Remote work in Colombia: teletrabajo, trabajo remoto and employer duties

Colombian law does not treat remote work as one thing. It has three separate regimes, and the first job when a role will be done away from an office is to decide which one applies.

• Teletrabajo (telework), under Ley 1221 de 2008 as amended by the 2025 labour reform: the main, permanent framework for work done remotely with technology, in whole or in part.
• Trabajo en casa (home working), under Ley 2088 de 2021: temporary work from home in exceptional situations.
• Trabajo remoto (remote work), under Ley 2121 de 2021: a relationship carried out entirely at a distance, from the start of the contract to its end.

For a foreign company employing people in Colombia with no Colombian office at all, the realistic choices are telework or fully remote work. Home working is meant for exceptional situations, not as the basis of a permanent remote role. Most of the obligations covered below come from the telework rules, which Ley 2466 de 2025 revised in some detail, and they are the reference point we use when drafting a remote contract.

Take a designer in Medellín who will never visit an office and reports to a manager abroad. Nothing about the job is temporary or exceptional, so home working does not fit. The contract is drafted as remote employment from the outset, with the telework terms on equipment, hours, security and workstation built in, so that every obligation below is covered whichever label a labour inspector reaches for.

Since the reform, telework comes in four main forms: autonomous, mobile, hybrid and transnational, plus a temporary or emergency variant. Each describes a different pattern rather than a different set of rights.

The names describe where and how the work gets done. Transnational telework is the one with distinct legal conditions, covered further down; the others differ mainly in how much time, if any, the employee spends at an employer site, and so in which costs and logistics the contract has to settle.

Whatever the form, a teleworker is an employee with the same rights as an office-based colleague: the same salary rules, the same prima and cesantías, the same leave. They are registered with an EPS, a pension fund, an occupational risk insurer (ARL) and a family compensation fund, the caja de compensación familiar, and their contributions go through the PILA like anyone else’s.

The choice of form matters mostly for the paperwork and the costs that follow. A hybrid arrangement needs a workplace to come back to; an autonomous one does not. For employers with no premises in Colombia, autonomous telework is the usual fit.

A telework contract, or an annex to an existing contract, must cover a specific list of points under the labour-sector regulations (Decreto 1072 de 2015, as amended in 2022).

• The equipment the employee will use, and who provides it.
• The telework modality and the weekly hours.
• Who keeps the equipment safe, and the terms for handing it back at the end.
• Digital security measures the employee must follow.
• Minimum requirements for the workstation.

Beyond that list, two practical additions save trouble. State where the employee will usually work, so that the ARL cover and any travel are clear. And record how working time is tracked, because overtime requested by the employer is payable to teleworkers wherever the hours can be verified.

Telework can be reversed by agreement, and it helps to say in the annex how either side may ask to change the arrangement. Separately, employees with care responsibilities may ask for remote work or flexible hours, and the employer must reply within 15 working days. The main contract that this annex hangs from is explained in our Colombian employment contract guide.

The default rule is that the employer supplies the computer, software and programs a teleworker needs. The parties may instead agree that the employee uses their own equipment, in which case they also agree a compensation for it. Internet, phone and electricity costs can be covered by an agreed monthly amount, or the employee may take them on by agreement; either way, put it in writing.

Lower-paid teleworkers have a statutory allowance as well. Below 2 SMMLV, which is COP 3,501,810 monthly this year, a teleworker is paid a connectivity allowance (auxilio de conectividad) in place of the transport allowance. The amount mirrors it: COP 249,095. While it does not form part of salary, it does count when the prima and cesantías are calculated for workers earning up to 2 SMMLV.

With no commute to pay for, a teleworker has no claim to the transport allowance. For most professional remote roles, paid well above 2 SMMLV, neither allowance applies, and the equipment and internet terms are the only cost questions to settle.

For a teleworker on COP 3,000,000 a month, below the 2 SMMLV line, the connectivity allowance adds COP 249,095 monthly, COP 2,989,140 across twelve months. Budget for it from the offer stage, along with its effect on the prima and cesantías, rather than discovering it on the first payslip.

Getting a laptop into a new hire’s hands can take longer than the paperwork. Decide early whether equipment comes from you, is bought in Colombia, or is the employee’s own with compensation, and write that choice into the annex.

Remote staff share the ordinary ceiling that applies to everyone, now 42 hours weekly and eight ordinary hours a day. Night work starts at 19:00, so a teleworker whose day stretches into the evening to match colleagues elsewhere may be doing night work at a 35% surcharge.

