Colombia has become one of the easiest places to work for a US company without moving to the US. Developers in Bogotá join standups with teams in Austin, bilingual assistants in Cali run calendars for clients in Miami, and Medellín’s coworking spaces are full of remote workers on US payrolls. Unlike Asia or Europe, the hard part is not the time difference. It is being easy to call. Here is how the hours line up and how a US number fits each kind of work.
How much of the US working day do you share?
Nearly all of it. Colombia is UTC-5 all year and does not change its clocks (IANA). US Eastern time is UTC-5 in winter and UTC-4 in summer, Central is an hour behind Eastern and Pacific three hours behind, and US summer runs from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November (NIST).
Here is a US working day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in Colombia time:
| Your client is in | US summer, Colombia time | US winter, Colombia time |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern (New York, Miami, Atlanta) | 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Central (Chicago, Dallas, Houston) | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Pacific (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) | 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Noon to 8 p.m. |
You are on the same calendar day as your clients, and there is no night shift. The one thing that moves is the East Coast morning. From November 1, 2026, New York and Bogotá read the same time, so a 9 a.m. standup is 9 a.m. for you. When US clocks go forward on March 14, 2027, that standup moves to 8 a.m. Bogotá time. If you work with the West Coast, the end of your day stretches instead: a 4 p.m. Pacific call is 6 p.m. in Colombia in the US summer and 7 p.m. in the US winter.
Watch the holidays too. Colombia has several long weekends (puentes) on Mondays that are ordinary working days in the US, and the US has holidays you work through. Put them in your shared calendar. The US time-zone clock shows each zone right now.
How does a US number work from Colombia?
The TripoSIM US Virtual Number runs in the TripoSIM app over Wi-Fi or mobile data. On iPhone, add the TripoSIM web app to your Home Screen. On Android, install the TripoSIM app. You need an email address, a payment card and a short ID check with a photo ID and a selfie, about 2 minutes. You do not need a US address or an SSN.
Before you rely on it, one check matters. Rules on internet calling differ by country, and a call on the number is an internet call on your network. Check with your regulator or mobile operator, and keep your Colombian number for calls inside Colombia.
Texts work differently. A text from a US sender reaches your number in the US and appears in the app over your connection, and verification codes from apps arrive the same way.
Which setup fits your work?
Nearshore developers. Whether you work through a staffing firm or directly, a +1 number in your Slack profile and email signature lets the client’s product manager call you for a quick question instead of waiting for a meeting. Because you share their hours, you can answer live. If the firm wants several engineers answering one support line, that is a business phone system, not this: the number is one person’s line for personal and small-business use, and call centers are not allowed. See US numbers for remote teams.
Bilingual virtual assistants. Assistants who confirm appointments, chase suppliers and call Spanish-speaking customers for US clients place a lot of short calls. Calls out reach US and Canadian numbers, and the calls clients make to you are separate. The virtual assistants page has call budgets for this kind of work.
Digital nomads in Medellín. If you move between Medellín, Cartagena and the next country, a local SIM or travel eSIM gives you data and the app gives you a US number that does not change. The digital nomads page and the nomad phone setup walk through it.
How many minutes does a typical month use?
Take Valentina, a made-up example: a bilingual virtual assistant in Bogotá who works for a dental practice in Miami. She makes about eight calls a weekday to confirm appointments, most under two minutes. Each outgoing call is rounded up to the next full minute; unanswered calls are free. So a call that lasts 1 minute 10 seconds counts as 2.
Counting each call as 2 minutes, that is 80 minutes a week, or about 350 minutes a month. It is past the 300 minutes a month to the US and Canada, so she adds one extra pack of 100 minutes at $5. Patients who call her back use a separate fair use of 300 minutes a month, not her outgoing minutes. If she takes on a second client, a second number with its own plan keeps that client’s calls, minutes and voicemail greeting apart. The cost calculator works out your own month.
What should your contact page and voicemail say?
Because you share US hours, say so plainly, in the client’s time zone:
US line: +1 (your number). Working from Medellín, Colombia, on US Eastern hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. English and Spanish. Leave a voicemail and I will call back the same day. For written questions, email (your address).
Write “call or email”, not “call or text”. A US area code makes you easy to call; it does not give you a US office, so give your real city. Record the greeting in both languages if your clients’ customers speak Spanish. Voicemail messages can be up to 2 minutes, up to 30 a month, kept 30 days. The business contact checklist has more.
What can’t the number do?
- No sending texts. It receives texts only. For chat, clients can use email, Slack or WhatsApp, which you can set up on the same US number.
- No calls out beyond the US and Canada. Use your Colombian line for Colombian numbers.
- No 911. It cannot call 911 or any emergency service, so keep your Colombian number for emergencies.
- No internet, no ring. If your connection drops, callers reach voicemail. Keep mobile data on as a backup to Wi-Fi.
The bottom line
From Colombia you work the US day, not around it: New York’s 9 a.m. is 9 a.m. in Bogotá in the US winter and 8 a.m. in the US summer, and even California is reachable before dinner. Give US clients a +1 number with your hours in Eastern time, plan for short calls that round up, and use a separate number for each client when the calls justify it. Check the rules on internet calling first, then test calls with the ten-check reliability test. The plans page has both plans: $100 a year or $12.99 a month.