Getting an FBI Background Check in Bogota: The Complete Guide

Living in Bogota and applying for a Colombian visa means that at some point, you will be asked to produce an FBI background check. And if you are already mid-application when that request comes in, you may have as little as 10 calendar days to submit a document that takes weeks to obtain.

The FBI background check, officially called an FBI Identity History Summary, is a federal criminal history report issued directly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is fingerprint-based, tied to your biometric record, and can only be requested through an official submission to the FBI. No Colombian authority issues it. No U.S. embassy in Bogota produces it. And no amount of urgency speeds up the FBI's processing clock once your fingerprints are in the system.

Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under Resolution 5477 of 2022, has progressively expanded the visa categories that require this document. What started as a mandatory requirement for the Retirement Visa has been applied as an additional requirement across Digital Nomad, Marriage, Investment, and Business visa applications. If you are living in Bogota and applying for any long-term visa, the safest assumption is that you will need it.

This blog covers exactly how to get an FBI background check from Bogota, including where fingerprints are collected, how the apostille works, how long the full process actually takes, and the specific timing mistakes that cause applications to fail.

Colombian immigration authorities are specific about what they will accept. A state-level Criminal Record Check from California or Texas does not satisfy the requirement. A private background screening from a US-based agency does not satisfy it either. A name-based check is rejected because it can be manipulated by name variations or identity discrepancies.

The FBI Identity History Summary is required because it is tied to your biometric fingerprint record and searches the FBI's national criminal database across all states and federal jurisdictions. It is the only document Colombian authorities accept from US citizens as proof of US criminal background.

This also means there is no shortcut. The document can only be obtained through a fingerprint submission matched against the FBI's criminal database. No Colombian authority issues it. No US Embassy in Bogota produces it. The process starts locally with fingerprint collection and ends with the FBI issuing the result from the United States- on its own timeline, with no expedited option available regardless of your visa deadline.

Resolution 5477 of 2022 formally lists the FBI background check as a mandatory document for one visa category: the Retirement (Pensioner) Visa under the Migrant (M) tier. On paper, every other category is silent on it.

In practice, that distinction stopped mattering around mid-2024.

Since then, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been invoking Article 19 of Resolution 5477, a clause that gives the Visa and Immigration Authority discretionary power to request any additional documentation it deems appropriate to require the FBI background check across Digital Nomad, Marriage, Investment, and Business visa applications. These are not isolated cases. Expat advisors and immigration attorneys working in Colombia have flagged this as a consistent pattern across active applications.

The three visa tiers and where the FBI currently checks:

Visitor (V) - includes the Digital Nomad Visa. Not formally required but increasingly requested as an additional document under Article 19 since mid-2024.

Migrant (M) - includes the Retirement Visa (mandatory), Marriage Visa, Investment Visa, and Work Visa. Mandatory for Retirement. Being requested by others.

Resident (R) - permanent status pathway. Background check required at the application stage. A previously submitted check from an M visa cycle does not carry forward.

If your visa category is not on the mandatory list, that does not mean you will not be asked. It means you will not know until SITAC tells you at which point the clock is already running.

Do Not Wait for Colombia to Ask You for It

Colombia's immigration platform, SITAC, has a status called Requirement. When your application is received, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs formally requests a document you did not submit. You have 10 calendar days from that notification to upload it, or your application closes, no extension, no refund on the government study fee, no carry-over. You reapply from zero.

The FBI background check takes a minimum of 5 to 6 weeks to obtain under normal conditions. That is before the apostille. Before the Spanish translation. Before anything reaches Colombian authorities.

The arithmetic is not complicated. A document that takes 6 weeks cannot be produced in 10 days. What makes this particularly damaging is that the Requirement notification often comes weeks into an active application after you have already paid, submitted documents, and begun waiting. Losing that application means losing that time and starting the queue again with a fresh submission.

The only position that avoids this outcome entirely is having the apostilled, translated FBI background check in hand before filing the visa application. Not ordered. Not in progress. In hand.

The process starts with your fingerprints, specifically on an official FD-258 or FD-1164 card, the FBI-compliant fingerprint form required for an Identity History Summary request. This is not a form you complete yourself. Fingerprints must be taken by a trained technician using the correct ink and roll technique. Cards with poor quality prints, smudging, or incorrect formatting are rejected by the FBI, which means starting the entire process over.

At the appointment in Bogota, two valid government-issued identification documents are required. At least one must include your full name, date of birth, signature, and photograph. Photocopies of both are kept for submission purposes.

Once the FD-258 or FD-1164 card is completed, it is mailed to the United States for submission to the FBI. The FBI independently processes the submission and issues the Identity History Summary directly. Processing times are determined entirely by the FBI, and mailing time is additional.

Note:

Yes, and the apostille has to come from a specific place that most people do not initially go to.

Colombia is a Hague Convention member. That means U.S. documents submitted to Colombian authorities need a Hague apostille to carry legal weight. But the FBI Identity History Summary is a federal document, and federal documents can only be apostilled by one authority: the U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications, in Washington, D.C.

