What does emigrating to Colombia cost?
Answer a few short questions and you have an honest range for your situation. For every item it says whether it's a checked rate or an estimate. The application itself is affordable: a visa M costs 235 euros in Europe, a visa V 185 euros, the cédula de extranjería 294,000 pesos. The money sits in three other items: the health policy that replaces the CAK and returns every year, the move across the ocean with a levy of 15 percent on your household goods, and the car, which may not come along. One thing we state honestly. For a Colombian driving licence there's no national rate anywhere; that item is an estimate.
Looking for the whole route to Colombia, not just the costs? See the steps, the order and the paperwork →
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 3.700 – € 9.100
Where does that difference come from?
- The first months€ 2.500 – € 6.000
Below you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 450 – € 900
- De verhuizing
- € 500 – € 1.200
- De eerste maanden
- € 2.800 – € 7.000
Every item, one by onePer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- The visa at the Cancillería€ 150 – € 300
- The cédula de extranjería at Migración Colombia€ 80 – € 95
- VOG, apostilles and official translations(estimate)€ 200 – € 500
The amount depends on the number of documents. A couple with birth certificates, a marriage certificate, two VOGs and the statements from the SVB and the pension fund quickly reaches eight documents. A VOG for a visa or immigration costs € 41.35 through the municipality. An apostille from the court costs € 27 per document. Every document that isn't in Spanish you have officially translated; there is no fixed rate anywhere for that translation, count on a few tens of euros per document. The Cancillería accepts documents at most three months old. Whoever starts too early and has to redo things is at the top.
De verhuizing
- Flights(estimate)€ 500 – € 1.200
The spread sits in the season and the luggage: whoever travels with two extra suitcases pays the top. The amount is for one way from Amsterdam to Bogotá, Medellín or Cartagena, direct or with a change.
De eerste maanden
- The first months(estimate)€ 2.500 – € 6.000
This item consists of rent paid in advance, furnishing what didn't come along, and the months in which you still carry double costs. A cash deposit a landlord of a home in town may not ask for (Ley 820 of 2003, article 16). Rents vary widely: in the better neighbourhoods of Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena you pay a different rate than in a mid-sized town. Count the currency risk too: your income comes in euros, life runs in pesos.
- Bank, phone, contador and the first desks(estimate)€ 150 – € 600
Small money, but it's here because it all comes at once in the first weeks. It's about a Colombian account, a local SIM card, the copies and translations you hand in again at every desk, and a contador for the first return. The RUT at the DIAN is free. It's also here because the bank charges a rate when transferring your pension that you want to know in advance.
- Getting a Colombian driving licence(estimate)€ 150 – € 400
Exchanging isn't possible: Colombia has no treaty with the Netherlands on driving licences, and as a tourist you drive with your Dutch licence for at most six months. Whoever lives there gets a Colombian licence with a course at a driving school, a medical check and a theory and practical exam (Ley 769 of 2002, article 19). For those three there is no national rate at an official source; the band is an order of magnitude per adult.
Deliberately no amount here
Taking the car
There is deliberately no amount here, and no question about it. A used car may not enter Colombia: the Comité de Importaciones of the ministry of Trade grants no import licence for used vehicles, and vehicles aren't part of household goods (Decreto 1165 of 2019, article 281). The exception is classic and old cars with a licence of their own. So count on selling in the Netherlands and buying again in Colombia. You don't get the bpm back: that refund only applies on registration in another EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 1 to 3% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 2.500 to € 7.500.
The fixed item is the department's registration tax: between 0.5 and 1 percent of the price, set by the departmental assembly (Ley 223 of 1995, article 230). On top come the notary and the register. The Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro raised those fees for 2026 by the inflation of 5.10 percent; the certificado de tradición y libertad costs 24,300 pesos. Those amounts per deed aren't at an official source as a percentage and are the top of the band. Foreigners buy in their own name: the constitution gives them the same civil rights as Colombians (article 100). Whoever buys for the visa inversionista has the investment registered at the Banco de la República.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 15 October 2026.
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One thing you can sort out today
Closing down the Netherlands is the same work for everyone, wherever you're going. With the letter pack you enter your details once, and every cancellation and notification letter is ready: health insurance, rent, employer, bank, pension fund. Each comes with the date by which it has to go out. € 49 one-off, and it's also included in every plan.
In Vertrekklaar you get the complete picture of your own costs, with your route, your documents and your deadlines.
From range to your own budget
The calculator above works with a few questions, but the journey itself knows more. In Vertrekklaar the same model calculates with your real situation: who's coming, which route, and whether the household contents and the pet come along. It also watches the clocks: the three months of your papers, the thirty days of the Cancillería, and the fifteen days after landing for Migración Colombia. A one-off € 399, no subscription.
Leaving with AOW or a pension? Compare how countries tax your pension
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Colombia: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Colombia change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, and now and then we send one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
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