Colombian Investors Visa

[LastLion]

Well, as some of you already know I have been travelling to colombia for about 5 years now. I just returned from bogota (with a side trip to baq and cartegena) in which I now officially have a colombian company and a colombian bank account. I also recieved everything I need for my visa package. Which I will be working obtaining within the next week.

I wanted to share this process as I found it difficult to find the information neccesary and also dealing with the colombian consulate with out clarity is a difficult process! So I hope this helps make things a little easier down the road for them. I will also post about some great contacts I made who can make this process a lot less painful.

My plan was to wait until I finished the entire deal before writing about it, as I could promote the business at the same time. But I decided that I wanted to start posting in order to deliver a more clear idea for you, about all on the ups and downs and barriers that you will cross. As well as the difficulties in dealing with anything to do with banks, the colombian government, tax issues, the embassies or consulates and the transferring of funds to another country.

For starters, an investors visa requires 50,000,00 COP of an investment, this can be shown as a purchase of an company there, or a purchase of colombian assets or as a cash investment in a bank in colombia.

I decided I would put the money in the bank there and than purchase all the assets later, As I am taking it slow for a couple of reasons.

Number one when I set my sights on something this last summer that I thought would be a good business in colombia, the dollar was at 1700 ish.. Now it is almost at 2000, so honestly 2000 pesos to the dollar was where I want it to be at and anything more would be a bonus and cost me less american dollars to start.

Number 2, I need to learn the game there, I mean how things work and I really don't want to just throw my money away. I am trying to do things legally there as well as create a succesful business.

Now I know there are people who have businesses in colombia who have taken a different route. Some have businesses there but recieve payments in other countries and and some have businesses there and never bothered to go thru the visa process like I am doing now..

For the purpose of this thread I will share the way I am going about it. For me as I live in the states and will probably never live in colombia full time, but who really knows. I do not want to deal with anything that isnt 100% legal and with that comes obviously more expense and more work upfront.

Now without unveiling the exact nature of the business which I will do shortly, when it is coming closer to being in action so to speak. I will tell you this, it is a niche tour business. It has nothing to do with sex tourism, which makes me sick to my stomach and it is not about stupid tours of Pablo escobars grave!!

I really wanted to create something there that would shine a nice light on colombia, its people and the vast beauty the country has to offer. As most of you know most of what we hear about in the news outside of colombia is war, drugs and sex tourism. So I hope to offer something that is really unique and also promotes healthy and sane things to do in colombia.

Most of the business part will be handled thru the internet, but i hope to have an office in medellin & bogota in the future.

A big thanks to Bogota Bob who owned colombian vacations in the past for all his advice and good will and the time he took to adivse me and get me started.

Another big thanks to Micky who has always been helpful and done everything he could to help a gringo in Colombia.. He and his family are not only gems but one of the main reasons I decided to make this jump. I have found a great friendship in them and would do just about anything for them..

I will continue from the very beginning later when I get a chance..

[Whitey]

Wow ... can't wait to read this thread!!!!

[Cap'n Jib]

Congradulations LL and best wishes!

I am confortable knowing that things will work out fine for you. You bring a lot to the 'party' and deservie the best.

[HonkyTonk]

Interesting thread LL! You've said for quite awhile that you've wanted to start a business in Colombia and now you're making it happen. I believe you'll do well!

[LastLion]

Thanks for the Kudos guys. I appreciate it, really.
There are so many naysayers out there that is why I wont release the details of the business until it is "LISTO".

Investing in a business is scary enough but to invest in one in Latin America, well that's enough to make for some real challenges. We have all heard the stories.

I thought I would mix a little of the personal anguish here as well as the factual information, this in hopes that the next guy can skip as much of the anguish as possible and move on to business..

There has been a lot of articles written over the past year in colombia, about how they are making it easier for foreigners to do business in colombia. Well let me tell you they havent done anything for the little guy like me. I mean maybe they are making it easier for big corporations, but as per me and my colombian lawyer they haven't changed a thing.

Let me continue from the beginning. I started this project in hopes of doing all the paperwork and getting the visa stuff the paperwork and opening the company without help.

After approximately 12 calls and probably 10 emails to the Colombian consulate in San Francisco, Houston, Beverly Hills, and Miami and a 2 hour call with the Bogota embassy, several emails to the Colombian Chamber of commerce, I had gotten nowhere. I mean without boring you with details. I can tell you the left hand doesnt know what the right hand is doing. There are no systems in place and there are very few people who actually work at the consulate, embassy or even the chamber of commerce who know how the process works..