Not a state Secretary of State. Not the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. Not a Colombian consulate. The Office of Authentications in Washington, D.C., is the only competent authority for this document.

This catches a significant number of people because apostilles for most personal documents, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and academic records, go through state offices. The assumption carries over, and the FBI check gets sent to the wrong place. State offices return it unprocessed. The document goes back to the applicant. Time is lost, and the 90-day validity clock on the FBI-issued result keeps running regardless.

Yes. Colombian immigration authorities require all foreign-language documents to be accompanied by an official Spanish translation. The FBI Identity History Summary is issued in English and must be translated before submission.

The sequence matters- apostille first and translation second. Translating before apostilling and then apostilling the translation is incorrect and will not be accepted. The apostille must be on the original FBI-issued document. The Spanish translation is then prepared from the apostilled version.

The translation must be official. A bilingual friend or a generic online translation service does not meet Colombian immigration standards. Depending on the immigration office or consulate processing your application, a certified translator may be required.

Factor this into your timeline. Translation adds time after the apostille is returned, and the 90-day validity window on your FBI document does not pause while any of this happens.

This is where most timelines people read online fall apart; they quote FBI processing time alone and ignore everything that happens around it.

Here is the full sequence from Bogota:

The 90-day validity window Colombia imposes starts the day the FBI issues the document, not the day you apostille it, not the day you translate it, not the day you submit it. By the time the apostille and translation are complete, you may have used 4 to 5 weeks of that window already. If your visa application takes another 4 to 6 weeks to process, you are cutting very close to expiry.

The practical implication: Start the FBI background check process at least 14 weeks before your intended visa submission date. If your document expires before your visa is processed, Colombian authorities will request a fresh one, and your application stalls.

Colombia does not automatically reject visa applications because an FBI background check contains a record. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reviews what the record contains, how old it is, and what the applicant's circumstances are. The decision is discretionary.

What Colombian authorities have made clear is that expired records are not automatically disregarded. A conviction that is years old, sealed under U.S. state law, or no longer active in the U.S. system can still be assessed and weighed by Colombian immigration authorities under their own framework. Colombia is not bound by U.S. expungement or sealing standards when making its own visa decisions.

If your FBI Identity History Summary is likely to show any record, consulting a Colombian immigration attorney before submitting your application is the more informed approach. Submitting proactively with legal guidance is a stronger position than having a record surface mid-application without context.

Most Americans in Bogota piece this process together across multiple providers, one for fingerprinting, another for apostille, a third for translation, and spend weeks chasing updates across different time zones with no single point of contact. Globeia handles the entire chain from one place.

How to Get Started

The process begins with Globeia's SmartForm, a digital application that captures your details, verifies your identity remotely through Face ID verification, and prepares your submission before you attend your fingerprinting appointment. Face ID verification confirms your identity at the point of application, adding a layer of security that manual form-filling cannot replicate and that no standard fingerprinting provider in Bogota offers.

Once your SmartForm is completed and your identity is verified, your fingerprint appointment in Bogota is scheduled with Globeia's trained associates.

The Fingerprint Appointment

At the appointment, Globeia's trained associates collect ink fingerprints on FBI-compliant cards using the correct ink and roll technique. Two valid government-issued identification documents are required; at least one must include your full name, date of birth, signature, and photograph. Photocopies of both are retained for submission purposes.

Every appointment includes something no other fingerprinting provider in Bogota issues: 

The Letter of Authentication. This is an exclusive Globeia document that certifies your fingerprints were collected by a trained associate following rigorous identity verification protocols. It carries a unique encrypted QR code for tamper-proof authentication. 

The Letter of Authentication is issued by Globeia and is not issued by, endorsed by, or affiliated with the FBI or any government authority.

After the Appointment

Completed FD-258 or FD-1164  cards are mailed to Globeia Inc. in the USA for processing and submission to the FBI. The FBI independently issues the Identity History Summary.

Once the FBI result is returned, Globeia coordinates apostille submission to the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. and official Spanish translation on your behalf, managing both steps so your fully apostilled, translated document comes back to your Bogota address ready for visa submission.

Who Benefits Most

Americans applying for a Colombian visa for the first time who want a single coordinated process rather than managing multiple U.S.-based agencies from Bogota.

Long-term Bogota residents on their second or third visa renewal cycle need the process handled efficiently without starting from scratch each time.

Applicants working against a tight visa deadline where a fingerprint rejection or apostille error at any stage would force a full restart.

The FBI background check is one document, but in Bogota, it involves fingerprinting, international courier, FBI processing, a federal apostille in Washington D.C., and a Spanish translation, all inside a 90-day validity window that starts the moment the FBI issues the result.

Start before you apply. By the time Colombia asks for it, you are already behind.

Globeia's trained associates collect ink fingerprints in Bogota, and Globeia Inc in the USA. coordinates the full process through to your apostilled, translated document, so you are not managing multiple agencies across two countries while your visa clock runs.