Ley 2191 de 2022 also obliges every Colombian employer to keep a written right-to-disconnect policy. It must guarantee that employees are not contacted about work outside working hours, on public holidays or during leave, and it must include a procedure for complaints. Persistent breaches can amount to workplace harassment.

The law excludes some roles from the disconnection rule: management, trust and handling positions, jobs that by nature need permanent availability, and genuine emergencies. A software developer on a normal schedule is not one of them, even if the rest of the team is awake.

Remote staff also keep Colombian public holidays. The 2026 calendar has 18, and half of them are shifted to a Monday under the rule known as the Ley Emiliani, so long weekends recur through the year. Anyone asked to work on one of them, or on their rest day, earns 90% extra. Share the Colombian calendar with managers abroad at the start of each year so that release dates and team events do not land on a festivo by accident.

In practice the policy works best when it is specific. Name the core hours, say how urgent issues outside those hours are escalated, and set expectations for chat and messaging apps, which blur the line between working time and personal time more than e-mail does. Teleworkers must also be trained in technology tools, time management and remote communication, and a short session at onboarding covers the policy at the same time.

Transnational telework lets an employee with a Colombian contract work from another country, under conditions. The worker must hold the right immigration status in the country where they work. The employer must provide insurance covering at least health care for accidents or illness there. Economic benefits continue through the Colombian social security system, Colombian law governs the contract, and the ARL must cover accidents abroad.

Long spells abroad also raise tax questions. Colombia treats a person as tax resident after more than 183 days of presence, continuous or not, in any 365-day period, and residents are taxed on worldwide income. An employee who moves abroad for most of the year may change their position in both countries, so plan the arrangement with that in mind and with the employee’s own adviser involved.

The reverse case comes up often too: a foreign national who wants to live in Colombia and work for a foreign company. Colombia’s digital nomad visa (visa V nómada digital) is designed for remote work exclusively for foreign employers, and its holders may not work for a Colombian employer. Someone employed on a Colombian contract, including one we hold as employer of record, therefore cannot rely on that visa.

Visas are decided by the Cancillería and entry is controlled by Migración Colombia, so we never promise an outcome. What we can do is check, before an offer goes out, whether the candidate is already free to take Colombian employment and what the employer-side reporting would involve if they do not.

Most companies that use Employer of Record Colombia employ people who work remotely, because they have no premises in the country. In that set-up we are the legal employer, and the telework obligations sit with us: the annex, the equipment and connectivity terms, the disconnection policy, the affiliations and the PILA.

• We draft the telework annex with you, including equipment, hours and workstation requirements.
• We report the number of teleworkers to the Ministry of Labour, as the regulations require.
• We apply the connectivity allowance where a salary is under 2 SMMLV.
• We pay overtime and night surcharges that you approve, through Colombian payroll.

Remote does not mean the start-up steps shrink. The ARL affiliation still has to be in place at least the day before the first working day, even if that day is spent at a kitchen table, and the health, pension and caja registrations follow the same order as for any hire. Our timeline from offer to first payroll walks through it.

You manage the work itself: priorities, reviews, team rhythm. The split of tasks between client and employer is explained in more detail in our overview of what an EOR covers in Colombia, and the full scope of services is on our EOR services page.

Q01What is the difference between teletrabajo and trabajo remoto in Colombia?+

A.Teletrabajo (Ley 1221 de 2008, amended in 2025) is the main framework for work done remotely in whole or in part, in autonomous, mobile, hybrid or transnational form. Trabajo remoto (Ley 2121 de 2021) covers a relationship carried out entirely at a distance from start to finish.

Q02Does an employer in Colombia have to pay for a remote employee’s equipment?+

A.By default the employer supplies computers, software and programs. The parties can agree that the employee uses their own, with an agreed compensation. Internet, phone and electricity can be covered by an agreed monthly amount.

Q03What is the auxilio de conectividad?+

A.A connectivity allowance for teleworkers earning less than 2 SMMLV, which replaces the transport allowance and matches its value: COP 249,095 a month in 2026. Though outside salary, it counts for prestaciones for workers earning up to 2 SMMLV.

Q04Is transnational telework an option for staff on a Colombian contract?+

A.Yes, through transnational telework, if the worker has the right immigration status there. The employer must provide health-care insurance for accident or illness abroad, contributions continue in Colombia, and the ARL covers accidents abroad.

Q05Can someone on a digital nomad visa work for a Colombian employer?+

A.No. That visa is reserved for people whose work is done for companies abroad, so a Colombian employment contract rules the visa out.