How to exchange foreign currency in Colombia

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Colombia permits the free trading of foreign currency between residents and nonresidents in the country. However, the Central Bank requires compliance with certain formalities in order to keep statistics on the inflow and outflow of foreign currency.

Customs activities are facilitated by the city’s geographic location and access to several roads that facilitate national distribution. According to DIAN (customs authority) figures, in 2014 more than 1.5 million import operations and more than 3,000 export operations, a year have been processed, which represents 50% of imports and 29% of exports in the country.

Unified Regulatory Decree 1068 of 2015, amended by Decree 119 of 2017, regulates the general regime for foreign capital investment in Colombia and defines it as investments made on the aforementioned assets, provided that they have been acquired by a nonresident in any capacity and by virtue of a lawful act, contract or transaction.

Rule DCIN 83 issued by the International Exchange Department of the Central Bank establishes the obligations related to international investments, including the registration of direct foreign investments, portfolios, and procedures. This decree recognizes the following exchange rights of duly registered foreign investments in compliance with the rules provided therein.
 

The exchange rights granted by the registration of foreign investments are the following:

  • Reinvesting profits or retain any undistributed profits in the surplus with exchange remittance rights and register the same as a foreign investment;

  • Capitalizing the amounts with exchange remittance rights product of obligations derived from the investment;

  • Transferring the net profits periodically generated by the investments abroad through the foreign exchange.

  • Transferring the amounts received as a consequence of (i) the sale of the investment within the country, (ii) the liquidation of the company or portfolio or (iii) the reduction of the company’s capital.

This chapter includes key concepts about the foreign exchange regime in Colombia and the special foreign exchange regime applicable to the oil and gas and mining sector. It also includes information about key public entities within the regime.
 

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Updated (mm/dd/yyyy): 02.22.2018