One number for everything: 123. If you are robbed you can file the police report online without visiting a station, and your insurer will want it. Losing a passport means an exit permit as well as a new document.
- 123 is the only number you need - police, ambulance, fire and rescue, national, free and around the clock.
- Do not count on a fast ambulance outside a city. In the mountains and smaller towns the practical answer is a car to the nearest clinic.
- File a robbery report online the same day through the Policía Nacional's A Denunciar or CAI Virtual - no station visit needed, and your insurer will require it.
- A lost passport takes three steps: the police report, an emergency travel document from your embassy in Bogotá, and then a salvoconducto de salida from Migración Colombia, COP 88,000.
- Without that exit permit you cannot legally leave, because your entry record is attached to a document you no longer have. It is the step people forget.
The number
| Number | Service |
|---|---|
| 123 | Everything - police, ambulance, fire and rescue. National, free, around the clock |
- 123 is the only number you need to remember. It is the Número Único de Seguridad y Emergencias and it covers the whole country from any phone.
- Do not count on a fast ambulance outside a city. In the mountains and the smaller towns, the practical answer is often a car to the nearest clinic.
- An operator may not speak English. Have your address written down, or hand the phone to someone at the hotel.
If you are robbed
- File a denuncia, and file it online. The Policía Nacional runs A Denunciar and CAI Virtual, both of which take a report from a foreigner without a station visit.
- Your insurer will require it, and getting one after you have left the country is very difficult. Do it the same day.
- Block your cards through your own bank's app first. That is faster than any hotline.
If you lose your passport
Three steps, in this order, and the third one is the one people forget:
- File the police report.
- Get an emergency travel document from your embassy. Most are in Bogotá.
- Apply to Migración Colombia for a salvoconducto de salida - an exit safe-conduct, COP 88,000 in 2026. Without it you cannot legally leave, because your entry record is attached to a document you no longer have.
Before anything goes wrong
- Photograph your passport, your entry stamp and your Check-Mig confirmation and keep them somewhere that is not your phone.
- Write down your insurer's emergency number rather than relying on finding it in an inbox.
- Tell someone your plan if you are going anywhere remote, and check the FCDO regional list before you go.
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