Colombia Background Checks for Foreigners: How to Download Contraloría, Procuraduría & Policía Records Online

Quick answer: "Antecedentes" is not one document. It is three free Colombian registers, held by three agencies: the Police (judicial), the Procuraduría (disciplinary) and the Contraloría (fiscal). Each agency says the others are separate. None of them replaces a criminal-record certificate from your home country, and the electronic Police apostille path built for citizens is the wrong door for a foreigner.

If you would rather read this in Spanish, the Spanish three-certificate guide covers the job-seeker version. This one is about what changes when your ID is a cédula de extranjería or a passport.

Which certificate is a hiring file really asking for?

Issuance of all three has no official fee. The Procuraduría adds that it does not authorize third parties to charge for its certificate. The Ministry of Justice's LegalApp guide says that when antecedents are requested, people generally need all three.

A legal nuance: Decreto-Ley 019 de 2012, article 93, suppressed the certificado judicial, so nobody is obliged to present a judicial-record document for procedures with public or private entities. Article 94 still lets an entity that needs the record of a national or a foreigner consult it online. In practice, employers and visa desks still ask for the printout. Asking is not the same as a legal duty, but arguing the point with an HR desk on your first day rarely pays off.

Public contracts: what Colombia Compra Eficiente says

Concept C-786 of 25 June 2026 from Colombia Compra Eficiente deals with a foreign person on a state service contract. According to that concept, if the foreigner is in Colombia and must carry a cédula de extranjería or another valid Colombian ID, the state entity must check Colombian fiscal, disciplinary and judicial databases. If the person performs the whole contract from abroad and has no document the national systems can query, an ordinary lookup can be materially impossible, and the concept says the entity should not demand a home-country certificate as if Colombian law required one. That concept concerns state contracts only; do not read it as a rule for private employers.

Police: judicial antecedents with a cédula de extranjería or passport

This is the one register where a passport is documented. Following the Ministry of Justice guide dated 4 May 2022:

1. Open antecedentes.policia.gov.co:7005/WebJudicial/, accept the terms and click Enviar.
2. Type your identification number and pick the document type. The guide lists cédula de ciudadanía, cédula de extranjería, pasaporte and documento de país de origen. Use the label on the live form.
3. Tick the robot check and click Consultar.
4. To keep the result, use your browser's print dialog and choose Save as PDF. Do not hunt for a download button.

The Police terms limit the consultation to the holder's own information. Using it for economic gain or to look up someone else is prohibited and can be blocked, so employers should ask the candidate to run it, not run it themselves.

For apostille, foreigners do not use the automatic citizen path "Documentos electrónicos con firma digital – CERTIFICADO DE ANTECEDENTES JUDICIALES". According to a Colombian consulate reproducing Cancillería instructions, you email dijin.araic-atc@policia.gov.co with a legible ID copy and the passport pages showing your entries to Colombia, then upload the Police document at the Cancillería apostille site under "Documentos digitalizados - Otros documentos". No turnaround is published, so do not promise one to anyone. More detail is in the longer Spanish Police-only guide.

Procuraduría: ordinary vs special, and the "not registered" wall

The generator lives at procuraduria.gov.co (Certificado de Antecedentes) and apps.procuraduria.gov.co/webcert. It is free and immediate when your number is in the system.

Ordinary vs special. Under article 238 of Ley 1952 de 2019, the ordinary certificate contains sanctions or inhabilidades that are still in force. The special certificate shows every annotation in the register and is issued when an election, appointment or possession requires absence of antecedents. Unless the employer names the special one, download the ordinary one. If an older page or a blog says "last five years", trust the statute and the current SIRI FAQ, which describe in-force annotations.

The wall. Foreigners often hit this message: EL NÚMERO DE IDENTIFICACIÓN INGRESADO NO SE ENCUENTRA REGISTRADO EN EL SISTEMA. It means your cédula de extranjería is not yet in SIRI. The Procuraduría says the person must have the cédula, cédula de extranjería or company NIT registered and present the original document. The institutional page also allows a derecho de petición at the electronic seat with your ID attached, or an in-person visit to the Centro de Atención al Público at Carrera 5 No. 15-60, Piso 1, Bogotá, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. continuous. Other cities are listed in a directory linked from that page.

A passport-only lookup on this generator is not established in the pages reviewed. Read the live dropdown and never type a passport number into a cédula field. If your card is lost or the number keeps failing, see the lost cédula de extranjería guide.

