Border crossing: Ipiales to Tulcan?

Hi

1 the border is not closed by Air only by Land and Sea
2 you can apply for a Salva conduto  at Migracion Colombia it's done online it gives you extra 30 days while you wait for visa.

3 if you are fully vaccinated you don't need PCR to enter Ecuador I did it in July

Check it out hope it helps you.

Hutch

Hutch, thank you for your information.  Websites I had researched were inconsistent as to whether people were getting across the land border.

You said the land border is closed.  You also said that you crossed successfully in July.

Are you implying that the border was open in July .. and the land border at Rumichaca (near Ipiales) has since been closed?

What is your source of information that the land border is currently closed this month, September 2021?  How recently did you get the information that the border is still closed this month?

cccmedia in Quito, Ecuador

No I flew into quito from Bogota thus I said borders are still closed by land and sea, by looking into Ecuador entry requirements page, I saw the information had not changed I only fly so I'm not concerned with land or sea but that's what I saw on that page, maybe they did not update it you know how things go.

HutchX2020 wrote:

I flew into quito from Bogota thus I said borders are still closed by land and sea, by looking into Ecuador entry requirements page, I saw the information had not changed I only fly so I'm not concerned with land or sea but that's what I saw on that page, maybe they did not update it you know how things go.

This means that we don't have reliable information on this thread as to whether the principal border crossing at Rumichaca/Ipiales/Tulcán is open or closed in September 2021.

Furthermore, it should be pointed out that Colombia and Ecuador each have independent border control -- meaning that on any given day it's possible that one country is allowing crossings while the other is not.

Typically, to be in full compliance, a traveler is supposed to obtain an exit permit from Country A before obtaining an entry permit from Country B.

cccmedia

We have several friends in Colombia who are trying to drive the PanAmerican Hwy...From Colombia to Ecuador, then south.

Land borders are still closed.  They've been stuck for quite a while and immigration has let them stay due to it.  I haven't heard any rumors about their opening soon...

Supposedly according to the immigration official in Medellin Colombia is open but Ecuador is closed. So how much sense does that make? Plus a lady friend in Ibarra and other information from Pan American Travelers F.B. say people are crossing borders going both ways but illegal. This insane Covid management is making criminals out of all of us.......

prospector911 wrote:

Supposedly according to the immigration official in Medellin Colombia is open but Ecuador is closed. So how much sense does that make? Plus a lady friend in Ibarra and other information from Pan American Travelers F.B. say people are crossing borders going both ways but illegal. This insane Covid management is making criminals out of all of us.......

Kudos to Prospector for doing his best to tell us the sources of his information.  This aids members in evaluating the information, or should I say "information"...

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I believe lax border control over vehicles entering Colombia at Rumichaca had been going on long before The Situation.  I say this based on my observing traffic, including my own driving, during a ten-month stay I did in Ipiales.

The authorities often stopped my Ecuador-plated car and other vehicles entering Ecuador about 75 yards past the international line .. apparently to briefly check the trunks for contraband.  I never was stopped a short distance into Colombia when going the other way.

cccmedia

@CCC.......Do you remember any migracion/aduana checkpoints between Ipiales and Pasto. I dont remember ever being checked coming  the other way from Pasto to the border. Im in Ecuador now and poco a poco moving that way. Working on all angles including a salvo conducto to allow me free passage to Bogota or Medellin to resolve this little problem with immigration....which only seems to exist in Medellin. Had no problem in Jan of this year.....But it came back to haunt me 2 weeks ago in Medellin. Avoiding Rio Negro/Medellin airport (at least for entries) seems to be called for any more......They hassle a lot of people there for no particular good reason.

prospector911 wrote:

@CCC.......Do you remember any migracion/aduana checkpoints between Ipiales and Pasto.... Im in Ecuador now.... Working on all angles including a salvo conducto to allow me free passage to Bogota or Medellin to resolve this little problem with immigration....which only seems to exist in Medellin. Had no problem in Jan of this year.....But it came back to haunt me 2 weeks ago in Medellin. Avoiding Rio Negro/Medellin airport (at least for entries) seems to be called for...

I don't remember any checkpoints between Ipiales and Pasto.

What is the problem you are encountering, Prospector? -- "this little problem with immigration."

Have you crossed the border at Rumichaca lately?  What did you encounter?  Or did you fly between the two countries?

