Post-Covid-19 situation in Colombia

Only masks in medical facilities and last time I checkedvon flights

Oh still need 2 Vaccines to enter country  doesnt matter if they are 2 years old( which makes zero sense).

And supposedly have to fill the CheckMig coming in and out of the country..I usually do it..its the airlines who make you do it.

Surprising they still have these measures  as most of the world has dropped them ( apart from  medical facility masking), including previously strict  countries like Canada and EU countries

I think it is for control. Or maybe to keep the bureaucrats busy so the can hire more to keep the unemployment down ( as if this helps productivity LOL).It sure goes against the new presidents purported philosophy to welcome tourism as an economic source of income  but fits in well with the also hypocritically regressive taxation policy and equally increasingly regressive and bureacratic visa policy ( which was instigated by the last president, incidentally).

I

I have found the Check-MIG site to be unreliable and have

paid a third-party site multiple times to do the form for me.

Nobody seems to check it at the airport entering Colombia ..

and certainly not for departing flights.

Next trip, I expect to attempt to fill in the form at the

government site, and if it doesn't go through, not pay

the 39 US to a third party .. then figure it out at the airport

if necessary and truly still required.

cccmedia in the Paisa capital

The past seven weeks.

I have been in Colombia for seven weeks on my

current trip -- Bucaramanga and Medellín.  I have

not been wearing a mask.  The few people I have

seen wearing masks were workers doing physical

tasks while employed by a health club, a hotel or

a public entity.

Mask wearing was enforced on my two plane trips

to these cities, but only during the boarding phase.

I would alter my future plans to visit or stay in

Colombia only if The Situation were to present

a serious uptick in cases or deaths or

hospitalizations.

FYI, my carnet  showing my 2021 vaccinations

has not been requested even once during the

past seven weeks by any person or agency.

cccmedia in Medellín

Check-mig is an immigration control form the same form you used to fill out years ago either coming to or going to another country, it's just that it's electronic now they don't ask for it because when you fill it out and you send it-in they already have it when they collect your passport so nothing has changed. Download the app on your phone and you can fill it in English, the first time you fill it out may be confusing but you will get the hang of it

@Xavier Varela-Rosales I travel a lot.- have filled CheckMig out at least a dozens otimes, in Spanish, I am bilingual..personally, cant understand how people could survive here for many years without being bilingual

Dont remember filling in any form leaving the country before CHeckMig. I seem to remember them giving you the forms on the airlines coming in.

This all came about during COVID, and they do ask your Visa Data and Vaccination status on the CHeckMig form coming in, even though they additionally have girls in the migracion line asking for a Vacuna Carnet..at least the last 2 times I came into Bogota in the last 4 months

@cccmedia you are right. I have heard from other people that sometimes the site goes down, though it has never happened to me when it cam time to fill it out. Iven had a friend who supposedly had to pay for a new flight because  he couldnt get it to work. At least that is what  he told me.

I dont believe Migrations looks at it or cares either, Sometimes, the airliine  you are arriving with asks for it.

And sometimes they ask for a return flight if you dont have a visa.

Migraciones dont care about the return flight.

CCC, it would be useful for ohers on here if you gave the information about the third party provider, in case this happens to others on here.

in the last 14 months, the airines have requested to see my mig check coming from Holland and Mexico, but not Canada/US  and Ecuador

Migraciones has never requested to see it, but maybe because it is on the "system" but I highly doubt it

Some companies that offer the Check Mig service

can be Googled at check mig colombia.

In theory, one can do the form online at no charge

via a government website.  But in my experience,

that site never seems to be working properly

and there is no user-friendly assistance available

when the process breaks down.  So I have been

using a paid service when flying into Colombia.

When Colombia started promoting the form in the

early days of The Situation, it was presented as

a requirement for entering Colombia.  Lately, it seems

as though it is presented as required both for arriving

and departing travelers to Colombia.

cccmedia in Medellín

I live in Barranquilla. I almost always take my face mask with me when I go out. When walking or taking the bus, I use it to reduce the amount of dust and particulates I inhale. In other cases (like if I am taking Uber), I have it handy in case my destination requires face mask (for example, the immigration office here still requires it, for some reason).

Note: Wearing the face mask doesn't hurt anyone... it can only help reduce risk of inhaling something you don't want (be it viruses, vehicle pollution, or cheese/beans/coffee farts 💨 👃🏾 😷 😂).

On the other hand of the usefulness spectrum, the online check-mig form is worthless, and I mean that both metaphorically AND literally. It's completely unnecessary, and like cccmedia mentioned, it often doesn't work. I have had to resort to using a paid service at least twice 😠

Ironically, despite the dicey logistics, non-existent customer service, and other 3rd World Country challenges... the check-mig form is now the single most stressful part of traveling in and out of Colombia. Go figure 🤷🏾‍♂️😆

Two out of last three trips the online check mig worked (though in all three the experience was stressful).

In the unsuccessful case an airline employee called a manager who took the time to monitor the step by step process until it failed. Then, because I could show a valid Colombian visa and a valid Colombian cédula, I was given the boarding pass without a completed check mig form.

@futuroexpat On my birthday November 19th I was finally moving to Colombia with 5 huge suitcases, a carry-on, and a personal bag. I arrived at the airport at 3AM, a full 3 hours before my flight departure, before the service desks even opened up.

American Airlines at PHL wouldn't let me check in for my flight to BAQ, and they didn't want to do anything to help. Not a thing. Typical lazy airport staff. Eventually, I was able to use one of those paid services,  and got the Check-Mig. Same with another passengers who was in same boat (he was heading to Bogota).

Imagine arriving at the airport 3 hours ahead and yet missing your flight because of Check-Mig website failing.

Fortunately I was able to get in in touch with AA Customer Service and they rebooked me to Medellin same day. I still had to scramble to find an AirBnB at the last minute, while hauling my 5 huge suitcases everywhere. I ended up spending a week in a cold, isolated cabin in Guarne. I'm slightly anemic and I hate cold weather, so OF COURSE I caught a cold and spent 3 of those 7 days sniffling and sick. I then booked a flight from MDE to BAQ (final destination), where I remain till this day.

The staff at PHL - one of the worst airports in the dUSA - combined with this Check-Mig nonsense, cost me many hundreds of dollars in additional unexpected costs.

At least I put it all on my Citi AAdvantage card, and got points. And thank goodness Colombia is far more affordable in general, so I could make up for the unexpected and unnecessary expenses by doing a side-gig online and living extra-frugally for 2-3 weeks while settling in.

In summary, The Check Mig requirement is a relic of The Past. Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. It's the only way for travel in and out of Colombia to return to what it was.

In the US, COVID vaccines are constantly evolving.  I've had four so far and presumably would be recommended to get more as time goes on.  In the U.S., at least for older people or those who are compromised, the recommended treatment is with an anti-viral drug (Paxlovid).  Does anyone have information about the status of those two things in Colombia (specifically coffee triangle)?  Are updated vaccines generally available?  Is Paxlovid available?

@Mickael i think people have and keep trying to settle in like before, in the usa no, i live in florida, the whole country is divided in half, so not hard to figure out.  colombia has there family and culture to always fall back on and keep the hope and faith alive.

@futuroexpat i am in medelling every other month, i don't think they care about checkmig anymore, i still fill in out as a precaution.