If your name does not match Registraduría, you can refresh it from the generator once per day. If the annotations themselves are wrong, the current FAQ says correction is not handled in person and goes through the sede electrónica. For apostille, download the PDF from the generator and upload it as a digitized "other document".

Contraloría: the fiscal bulletin, and the embassy trap

On the Contraloría fiscal-certificate page, choose Persona Natural. The certificate is free and is a real-time extract of the Boletín de Responsables Fiscales, stamped with the date and time of issue; the page dates that rule from 29 March 2012 and prints no expiry. The official HTML I reviewed did not list the document-type menu, so pick the label matching your cédula de extranjería if it appears. If the number is rejected, do not invent a code: use the service center or the email route below with a copy of your ID.

Walk-in channel: Centro de Servicio al Ciudadano, Carrera 69 No. 44-35, Piso 1, Bogotá, weekdays 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Embassy or consulate copies. The general page says certificates that need the issuing officer's original signature are requested in person with an ID photocopy. The ordinary web PDF is not described as that wet-ink copy. For the embassy route, the Contraloría's own page says to request in person and claim it ten business days later, or email a legible ID copy to boletin_responsables_fiscales@contraloria.gov.co. A Cancillería consular instruction, however, says three business days. These conflict, so confirm by phone before traveling: (601) 5187000, extensions 12091 and 12098, weekdays 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Once issued, the document follows the same digitized upload for apostille.

If the certificate shows you are on the bulletin, read the guide on leaving the fiscal bulletin.

Don't confuse it with the medidas correctivas register

The Registro Nacional de Medidas Correctivas (RNMC) records police measures for convivencia conduct under Ley 1801 de 2016. It is not the criminal judicial record. The official FAQ says you search with document type, number and issue date. Stop there unless someone specifically asks for it.

The morning you send the file

• Download late. The Contraloría PDF is dated to the minute, so generate it close to the day it will be read.
• Match the card. Choose the document type that matches the plastic in your hand.
• Stay on official hosts: contraloria.gov.co, procuraduria.gov.co, apps.procuraduria.gov.co and antecedentes.policia.gov.co. A site asking for a card, Nequi or a "gestor" fee is not the agency.
• Home country is separate. A visa file that asks for the country where you lived follows its own checklist; Colombian extracts certify only their own registers.
• University posts. If your file also asks for a foreign degree, see the degree convalidation guide and browse education job listings.

Frequently Asked Questions

❓ Can a foreigner get all three certificates online with a cédula de extranjería?

Police and Procuraduría both document the cédula de extranjería. On the Contraloría form, choose Persona Natural and the matching label if shown. A passport is documented only on the Police form, and an unregistered ID needs the fallback channels. (verifica en la fuente oficial)

❓ What does "identification number not registered" mean on the Procuraduría site?

SIRI does not yet have that cédula de extranjería, so the certificate will not generate. The Procuraduría says the document must be registered and the original presented. You can also file a derecho de petición online with your ID attached, or go to the Bogotá service center. (verifica en la fuente oficial)

❓ Are these certificates free?

The Police consultation, the Procuraduría certificate and the Contraloría certificate have no official fee, and the Procuraduría says it does not authorize third parties to charge. Any site asking for a card payment or a gestor fee is not the agency. (verifica en la fuente oficial)

❓ Which Procuraduría certificate should a private employer ask for?

Normally the ordinary certificate, which lists sanctions and inhabilidades still in force under article 238 of Ley 1952 de 2019. The special certificate, showing every annotation, is for posts that legally require absence of antecedents. Download the type your employer names. (verifica en la fuente oficial)

❓ Can the Police webpage result be apostilled as is?

The citizen electronic apostille path is not the foreigner path. Per the consular instruction, email dijin.araic-atc@policia.gov.co with your ID and passport entry pages, then upload the document as a digitized "other document". No fee or turnaround is published here. (verifica en la fuente oficial)

❓ How long is the Contraloría PDF valid?

The agency page stamps the certificate with the date and time of issue and prints no expiry. Download a fresh copy close to the day it will be read. Do not treat ten business days versus three business days for embassy copies as one rule; confirm by phone. (verifica en la fuente oficial)

❓ Is the medidas correctivas register the same as the Police criminal check?

No. The Registro Nacional de Medidas Correctivas records convivencia measures under Ley 1801 de 2016, not judicial antecedents. Its official lookup uses document type, number and issue date. (verifica en la fuente oficial)