ITS all about who you know at these places and making sure you get the right information to them in the proper order. I probably got a 50% return call or email response from these people.

Another huge step is actually going to the consulate in person and making it happen. I found it interesting that I rarely got a human voice at the san francisco consulate of colombia, but when I visited it, there were 4 lovely women there to help me. The phone rang and rang , while I was there, but rarely was it picked up as for some strange reason there was only myself and an american/colombian couple in there and we each had 2 lovely (and yes I mean very good looking women) helping us..

BTW there was also another woman and a man in the back, obviously they were doing something really important.

Well to cut to the chase I got Dennis Levvied from the Lai website. Wondering what a dennis levy is?

Ok I will share it with you. It is when someone searches a person out on facebook, I have been on the Lai website for sometime, although I did not use their service this last time, I guess I was technically still a member of the internet.

Side note, eventhough I didnt use Nelson's service this time I stopped and visited it and it is awesome the new hotel, the agency itself seams to be reemerging too. I also had the pleasure of having lunch with Nelson and got to share with him what I am doing.. (its not an agency nor does it have anything to do with an agency, so dont go there) LOL!

Well to make a long story short the gal that Dennis Levied me, happens to be well connected and set me up with a lawyer who has been the turning tide for this disspapointing process so far. As a matter of fact, he knows the amercian embassador to colombia and has written books on doing buisness in the states for colombians.

Needless to say I never dated or even met this woman from Lai, we just communcitated on msn and thru emails, but you never know where you are going to make the right contacts and meet the right person..

Next installment will be the actually process and in what order it should be done. As well as my lawyers contacts. Who by the way knows the bank manager in which I opened the company account and also has the right connections in the embassy and with the CAMARA DE COMERCIO, kind of like the chamber of commerce, but they are also the govenrment equivalent of the Secretary of state and where you officially open a business.

[Zorro]

How were you able to open a bank account in Colombia without a cedula? I have been told I couldn't do that. That first I have to get a visa. Then a cedula in Colombia. And then I can open an account there.

By the way, from what little you've told us of your business idea, it sounds interesting. I had thought of something like that too. Will be interesting to hear more of what you're doing.
Z

[Colombia Vacations]

Hummmm???? no sex tours, no grave tours, what can be left???

Good luck LL, I know you will do well.

[LastLion]

Thanks Bob you are defintely one of the original new trekkers of colombia, with over 12 years of experience.

Zorro what type of visa are you going for? Apparently student and pensianado are the easiest. This thread is specifically about Investor Visa, feel free to pm me and I will give you all I can.

Here is what I encountered dealing with colombians who work for the consulate, the embasy and or any other job where they work for the gov't.

The consulate will tell you, you need a company registered with the "Camara de Comerico " to get a visa, if you contact the Camara de Comercio, they will tell you , you need a visa to start a business in colombia. The Bank will tell you, you need a cedula extranjero to start a bank account. In order to fullfill the visa requirement, you need to be able to show you have 50,000,00 COP in the bank or already purchased assests in colombia. Now since you legally cant take more than 10k U.S. to colombia, where does that leave us?

So back to the story, ok so I met this gal who knows a very up and coming lawyer in Colombia, he has writtend books on these subjects and also has some great connections, he has a law license in Miami as well as colombia, his partner who also does the same thing, has a license in NY as well as colombia. These are no dumb cookies. Of course I did my investigations on him prior to hanidng over the dough. Didnt take much but to google his name and I could see he was well connected.

I will contact him this week and ask him if it is ok to post his name and website and email on the board.

So I contacted him and we talked a little about the business and the ideas I had and what I wanted and he came up with the fees. He did 3 major things for me. First of all, he started the business, he put my visa package together and lastly he physically took me to the bank to meet the bank manager and open the account. I am hiring him to do a few more things!

Now all this is stuff anyone can do, I will post how to do it. BUT LET ME TELL YOU THIS, as I tried to do it on my own. It aint about how you do it or where you do it, you will enconter many confused or lazy or plain unknowledgeable people on this journey, its about who you know, especially if you want to get this done in a timely matter. With the help of him, his contacts at the Camara de Comercio, the bank manager at bancolombia, and the embassy contacts.

Here is the breakdown that worked for us and what my lawyer did for me.