Medellín -- what happened to you there two weeks ago?

cccmedia in Quito

They sent me back to Panama saying I needed a visa becuz I had been deported (even while leaving at the airport) for a 10 day overstay. They wanted to charge me a multa and I was ready to pay it in cash.. They wouldn't accept cash only credit/, debit card... Mine had been stolen along with laptop as nd cel phone etc a few weeks before. So I couldn't comply... That's how nasty they are... And I was granted entry in Cartagena in mid Jan.. I examined everything to the jefe of migra there and he made a few phone calls and then stamped me in.... Do even tho I have spent 4 months in Colombia this year they denied me entry in Medellin... According to my Wingo Guardian for the nite at the airport it happens most every day...

Forgot to mention I was 1 of 3 they sent back to Panama... Those 2 for supposedly acting grosero... all of us with the same immigration official... I think the Medellin immigration drpt needs a purge... this guy is bad for business.

Hey guys, I'm trying to enter Colombia without going through migration because I already stayed my 6 months in 2021. Is it compliment to cross from Ecuador or Peru? Any experience you can share?

Cheers

Dear Sam,

Welcome to the Colombia forums of Expat.com ...

If you want to re-enter Colombia legally with no time remaining as a tourist, you will need an actual visa .. as another tourist stamp will be denied to you.

If you wait until January 1, 2022, to enter Colombia legally as a tourist, thinking a new clock will start and you can get at least 90 more days, I predict you will be disappointed .. and refused entry.  Your new window for entering Colombia will be 365 days after your first 2021 entry, not the first day of the new calendar year.

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When I attempted twice last month (October 2021) to enter Colombia at the Rumichaca crossing with my Ecuador-plated car, Ecuadorian authorities would not grant me a 'salida' to exit their country on both days.  I had presented my passport and my health certificate (required). 

On the second attempt I was given confusing information by Ecuadorian border agents -- telling me that I could enter Colombia on foot without the car .. except that I could not return later that week to retrieve the car.  Again, entry denied!

---

I believe hundreds of people are crossing the border daily .. though not necessarily legally and not necessarily at the Rumichaca crossing, where barricades were in place.

Illegal foreign entrants may be fined, deported and/or denied re-entry for nine months or more.

cccmedia near the Ecuador-Colombia border

***

People traveling between Colombia and Ecuador will no longer need to search out the "informal" crossings that have enabled large numbers of travelers to cross international borders illegally since March of 2020.

The presidents of the two countries have just announced that, starting December 1 (2021), the Rumichaca bridge/crossing near Ipiales, Colombia, and Tulcán, Ecuador, will be open to pedestrian and vehicular traffic, provided proper papers are presented.

source... www.cuencahighlife.com

Our Expat.com member HeyMrPaul posted a Spanish-language news article on Thursday night indicating that the Rumichaca border is not exactly wide open.

According to the article (as posted on the "Joys of Tulcán" thread of the Ecuador forum), large commercial trucks are being allowed to cross the border this month.

As of New Year's a second phase of the presidential border agreement will go into effect.  It is possible, though not necessarily assured, that pedestrians and non-commercial vehicles will be allowed to cross the Rumichaca border starting then.

IMO, the border situation is somewhat fluid on a day-to-day basis .. and cannot be taken for granted by motorists or other would-be crossers.

I recommend that anybody wanting to cross at Rumichaca should arrive in the morning or as early in the afternoon as possible during the second phase.  Nighttime crossings may be limited or prohibited for a while.

cccmedia

Good to know. Thank you.

Hi there,  please help me I need to know Colombian border closed or opened, work or not by land, I want to move from Tulcan Equador to Ipiales Colombia, if it's closed when they open borders? thank you.

Colombia has been open for quite a few months now....coming from Ecuador.

Entering Ecuador from Colombia was just opened a few weeks ago.

I recommend that anyone traveling in either direction between Ecuador and Colombia do so by air if possible.

The border agents seem to have had discretion on any given day as to whether to allow pedestrians or travelers with vehicles to cross at Rumichaca.

cccmedia

Ecuadorians, driven by the rapacious desire to spend greenbacks and to avoid gang violence on the coast this holiday weekend, are waiting in some cases up to four hours to cross into Ipiales, says El Universo. Apparently, some are headed to Pasto to catch flights to other cities within Colombia.

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/ecu … tilla=home