Colombia's clock does not move. Yours probably does.
Colombia's legal time is UTC minus five hours. That was set by Decreto 2707 de 1982, which also tasks the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio with keeping and announcing the official national time. Colombia does not change its clocks in spring or autumn.
The United States does. Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, daylight saving time starts at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November. In 2026 those dates are March 8 and November 1 (NIST, 2026). Hawaii and most of Arizona don't observe it. Neither do Puerto Rico and the other US territories NIST lists.
So the gap between you and the clinic isn't fixed. It depends on the month. The table below follows from those two sets of rules.
| Where you are | Early Nov to early Mar | Early Mar to early Nov |
|---|---|---|
| US Eastern | Same time as Colombia | Colombia is 1 hour behind you |
| US Central | Colombia is 1 hour ahead | Same time as Colombia |
| US Mountain (not Arizona) | Colombia is 2 hours ahead | Colombia is 1 hour ahead |
| Arizona (outside the Navajo Nation) | Colombia is 2 hours ahead | Colombia is 2 hours ahead |
| US Pacific | Colombia is 3 hours ahead | Colombia is 2 hours ahead |
| Hawaii | Colombia is 5 hours ahead | Colombia is 5 hours ahead |
If you live outside the United States, work out your own gap from your country's clock-change dates. Check it again if your booking runs across one of those dates.
Where a time-zone mistake actually costs you
Most mix-ups are harmless: a reply lands an hour later than you expected. The ones that matter tend to fall at a few points in the booking.
The video consultation
"Let's talk Tuesday at 9" in a chat message is ambiguous. It's even more ambiguous if the call was arranged in February and happens after March 8. Ask for a calendar invitation, or a written time with the zone named, for example "9:00 a.m. Colombia time (UTC−5)." Your consultation is usually the most important conversation before you book, so don't lose part of it to a late start. Prepare as you would for any clinical appointment. Our remote consultation prep guide covers what to have ready.
Quote expiry and deposit deadlines
A quote that "holds until Friday" raises the question of whose Friday. If you're on the US West Coast, the Colombian business day ends while it's still mid-afternoon for you. Ask for an exact date and time, with the zone, for any expiry or payment deadline. Never let a deadline you can't pin down push you into paying faster than you planned.
Pre-op instructions tied to the clock
Fasting start times, when to pause or take a medication, and when to arrive at the facility are usually given in Colombian local time, because that's where you'll be. If you get these instructions before you fly, write the local time next to your home time. Where an instruction is medically important, ask the clinical team to confirm it rather than converting it yourself.
Entry formalities
Colombia's Check-Mig pre-registration has to be done within a window before your flight. The US State Department's Colombia page (2025) gives the window as 72 hours in one section and as between 1 and 72 hours in another, so check the official form for the current rule. A window counted in hours is easy to miss if you count in the wrong zone.
The arrival day
Flight times are shown in each airport's local time. If you land late in the evening, ask whether your first appointment the next morning is realistic. Also ask who to call if the flight is delayed after the clinic's office has closed.
Set up a communication rhythm before you need one
A medical trip produces dozens of messages. Agreeing on a simple pattern early saves confusion when something needs a fast answer.
- Ask who your main contact is and what their working hours are, in Colombian time.
- Ask what counts as urgent, and which number to use outside working hours, both before and after the procedure.
- Agree that decisions get confirmed by email or a written document, even if quick questions go through WhatsApp.
- Add a second clock on your phone set to Bogotá time.
- Name the time zone every time you write a time, and ask the clinic to do the same.
- Reconfirm scheduled calls in writing the day before.
Silence after hours usually just means the office is closed. If you haven't had a reply by the next Colombian business morning, follow up on the channel you agreed.
Making the overlap work if you're far away
For patients in Hawaii, or anywhere with a large gap, live calls work best at the edges of the day. Batch your questions into one message instead of a running stream. Send documents before your evening so they arrive during the Colombian morning.
Asynchronous communication isn't a weakness. Written questions get written answers, and those are easier to keep, share and check later than a phone call you have to remember. Colombia's telemedicine rules recognise both live and asynchronous remote care (Resolución 2654 de 2019). Asking for answers in writing is a normal request, not an imposition.
After you fly home, the gap works the other way
Follow-up after treatment happens with you back home, often in a different time zone from where you recovered. A clinic's late afternoon is early afternoon for a Pacific patient, which is convenient. For a patient further east, the same clinic hour may fall in the evening.
Before you leave Colombia, ask how post-op check-ins will be scheduled, and what you should do if a symptom appears during the clinic's night. The CDC Yellow Book (2026) advises not delaying care if you suspect a complication, whether you're still travelling or already home. A time difference is never a reason to wait for the clinic to open. Plan your local options in advance with our guide to post-op follow-up back home.
A worked example (illustrative)
Here's a hypothetical patient in Seattle. In late February she books a video consultation for 8:00 a.m. Colombia time, which is 5:00 a.m. for her. The surgeon then suggests a second call two weeks later at the same Colombian time. By then the US has moved its clocks forward, so that call is at 6:00 a.m. Pacific. If she had simply put "5 a.m." in her calendar again, she'd have been an hour early, or worse, assumed she was late and missed it.
Her surgery is scheduled for April and she arrives two days before. Her fasting instructions say "nothing to eat after midnight." Since she'll be in Medellín, that's midnight local time. She asks the clinic to confirm it in writing rather than assuming.
None of this is complicated. It just needs to be written down. The booking confirmation is the right place for every date and time that matters, each with its zone.
The Takeaway
Colombia's single, year-round clock is a real convenience. Treat time zones as a documentation habit, not a worry: name the zone on every time, recheck any schedule that runs across a US clock change, and agree how after-hours questions are handled before you travel.
Frequently asked questions
Does Colombia observe daylight saving time?
No. Colombia's legal time is UTC minus five hours all year, set by Decreto 2707 de 1982. Clocks in Colombia do not change in spring or autumn, so any shift in the gap comes from your side.
Is Colombia on the same time as US Eastern time?
Only for part of the year. Colombia matches US Eastern Standard Time from early November to early March. During US daylight saving time, which runs from March 8 to November 1 in 2026, Colombia is one hour behind the US East Coast.
Which time zone should my booking confirmation use?
Ask for Colombian local time, labelled as such, for every appointment, fasting instruction and arrival time, since that's where you'll be. For deadlines you'll meet from home, such as quote expiry or balance payments, ask for the date, the time and the zone.
I missed a video consultation because of a time mix-up. What now?
Contact the clinic as soon as you notice, explain what happened, and ask to reschedule. Check whether the clinic's terms charge for missed consultations. When you rebook, ask for a calendar invitation or a written time with the zone named.
What should I do if a symptom starts at night after I fly home?
Don't wait for the Colombian clinic to open. The CDC advises not delaying care if you suspect a complication, so use your local urgent or emergency services as you normally would. Then let the treating clinic know, and share your records with whoever sees you.