1. In order to start you will need a notarized copy of a passport which you can get at your closest Colombian Consulate.

2. With this you can start the business but you must go to the Camara de comercio in person, or have a known cotact there. I sent the document to my lawyer along with a authorization for him to start the company while I was still in the states.

3. After this you can begin the process of determining a name and making sure it is available to use for your company’s name.

4. You can do this and also form your company, thru the “Camara de Comercio” there are different ones in each department (state) of Colombia and also in the big cities.

Side note:You must register with the Camara de Comercio in its proper city of department. The place of where you will be doing business. All this can be done from bogota, but if the business is in another department of Colombia or another city it will take up to a week longer. My buisness will be headquartered in Medellin.

5. After this process is complete you can than move on to opening a bank account. When you open a bank account you will need a passport and the official paper “Certificado de Existencia Y Representacion” This is similar to incorporating for lack of a better term, remember not all things are the same in Colombian business as is in the states or any other country.

Side Note:After opening a bank account you will need to wait 5 business days to receive your atm card and also to register an online account. With this being known it is important to plan your trip to Colombia accordingly.. This should be done upon arrival as we all know things can take longer than expected in colombia. I chose Bancolombia, because they have the most up to date security and online banking systems! I will be doing online visa transactions, so this is a key part to the entire business I am running!

Meanwhile with the Certificado de Existencia Y Representacion, you can than apply for your investors visa. I haven't yet cause I just returned home.

6. What is required for the investors visa is a 50,000,00 milliones investment in either money deposited into a Colombian bank account (for the use of the company) or the purchase of an equal amount of assets or the purchase of a business of equal value. This does not need to be done before your visa but it will need to happen within a short time. I am not sure what the timeline is yet, but I am lookig into it. This can be transferred from your bank in the states.

Important note: You will need an accountant from the city or department of Colombia in which you will be doing business. This is very important . Each department is like a state in the united states and has different tax laws. This is a very important part of the entire project. It is good to have one ready prior to actually starting your business as this way you will be prepared to do business and pay taxes, you are required to report your taxes bimonthly. You can be severly penalized if you dont pay your taxes, they collect most of their tax money thru their 16% sales tax.

I will be going to the consulate to get my visa next tuesday and I will try to report more on that. I have everything and than everything else ready for it. My lawyer told me to take everything they ask, for than think of everything that they forgot to ask you for and take that too.

[LastLion]

After just seeing Rivardo new thread, I thought I better update this a little as things dont always go as smoothly as possible with the colombian governement

Well I did drop off all my paperwork in the Colombian consulate for the investors visa the second week of December. I was told to come back the week after which was christmas week, I called in that week to see what day would be better but I got the feeling the consulate general, was kind of blowing me off, telling me he wasnt sure what my business plan was. Well without divuldging it all yet, it is pretty much black and white.

He ended up asking me to write a letter as to how and why my company would benefit colombia. Which was also obvious too! I called my lawyer and he called in and straigtened things out. It seams the head of the consulate was just buying time.

Well what I found out as a result of befriending the secretary who pretty much is the only one there who works, at least from the visitors point of view. Is that december is a tough month to get anything done. Apparently all the colombians who live anywhere near san francisco were in the office trying to get a cedula renewal.

Well I decided to go in the week after christmas since I was near the office on market street in SF. And boy was she right, usually there are 2 or 3 other people in there when i have visited previously. This time there must have been 70 o 80 people squished in their main office. I went in anyways, and out of the back of the office I hear a," Senor LASTLION" it was my new amiga who worked there, she said the consualte was wanting to talk with me. I was like great, lets do it .. Well apparently he slipped out for a "Mad Men" lunch, or at least thats what I put together.

The cool thing was that I got to talk with a lot of colombianos. I never knew there were so many in th bay area (actually there probably isnt) but I talked to a handful of people about my business and they were pretty much surprised I was trying to venture into colombia to do business. What I got was that there is still a lot of past memories that these colombians hold on to. In the end I felt like the one promoting colombia and its beauty and all the good things about it. All in all I met some cool peeps, and based on the conversation I should be able to get my paperwork done next week.

Lessons learned:
1. December is the last month to renew you cedulla
2. Colombians often wait till the last minute
3. Do consulate buisness the first 11 months of the year!

[SEDONA7]

I too would like to add my congrats as well.

Admire your desire and fortitude in pursing your dream. Reminds me of a something that I read many years ago and have used to help me get "unstuck" or get my butt moving in some direction instead of just standing there. "I would rather be sorry for something that I had done, than to be sorry for never attempting it."

All the best in the venture.