What Resolución 12189 of 2026 Changed in Colombia's Visa Rules

Last verified: Oct 19, 2026 (full text read on the Cancillería normograma on this date)

General information, not legal advice. Medellín Basic is an independent guide, not a law firm or visa agency, and is not affiliated with the Colombian government. We summarize official sources; we don't know your situation, and this page is not a substitute for the advice of a lawyer. Rules change and officials decide each case. Before you apply, travel or pay, check the official source linked below and, for your own case, ask a licensed Colombian immigration lawyer (abogado).

Información general, no asesoría legal. Medellín Basic es una guía independiente; no somos una firma de abogados ni una agencia de visas, y no tenemos relación con el Gobierno de Colombia. Resumimos fuentes oficiales, no conocemos su caso y esta página no reemplaza la asesoría de un abogado. Las normas cambian y cada autoridad decide caso por caso. Antes de solicitar, viajar o pagar, verifique la fuente oficial enlazada y, para su caso particular, consulte a un abogado colombiano.

Short answer (checked Oct 19, 2026): Resolución 12189 of Aug 31, 2026 put Israel back on the list of countries whose citizens don't need a visa for short stays. Nothing else changed: not the 90/180-day rule, not the digital nomad visa, not visa fees. Source: Resolución 12189 de 2026 (Cancillería normograma).

Summary

Resolución 12189 of Aug 31, 2026 made one substantive change: it added Israel back to the list of countries whose citizens don't need a visa for short stays in Colombia, and repealed the 2025 resolution that had removed Israel from that list. Nothing else changed: not the 90/180-day rule, not the digital nomad visa, and not visa fees. (Resolución 12189 de 2026, full text)

Key facts


Issued by	Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores)
Date signed	Aug 31, 2026
Published	Diario Oficial No. 53.614, Sept 3, 2026
In force from	Sept 4, 2026
Effect	Visa-exemption list in Res. 5488/2022, art. 3, literal A goes from 99 to 100 countries, with Israel added
Repeals	Resolución 8558 de 2025

Source for all rows: Res. 12189/2026.

Rule last checked Oct 19, 2026 on Resolución 12189 de 2026 (Cancillería normograma). If the official page says something different, the official page is right.

What does the text say?

Article 1 (purpose): exempts nationals of Israel from the visa requirement for short-stay activities.
Article 3: repeals Resolución 8558 de 2025.
Article 4: rewrites literal A of the paragraph of article 3 of Resolución 5488 de 2022, the list of visa-exempt nationalities. The new list has 100 entries, with Israel as no. 52.
Final article (numbered "2" in the official text, a numbering error the compilers mark "(SIC)"): in force the day after publication in the Diario Oficial.

Why it happened (from the resolution's recitals): Colombia told Israel on Aug 11, 2026 that it would restore diplomatic relations. Israel replied on Aug 16, 2026, proposing to restore visa-free travel for Colombians on a reciprocal basis. Colombia cited the reciprocity principle in Ley 2136 de 2021.

The background: Resolución 8558 de 2025

Resolución 8558 (dated Jul 23, 2025, published in Diario Oficial No. 53.224 on Aug 26, 2025) had required visas for Israeli nationals, citing reciprocity. It did this by rewriting the same exemption list without Israel. (Res. 8558/2025) We compared the 2025 list with the 2026 list item by item. The only difference is Israel.

What this means for you

Israeli citizens: since Sept 4, 2026 you can again enter Colombia without a visa for short stays, on the same terms as other exempt nationalities: up to 90 days, extendable to 180 per calendar year, with no paid work in Colombia. (Res. 5488/2022, art. 3; see the 90/180 rule)
Israeli citizens can also apply for the digital nomad visa again. That visa requires a passport from a visa-exempt country. (Cancillería, node 26950)
Everyone else, including US, Canadian, UK and EU citizens: nothing changed for you.

What we couldn't confirm

The Diario Oficial original. We read the text in Cancillería's official legal compilation (normograma), not in the Diario Oficial itself.

Border practice. We did not find a Migración Colombia notice confirming how border officers applied the change from Sept 4, 2026.

Other 2026 changes. We checked only this resolution and the current consolidated text of Res. 5488/2022. Other visa resolutions issued in 2026 could exist. The consolidated Res. 5488/2022 we read shows Res. 12189/2026 as the latest change to its exemption list.