Colombian citizens may no longer need visas to travel to Spain if EU agrees

One of Spain's most prolific foreign groups, many Colombian nationals have been living in the country for between eight and 15 years, and their family members and friends have to apply for visas whenever they want to visit them, just as Colombians living in Spain have to constantly renew theirs to be able to carry on living there, even when they have jobs and mortgages.

Spanish president Mariano Rajoy wants to eliminate this hassle and bureaucracy for them, and plans to speak to the European Union.

Santos, speaking from the popular holiday city of Cartagena de las Indias (pictured) on the Caribbean coast, said: “That is really great news.

“We are very grateful to the Spanish government, to its president Mariano Rajoy, for such a major step forward.

“Already, nine countries in the world no longer require visas from Colombians wanting to visit them.

“We have the full right to be proud of being Colombian and to want to live in any part of the world without a visa.”

Spain's most famous Colombian citizen is pop-rock sensation Shakira who, although her mother is half-catalana and her father is Lebanese but born in New York, has nationality in the Latin American country and was born on its Caribbean coast in Barranquilla.

Now with a son by Spanish partner, Barça forward Gerard Piqué, the multi-lingual blonde singer – who is not married to the father of her child – lives with Piqué and baby Milan in Barcelona.