish. Long ago, I had to use good old fashioned paper-based frequency dictionaries.

Find Safe Neighborhoods in Which to Live

The two pages below will show you exactly where the safe neighborhoods of Cartagena and Barranquilla, Colombia are located: 

• Where are the Safe Neighborhoods in Barranquilla?
• Where are the Safe Neighborhoods in Cartagena?

It is important for you to live in such areas because if you don’t, locals in the area will spread the word that a “rich gringo” lives nearby and may rob you simply because they are aware that a juicy target normally comes out and walks a few blocks to a bus stop etc.. 

Please note that I have not included Medellin as a safe expat destination for Colombia: it is simply not safe at this point. In 2022, there were over 25,000 robberies in Medellin and the internet is drowned in personal reports and video posts of foreigners in Colombia who have been robbed or drugged in Medellin. I do not recommend it as a place to live in Colombia. 

Hotel Upon Initial Touchdown, then Airbnb for the First Month

It is best to When you initially touchdown in Colombia, you’ll want a “soft landing” that you know is safe and secure. You can use a hotel for the first few days because you know that they can receive you at any hour of the day: what happens if your flight is delayed? You really can not predict with great certainty the time you will be showing up at the door of the apartment/airbnb, and you don’t want to be coordinating with a private individual landlord while you wait outside (no local cell phone yet) with your laptop and luggage in tow. Use a hotel for the first few days.

Then look for Airbnb but with an important twist: inside the Airbnb user interface specify a checkin and checkout date which is greater than one (1) month. This will show many, many Airbnb landlords who you otherwise would not see. This is because for many Airbnb apartment owners it is not worth their while to rent for short three day or one-week stints. And you’re in the market for a long-term rental anyways. 

Dating in Colombia

You may have seen on Youtube that there is a safety issue in Colombia relating to expats being drugged (with scopolamine) and robbed. First of all, nearly all of the reports come from Medellin (but it does happen elsewhere in Colombia as well). You need to watch your drink carefully if you go out to a bar or are in a private residence with a person with whom you’re only mildly familiar. Check the person’s social media accounts, and hopefully the apartment or hotel front desk manager will require a copy of your date’s Colombian identification prior to going up to your room. 

Your Spanish level will need to be higher than just survival Spanish if you want date Colombian women or men. Colombia has a very active dating scene, and they are very friendly: they use the dating apps and websites such as Tinder, Badoo and Bumble just as much as people in other parts of the world. So that much should be self-explanatory.

Colombian Digital Nomad Visa

Quite conveniently, and unlike many other countries, Colombia allows you to apply for the digital nomad visa from within Colombia. That means you do not need to make a trip back to your own home country and apply through an embassy or consulate there. Further, while the visa application is pending, you can wait in the country. For citizens of many countries (such as the US, Canada, Australia and Germany), you only need your passport to travel to Colombia, and you can stay up to six (6) months in the country just using your passport alone.