FBI Background Check Fingerprinting in Bogotá
Two beliefs send more Bogotá visa applications back for correction than anything else, and both are about who does what. The first is that the US Embassy can fingerprint you for an FBI check — it cannot, and no American post anywhere can. The second is that Migración Colombia is the office judging your file, which it is not: the visa itself is decided by the Cancillería, the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, and Migración enters the picture only afterwards to issue your cédula de extranjería. Bogotá happens to be where both of those offices physically are, which is exactly why the confusion concentrates here. This page sets the sequence out straight.
Where fingerprints are taken in Bogotá
Federal Apostille captures fingerprints in Bogotá by appointment, digitally, to the tenprint standard the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services division accepts. Doing this from Colombia without a digital option means an inked FD-258 card in the international post to West Virginia, where the mailed-card queue runs into months and legibility is assessed only once the card has landed. A rejection there is unusually costly: no refund, no card returned, and an entirely fresh start — which, against a Cancillería filing window, generally means the visa application is rescheduled rather than delayed.
Capture is by appointment. We do not keep an office, counter or walk-in address in Bogotá and will not pretend otherwise — the appointment is arranged with you, and everything downstream of it is paperwork moving between two offices in Washington. That downstream half is written up in full on the FBI background check apostille page.
What the nearest American post can and cannot do
Bogotá holds the US Embassy at Carrera 45 No. 24B-27, and it is the only full American diplomatic post in Colombia — the country's other consular presence is a small agency in Barranquilla. The embassy offers notarial services to US citizens by appointment. It does not fingerprint for FBI Identity History Summary purposes, because no American embassy or consulate in the world does, and it cannot apostille a US federal document, because that authority belongs solely to the U.S. Department of State in Washington. Being the country's only full post makes the embassy the default assumption for everything; on this document it is the wrong one twice over.
Which office receives the apostilled summary
The apostilled summary is uploaded with your visa application to the Cancillería — the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores — which is the authority that actually evaluates a criminal record check for Colombian visa purposes, and which applies online rather than over a counter. Migración Colombia does not assess it and is not the visa authority; its role begins after a visa exists, registering you and issuing the cédula de extranjería, generally within about fifteen business days of an M or R visa being granted. Bogotá is where the Cancillería is headquartered, which shortens nothing about the online process but does mean local counsel here is the most fluent in it.
Whether your particular application needs the check at all, which visa categories call for it, and how recent it has to be are national questions rather than Bogotá ones. They are answered on the FBI background check apostille for Colombia page, which is where that decision belongs. This page stays on execution.
Translation requirements in Bogotá D.C.
Colombia's official-translation rules trip up more foreign files than its visa rules do. A traductor oficial is accredited by the Universidad Nacional, the Universidad de Antioquia or the Ministerio de Justicia — not by the Cancillería, which stopped publishing a translator list around 2018 and does not accredit translators at all, a fact that survives in a great deal of outdated advice. The translator's signature then has to be authenticated at the notaría where that signature is registered. Bogotá carries the deepest pool of accredited translators and the largest number of notarías in the country, so this step is rarely the constraint here.
Getting the document back into Bogotá
Documents come back into El Dorado by tracked international courier. Personal records carry no duty but do clear Colombian customs, and consignments described precisely on the air waybill move while vaguely described ones sit. We issue the secure scan the day Washington signs the apostille. In Bogotá that scan is genuinely load-bearing rather than a convenience: because the Cancillería's process is an online upload, a scan of the apostilled summary is frequently all the application itself needs, with the physical originals held for whatever asks for them later.
What is specific to Bogotá
- The Cancillería (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores) evaluates the FBI check for visa purposes — Migración Colombia does not and is not the visa authority.
- Migración Colombia's role is post-visa: registration and the cédula de extranjería, generally within about 15 business days of an M or R visa.
- The US Embassy in Bogotá is Colombia's only full American post, and it neither fingerprints for FBI checks nor issues apostilles.
- Official translators are accredited by the Universidad Nacional, the Universidad de Antioquia or the Ministerio de Justicia — not by the Cancillería.
- The translator's signature must be authenticated at the notaría where that signature is registered.
- Bogotá has the country's deepest accredited-translator pool and the most notarías, so the translation step rarely bottlenecks here.
Bogotá questions & answers
Can the US Embassy in Bogotá fingerprint me for the FBI check?+
No. It is the only full American post in Colombia, which makes it everyone's first guess, and it is the wrong one — no American embassy or consulate anywhere provides fingerprinting for FBI Identity History Summary purposes. The embassy's notarial appointments are for a different class of document entirely. Prints for an FBI check have to be taken by a provider able to submit them to the FBI, which we do in Bogotá by appointment.
Is it Migración Colombia or the Cancillería that reviews my FBI check?+
The Cancillería. Visas are decided by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, and any criminal record check forming part of the application is evaluated there, through an online process. Migración Colombia is a different institution with a different job: once a visa has been granted, it registers you and issues the cédula de extranjería. Sending documents to Migración expecting a visa decision is a category error, and a common one.
Does the Cancillería keep a list of official translators I should use?+
It did once and it does not now. The Cancillería stopped publishing a translator list around 2018 and does not accredit translators, though plenty of guidance online still says otherwise. Accreditation comes from the Universidad Nacional, the Universidad de Antioquia or the Ministerio de Justicia, and the translator's signature is then authenticated at the notaría where it is registered.
Can the Cancillería apostille my FBI background check?+
No. The Cancillería apostilles Colombian public documents, which is a real and important service — but an apostille authenticates the signature on a document, so a US federal document can only be apostilled by the authority holding that signer's specimen signature. For an FBI Identity History Summary that is the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC. The two systems mirror each other and never overlap.
How long after my visa is approved do I get the cédula de extranjería?+
Generally about fifteen business days from the grant of an M or R visa, handled by Migración Colombia rather than the Cancillería. It is worth separating in your head from everything on this page: by the time the cédula step arrives, the FBI check has already done its work and is not part of that transaction.
Do I need the apostilled paper document, or is a scan enough?+
For the Cancillería's online application a high-quality scan of the apostilled summary is usually what gets uploaded, which is why we send one the day Washington issues the apostille rather than waiting for the courier. Keep the originals — later steps and other institutions can ask for them — but the scan is normally what unblocks the filing itself.
How it runs from Bogotá
| Fingerprints | Captured in Bogotá by appointment, digitally, to the FBI tenprint standard |
| FBI summary | Submitted to the FBI and returned as an Identity History Summary |
| Apostille | Filed over the counter at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC |
| Return | Secure scan on the day of issue · tracked courier back to Bogotá D.C. |
Other cities we fingerprint in
- FBI fingerprinting in Medellín, Colombia
- FBI fingerprinting in Cali, Colombia
- FBI fingerprinting in Cartagena, Colombia
- FBI fingerprinting in Pereira, Colombia
- All locations
Federal Apostille™ is a private, independent document-processing and courier service. We do not maintain an office, counter or staff in Bogotá, and we are not affiliated with the U.S. Department of State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of State's diplomatic posts, or any Colombia government ministry, agency, university or notarial office named on this page. Fingerprint capture in Bogotá is by appointment.