(UNITED STATES) — The U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security granted Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio a special five-day visa that allows them to enter the United States for a planned White House meeting with President Donald Trump on February 3, 2026.
The visa is valid for five days starting Sunday, February 1, 2026, placing a tight window around the Washington, D.C., visit and sharply limiting flexibility for travel outside the stated purpose and dates.
Diplomatic assurances and logistics
Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the diplomatic path to the visit in a call he held with Villavicencio, confirming that Petro would receive “full diplomatic guarantees” for the trip, according to the information provided on the case.
Rubio’s “full diplomatic guarantees” language highlights a distinction that often confuses the public: diplomatic assurances and security or protocol guarantees are not the same thing as a visa issuance decision.
Guarantees typically relate to treatment, safety, and arrangements for the visit, while visas and admission decisions rest on immigration law and are tied to screening and eligibility determinations made through the executive branch’s established processes.
What a five-day visa signifies
In immigration and diplomatic terms, a limited-validity entry document like a five-day visa typically signals a narrowly defined itinerary and purpose.
It also reduces the margin for changes that routinely accompany high-level travel, such as extended meetings, last-minute schedule shifts, or side visits.
Even when an exception exists, the mechanics of a short-duration visa can matter as much as the policy label: a five-day validity period effectively restricts the travel window to a narrow band and reinforces a purpose-bound trip focused on specific meetings, venues, and dates.
Background and recent tensions
The grant comes after a period of heightened bilateral tension that included U.S. action on Petro’s travel status and public messaging that framed entry decisions as part of a broader enforcement posture.
In September 2025, the State Department revoked Petro’s visa after a speech in New York in which he reportedly urged U.S. soldiers to “disobey the orders of Trump.” At the time, the department said it revoked the visa because of his “reckless and incendiary actions.”
That earlier step was paired with sharper late-2025 escalation, when the Trump administration designated Petro an “international drug leader” and revoked his travel privileges, the material said.
DHS officials have also used sweeping language to describe wider immigration enforcement priorities. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, speaking on Nov 14, 2025, said: “President Trump and Secretary Noem said we’d secure the border, enforce our laws, reinstate integrity into our immigration system. and that’s exactly what we’ve done. The era of mass illegal migration, open borders, and visa abuse is over.”
Proclamation, exceptions, and legal framework
The current entry authorization operates alongside Presidential Proclamation 10998, which took effect Jan 1, 2026, and, as described in the material, suspended visa issuance to dozens of countries and intensified vetting for foreign nationals.
The Petro delegation’s travel falls under what the material described as a National Interest Exception, coordinated between the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security.
In practice, such exceptions function as discretionary carve-outs within otherwise restrictive entry frameworks, allowing travel that U.S. officials determine serves U.S. interests even when broader constraints apply.
Visa classification and procedural notes
The material did not include additional details about the visa classification beyond describing it as a special five-day visa, a constraint that matters because different visa categories can carry different documentary and procedural requirements.
For readers tracking official updates, the key confirmed elements in the case are the limited validity, the meeting date, and the National Interest Exception framing tied to Proclamation 10998.
The information cited multiple parts of the U.S. government that can speak to different pieces of the situation, though each has a distinct lane: the State Department handles visa issuance and consular functions, DHS handles border and entry screening, and the White House can confirm meetings and publish presidential actions that shape entry policy.
Sanctions, admissibility, and diplomatic tradeoffs
The Petro visit also sits alongside an unresolved tension in the material between entry authorization and sanctions. It said Petro and his wife remain under specific U.S. Treasury Department sanctions related to drug-trafficking allegations, which Petro has consistently denied.
Sanctions designations and allegations can intersect with visa eligibility and admissibility considerations, but they do not automatically answer every question about whether a person can travel.
The case underscores how U.S. policy can combine restrictive tools with narrow exceptions, particularly for high-level diplomatic engagements.
Policy context and agenda items
The meeting is portrayed as part of a de-escalation effort after late-2025 actions, but the material framed the planned engagement as driven by strategic priorities that can persist even amid strained relations.
Counternarcotics cooperation remains one theme the material highlighted, describing an interest in coordinating anti-narcotics efforts despite personal animosity between the leaders.
Regional security also sits high on the agenda in the description, including Venezuela-related developments. The material referred to a crisis in Venezuela following the reported capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces in early 2026.
Migration enforcement coordination represents a third line of focus, particularly Colombia’s role in accepting deportation flights. The material also said Trump previously threatened Petro with higher tariffs in connection with that dispute.
How the visa functions as a diplomatic instrument
Those issue areas show why an immigration document can become a diplomatic instrument without losing its underlying function. The visa acts as the entry key that makes the meeting possible, while the tight validity period preserves leverage and keeps the trip aligned with the stated purpose.
For ordinary travelers, the event provides a clear illustration of how discretion and restriction can coexist in U.S. entry policy. A proclamation can tighten constraints broadly, and officials can still authorize narrow exceptions in particular cases, but those waivers remain case-specific and do not create a general pathway.
The short validity period also suggests that even high-profile travelers can face limited authorization under a stricter posture. A five-day visa can effectively compress the trip into a defined sequence: entry, scheduled engagements, and departure within a short span.
Practical implications for travelers and verification steps
For people affected by proclamations or heightened screening regimes, the practical implications often center on documentation consistency and heightened scrutiny.
When entry authorities narrow the permitted window and tie travel to a defined purpose, travelers can face more questions about timing, itinerary, and the reason for travel.
The material also pointed to government communications about “visa abuse” and border enforcement goals, placing the Petro exception within a wider narrative that DHS officials have used to describe policy aims.
At the same time, the Petro case draws attention to the limits of public visibility into individual visa actions. The information noted that specific press releases detailing an individual visa issuance are typically protected, even when senior officials confirm the diplomatic direction of travel.
Sources and recommended verification
Readers trying to verify time-sensitive immigration policy claims can reduce confusion by checking official channels that publish primary documents and agency guidance.
The White House has published presidential actions related to entry restrictions, including a page titled White House Presidential Actions.
The State Department has also posted materials about the proclamation in a page titled State Department Travel Alerts.
DHS maintains a public-facing site that includes a DHS Newsroom, which the material linked to in connection with “DHS Cracks Down on Visa Abuse,” dated Nov 14, 2025.
USCIS maintains a USCIS Newsroom referenced in the material in connection with “Making America Safe Again: End-of-Year Review,” dated Dec 22, 2025.
The State Department’s travel and visa pages can help readers confirm proclamation-related suspensions and published explanations, while White House postings can help confirm whether a proclamation exists, what it is titled, and what effective date it carries.
A simple verification workflow starts with identifying the issuing authority and the document type. For proclamations, that typically means locating the presidential action, confirming the effective date language, and then reading the implementing agencies’ public guidance for any stated exemptions or related FAQs.
For agency statements, readers can cross-check whether remarks came from DHS, State, or the White House, since each can credibly confirm different facts: State can speak to visa issuance policy, DHS can speak to enforcement posture and entry screening, and the White House can confirm presidential actions and meeting schedules.
Key confirmed operational detail
The key confirmed operational detail remains the narrow time frame: a five-day visa starting Sunday, February 1, 2026, built around a February 3, 2026 White House meeting that U.S. officials moved to clear after Rubio offered “full diplomatic guarantees” to Villavicencio for Petro’s visit.
