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Everybody gets the 90 day visa, and you can pay for an extra 30 day stay,

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1. As a US citizen, you may get a 60 days stamp (not 2 months) or a 90 days stamp (not 3 months) depeneding on what the officer of Migración Colombia assesses at border control. You may also be refused entry albeit unlikely. There is no set policy and Colombian immigration law imposes no obligation on the officer. You can always ask politely and they may give you a 90 days stamp. They are very nice people round here, especially in Medellín.

2. Whatever you get, yes you can go to Ecuador and come back for another 60 or 90 days period as long as you do not exceed a total of 180 days per calendar year (January - December). And, yes, theroetically you CAN spend 180 days in Colombia (with entry stamp/visa renewals) in one year and another consecutive 180 days the following year.

3. If you do not leave Colombia and reenter, you will have to pay money for every 30 day extension you get. It is not free.

4. It is a MUST that you renew before the expiry of your entry stamp or visa renewals One or more days overstay with an expired stamp or visa will cost you money and unnecessary delay... It is unlawful.

5. Frequent visits and/or renewals may raise a red flag, and you may be scrutinized a lot more than other passengers to verify that you are not carrying or engaging in anything illegal.

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2. Whatever you get, yes you can go to Ecuador and come back for another 60 or 90 days period as long as you do not exceed a total of 180 days per calendar year (January - December).

I think the OP is asking do you need to cross the border in order to extend a tourist visa, i.e. less than 180 days. The answer is no. You can stay in Colombia on a tourist visa for 180 consecutive days and per calendar year without having to leave the country. Just visit a Migracion office with an extranjeria facility with the relevant remittance advice, paperwork and passport photos to get your extension granted when expiry date is near.

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Jon; I get 90 days every time on entering now. You can extend in country at the DAS office of whatever city you are in. Get there early as it can be a bit of a wait.

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Thanks for the replies. Great that the visa can be extended in Colombia. I stayed at the border 3x a few years ago passing between Colombia and Ecuador and it wasn't very nice.

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@rythmbug -- I said "3. If you do not leave Colombia and reenter, you will have to pay money for every 30 day extension you get. It is not free."... Do you disagree?

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Hi Bickerss... how are you? DAS no longer exists... Migración Colombia does this now...

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Hi Jon... Glad to be of help... An advantage of crossing the border and back is that you get an entry stamp for FREE, and it "may" be for 90 days. No one is guaranteed 90 days.

If you go to Migración Colombia, you must pay a fee (don't quote me but I believe is like $140.000) for every 30 days renewal.

Verify any information given to you on a forum, do your calculations and choose the option that is optimm for you.

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Ah...well if you're close to the border at the time, crossing over might be a slightly cheaper option.

$140.000? That doesn't sound right, unless they've just recently doubled it!
The extension fee has been floating around COP$72.000 - 75.000 for the last 18 months. I was given 60 days on each occasion. Some are reporting 90 days at the mo. But like you say, the length of time is not guaranteed.

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Not sure what the fee is... so don't quote me... call Migración Colombia in advance and ask to be sure.

My understanding that they renew 30 days at a time. However, even if it is not guaranteed, and there is a remote chance that he can get 90 days for $72.000, he certainly should go that route. He can always ask politely, and someone may oblige. Their immigration officers are super nice.

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Michael - all good thanks; yes correct - I always refer to them as DAS out of (bad) habit. Number of people I know have their cedula issue delayed due to the change over!!

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Tell me about it. There is word that cédulas will be available in January. This is bizarre considering it takes less than a day to print and laminate 10.000 cédulas... I think people paying $140.000 for a small piece of ID deserve better than this. This delay is totally unnecessary and unjustified.