Israel and Colombia announced Thursday that starting September 1, citizens of both countries will no longer need visas to visit each other. The decision came after talks between Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Viauvicencio.
The arrangement removes one of the main barriers to travel between the two countries. Under the new agreement, citizens won’t need to obtain entry visas in advance, making it significantly easier for Israelis to visit Colombia and Colombians to visit Israel.
The move reverses a policy that had been in place for just over a year. For decades, Israel and Colombia maintained a visa-free arrangement for tourists—the Colombian Foreign Ministry says the original agreement dates back to June 1966.
But that changed in 2025. Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced that starting July 18 of that year, Israeli citizens would need tourist visas before entering Colombia. Colombia formalized the change in an official decision requiring visas for Israelis based on the principle of reciprocity. The Colombian Foreign Ministry’s official document stated that the country could determine which foreign citizens require visas according to its interests or reciprocity principles.
The Colombian consulate in Tel Aviv clarified in August 2025 that the requirement applied to Israeli citizens and that visa applications would be processed online. According to guidelines published at the time, the authority responsible for visas and immigration had up to 30 calendar days to decide on complete applications.
The visa requirement had a significant political backdrop. Relations between Israel and Colombia have hit a severe crisis in recent years. On May 1, 2024, Colombia’s leftist government under President Gustavo Petro announced it was severing diplomatic relations with Israel over the war in Gaza. The break took effect the next day. Colombia’s government clarified then that the move was directed at Israel’s government, not the Israeli people or Jewish community.
Despite the political crisis, ties between the countries didn’t disappear entirely. Israel and Colombia maintain longstanding agreements in various areas, including a free trade agreement signed in 2013 that remains in force and a tourism cooperation agreement signed in 2017.
The visa exemption decision comes shortly after another significant political move by Colombia: On August 10, the new government in Bogotá announced it recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. That made Colombia the second country in the world, after the United States, to formally recognize Israeli sovereignty in the area. Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the decision “historic,” noting that Colombia recognizes the importance of Israeli control of the Golan Heights to Israel’s security.