SIRE Reporting in Colombia: What Landlords, Hosts, and Foreign Tenants Must Know

If you have just rented an apartment in Colombia and the landlord asks to see your passport, you are not being treated with suspicion. And if you are the landlord wondering what happens when you file late, there is a real answer. Both questions come down to one system: SIRE, Migración Colombia's reporting tool for foreigners.

Short answer: anyone who lodges or houses a foreigner, from a hotel to a private owner handing over an apartment, must report through SIRE. The deadline depends on the type of host, and the fine is a range measured in UVT, not a fixed peso amount. This is general information, not legal advice.

SIRE, RNT and TRA are three different duties

Hosts mix these up constantly. SIRE is Migración Colombia's official system for reporting foreigners that a person or company houses, hires, enrolls or serves, including lodging (Migración Colombia, service page, accessed 3 November 2026). The RNT and the TRA belong to the tourism regime instead.

A host can owe one, two or all three. Filing a TRA or holding an RNT does not replace SIRE, and a SIRE account does not replace either of them. For how a tourism host gets and renews the RNT, read our RNT and Airbnb legal guide. I will not repeat that checklist here.

Who has to report

The duty covers natural and legal persons: hotels, hostels, aparthotels and other lodging establishments, but also owners or administrators of fincas, apartments and houses who rent or lodge a foreigner. A normal urban lease does not turn the owner into an RNT operator, but it does not erase the SIRE notice when that owner delivers the home to a foreigner.

If a property manager is the one who actually hands over the keys, that person or company should hold the SIRE account. Creating and using an account is free. Do not wait for check-in day, though: the service page says Migración has up to three business days to accept or reject an enrollment, and the May 2026 ABC describes validation as three to five business days. The annoying part is that this wait is real, so enroll before your first foreign guest.

Reports are filed on the SIRE login portal that Migración publishes, not by ordinary email.

Two clocks, not one

This is where most online guides collapse two rules into one. They are separate.

• Lodging establishments (hotels, pensions, hostels, residences, aparthotels): under Article 6 of Resolución 2357 de 2020, an entry or handover report is timely only on the same calendar day. Article 2.2.1.11.5.8 of Decreto 1067 de 2015 also requires a daily report of definitive departure.
• Owners or administrators of inmobiliarias, fincas, apartments, houses or hotel properties who rent or lodge foreigners: they must inform Migración within five business days after formal delivery of the property, with the same guest data.

A hotel night sits in the first bucket; a leased apartment handed over to a foreign tenant sits in the second. If you genuinely cannot tell which one you are, file on the shorter clock and confirm with Migración. The law did not merge the two.

What a host may ask you to show

The reporter is authorized, and required, to ask for a valid ID. Resolución 2357, Article 4 (as amended by Resolución 2945 de 2020) allows only these documents in a report:

• a current passport with a current visa or a Migración-authorized permit;
• a cédula de extranjería;
• a current Permiso Especial de Permanencia, or the document that replaces it;
• a current salvoconducto;
• a foreign document previously authorized by Migración.

Migración's ABC adds that a PPT is a valid ID and does not exempt its holder from being reported. The data a lodging report can carry includes full name, nationality, identity document, date of birth, gender, profession, origin, destination, and arrival and departure dates. Screen labels change, so do not treat that list as a permanent form.

One important limit: the rules require the host to demand presentation of the document. They do not say the host must photograph the passport or keep a copy. Also, the person who files is responsible for the data; wrong data that misleads Migración is itself an infraction. And a passport shown at check-in is not a proof-of-address document, which is a different problem covered in our proof of address guide.

What missing the report can cost

Failure by a person or company with a reporting link to a foreigner, including a lodging operator's missed duties and a missed five-business-day property notice, is a moderate infraction. The band is 105.25 to 2,631.30 UVT, imposed after an administrative sanctioning process. Resolución 3770 de 2021 is why the unit is UVT rather than the old minimum-wage multiples. It is a range, not an automatic maximum, and it does not necessarily multiply with each guest.

For scale, Migración's own ABC converted the band for 2025 only to COP 5,241,344.75 to COP 131,036,108.70. The UVT for 2026 is COP 52,374 (DIAN, Resolución 000238 de 2025), but that is a tax unit, and I am not going to turn it into a 2026 fine because I could not find an official Migración peso table for this year. Verify the current figure with Migración.

Two more points. Filing late does not make the fine disappear: Article 26.1 of Resolución 2357 lets an officer consider an enmienda in certain late-report situations, but it is discretionary and does not cancel the fine. And the ABC says the sanctions for failure to report are economic. If you already have a sanctioning file open, read the charge carefully and respond through Migración's PQRS channel or a lawyer.

If you are the foreign tenant

You are not the SIRE account holder; your landlord or administrator is. Ask which document they need, show a valid one from the list above, and be careful about sending passport photos to a WhatsApp account you have not identified. The duty is to present the document to the person who must report, not to scatter images around.

A monthly furnished stay and a tourist night are different for RNT purposes, but neither cancels the landlord's five-business-day notice. If you are choosing between formats, our guide to renting short-term directly from owners covers that decision. For furnished stays by the month, the temporary rentals category is the place to look, though supply there is thin at the moment.

No internet? The Article 5 path

An establishment that truly cannot connect asks the nearest Centro Facilitador for a physical book, keeps a manual register, and sends the digital file within the period agreed with Migración and no later than 30 calendar days. Migración charges nothing for opening that book. It is an exception for real connectivity problems, and the data still has to reach SIRE.

I checked these rules against Migración Colombia and Cancillería texts on 3 November 2026. Screen labels and procedures change, so confirm on the official SIRE page.

Frequently Asked Questions

❓ Is SIRE the same thing as the RNT or the TRA?

No. SIRE is Migración Colombia's report on foreigners, the RNT registers a tourism provider, and the TRA is MinCIT's guest record for tourism lodging. A host may owe one, two or all three, and none replaces another. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Does a landlord have the same deadline as a hotel?

No. Lodging establishments report entry or handover on the same calendar day, plus daily departures. Owners or administrators who hand over a finca, apartment or house report within five business days after formal delivery. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Why does the host need my passport?

The person filing the report must see a valid ID before filing. A passport with a visa or permit is one accepted document. The rules require presenting it, not that the host photograph or keep a copy. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Which documents can be used in the report?

A current passport with a visa or Migración permit, a cédula de extranjería, a current PEP or its replacement, a current salvoconducto, or a foreign document Migración authorized. Migración's ABC also treats a PPT as valid. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ What is the fine for not reporting?

It is not a fixed peso bill. The moderate band is 105.25 to 2,631.30 UVT, imposed after a sanctioning process. Migración's ABC published a peso illustration for 2025 only, so check the current figure with Migración. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ If I report the guest late, does the fine disappear?

No. Under Article 26.1 of Resolución 2357 de 2020, an officer may consider an enmienda in certain late-report situations, but that is discretionary, not a right, and it does not cancel the fine. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Do I enter Colombian guests in SIRE?

Routine SIRE lodging reports concern foreigners. Information on Colombian guests is given when Migración requires it, while tourism lodging still records every guest on the TRA. (verify with the official source, as accessed)