I'm a French citizen, married with a Colombian national and, after a year of bureaucracy and lobbying been able to apply to AVA. It is a long and tedious process, and quite frankly if I had to it again I wouldn't. South America is very much alike old Soviet Union, everything takes forever, people are unwilling, and you really have to fight for everything. There's a real quality pilot shortage in Colombia, but they have no plan on opening the doors to foreigners. AVA is desperate for pilots, each convocatoria sees more than 300 applicants, with only 5/6 making it to an aircraft. They have airplanes grounded for lack of crews but still make it almost impossible for foreigners to apply.