The January ritual
The single most useful habit for anyone planning a Colombian investment visa: check the year on the number before you believe it.
Colombia sets its minimum wage by decree in the last days of December. Every visa threshold expressed in SMMLV moves on 1 January. This year's move was 23%. In the years before it was typically around 10 to 12%. Either way, a guide that does not name the year it is quoting is a guide you cannot use.
How to date a figure
- If it says a dollar amount with no peso amount, it is a snapshot at some unknown exchange rate. Treat it as a rumour.
- If it says a peso amount, divide by 350. If the result is COP 1,750,905, it is current. If it is COP 1,423,500, it is 2025's. Anything smaller is older still.
- If it says "approximately", ask approximately when.
What we do
The week the decree drops, three constants change in this site's build script: the wage, the decree citation, and the verification date. The whole site regenerates from them. The dollar figures do not need touching because they are computed from the live central bank rate every time a page loads. That is the entire process, and it is why this site will still be right in February when its competitors are quoting December.
What you do
If you are buying in the last quarter of the year, close with margin above where you expect next year's line to land, or close early enough to file before 31 December. The sequencing guide has the calendar.
Source: Decreto 1469 de 2025; Decreto 0159 de 2026; prior years' wage decrees for the historical pattern.
Figures verified 30 Aug 2026. SMMLV 2026 COP 1,750,905. USD at live TRM, fallback 3,202.79.