Expat Lawyer & Legal Services
in Cartagena

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Your Legal Team on the Caribbean Coast

Cartagena is one of Colombia's most internationally connected cities — a UNESCO World Heritage walled city that draws not just tourists but permanent expats, short-term rental investors, and retirees from across the world. Its popularity comes with complexity: property prices in Getsemaní and the Old City have surged, short-term rental regulations are evolving, and the sheer concentration of foreigners in the city has created a market full of legal service providers of wildly varying quality.

Maia Legal & Accounting has an operational presence in Cartagena, and we work with expats and foreign investors here regularly. Our licensed abogado and Contador Público — both fully bilingual in English and Spanish — handle everything from your first visa application to ongoing company compliance and real estate transactions. We've personally navigated Cartagena's property market and its regulatory environment. We know what can go wrong, and we know how to prevent it.

Immigration & Visa Services in Cartagena

Cartagena attracts a high volume of short-stay visitors who decide to stay longer — and that means visa situations that often start informally and need to be regularised properly. Whether you arrived on a tourist stamp and now want a digital nomad visa, you're investing in property and need an investment-based visa, or you've married a Colombian national and need a spousal visa (Type M), the process has specific documentation requirements that vary significantly by category.

We assess your situation, identify the right visa type, prepare and submit your full application package, and manage the process through to approval. We also handle Cédula de Extranjería applications for those who've received residency status, apostilles on foreign documents, and immigration compliance for short-term rental owners who want to ensure they're meeting Colombian residency rules.

Real Estate Legal Support in Cartagena

Buying property in Cartagena as a foreigner is entirely legal, but it comes with legal obligations that many buyers aren't told about. Foreign property purchases require a certificado de tradición y libertad (title check), proper due diligence on property taxes and encumbrances, a correctly structured purchase agreement, and registration of the foreign investment with Banco de la República if you want to legally repatriate any future sale proceeds. Skip any of these steps and you risk losing either the property or your ability to move money out of the country later.

We work with buyers at every stage: initial due diligence and title searches, contract negotiation and drafting, notary coordination, foreign investment registration, and post-purchase compliance. We've helped clients navigate everything from apartment purchases in Bocagrande to commercial properties in the historic centre.

Why Maia Legal for Cartagena?

There's no shortage of lawyers in Cartagena who'll take your money and tell you what you want to hear. What's rarer is a bilingual team that's actually operated businesses here, bought property here, and dealt with the same agencies and notaries you're dealing with. We have skin in the game — not just professional experience, but personal experience navigating Colombian law as foreigners and as business owners. That's what makes the difference when things get complicated.

The first conversation costs nothing. We'll assess your situation, give you a straight answer about what you need, and quote you transparently before any work begins. Most of our Cartagena clients come through referrals from the expat community — we'd rather earn your trust than pitch for your business.