How to Bring Someone From Colombia to the USA: K-1, Family, Work

To bring someone from Colombia to the USA, you first match the person to a visa category based on your relationship and whether they’re moving here or just visiting, then file the right petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, prove you can support them financially, and walk them through a medical exam and interview at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá. Government filing fees alone run past $1,300 for a family green card case, and the initial petition currently takes roughly 7 to 13 months to process before the case even reaches the consulate.

Picking the Right Visa

Three routes cover almost every situation. A family-based immigrant visa is for relatives moving permanently. The K-1 fiancé(e) visa is for a U.S. citizen’s engaged partner who will marry here and then apply for a green card. Nonimmigrant visas cover temporary stays for tourism, study, or work.

Two questions decide which one fits: What is your relationship to the person? And do you want them to live in the United States permanently or visit for a set period? Each route has its own petition, fees, and timeline, and once you’re on one, switching is not easy.

Sponsoring a Family Member for a Green Card

U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can petition for close relatives, but the two groups have very different reach, and the wait varies enormously by category.

Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens

If you’re a U.S. citizen, your spouse, your unmarried children under 21, and your parents count as immediate relatives. Congress does not cap this category, so there is no visa backlog. The Form I-130 petition still takes a median of about 12.9 months to process, and the consular stage adds several more months on top.¹

Family Preference Categories

Other relatives fall into numbered preference categories with annual caps. Lawful permanent residents can sponsor only spouses and unmarried children; the rest are limited to U.S. citizen petitioners. Colombia falls under the general worldwide column on the monthly visa bulletin, so Colombian beneficiaries wait the same as most other nationalities. Recent bulletins put the approximate waits at:²

F1, unmarried adult children of U.S. citizens: about 9 years
F2A, spouses and minor children of permanent residents: about 1.5 to 2 years
F2B, unmarried adult children of permanent residents: about 9 years
F3, married children of U.S. citizens: about 14 years
F4, siblings of U.S. citizens: about 17 years

These figures move each month and reflect time already elapsed for people whose visas are becoming available now. The State Department’s monthly visa bulletin shows current cutoff dates.

Bringing a Fiancé(e) on a K-1 Visa

A U.S. citizen engaged to a Colombian national who plans to marry in the United States can file Form I-129F for a K-1 fiancé(e) visa. Permanent residents cannot use this route. The I-129F takes a median of about 7.5 months at USCIS, then moves to the consulate in Bogotá.³

The 90-day marriage deadline after entry is absolute. No wedding within that window means no legal basis to stay, and no extension. Remaining past the deadline builds unlawful presence, which can trigger a three-year or ten-year bar on returning.

After the wedding, the new spouse files Form I-485 to adjust to permanent resident, and the U.S. citizen files a fresh Affidavit of Support at that stage. Adjustment of status in family-based cases currently runs a median of about 5.5 months.⁴

Temporary Visits, Study, or Work

If the person only needs to be in the United States for a set period, a nonimmigrant visa is the right tool. B-1/B-2 visas cover business or tourism, F-1 covers academic study, and H-1B or L-1 cover employer-sponsored work. No family petition is required, though work categories need an employer sponsor. The Colombian applicant applies directly at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá.

Who Can Sponsor and What Income Is Required

For any family-based immigrant visa or a K-1, the U.S.-based petitioner must be at least 18, be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (only citizens for the K-1), and maintain a U.S. home address.⁵

The Affidavit of Support

Most family immigrant visas require Form I-864, a legally enforceable contract in which the sponsor accepts financial responsibility for the immigrant. Household income must be at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines for the sponsor’s household size. For 2026:⁶

Household of 2: $27,050
Household of 3: $34,150
Household of 4: $41,250
Household of 5: $48,350
Each additional person: add $7,100

Household size includes you, the immigrant, and any dependents already in your home. Falling short will hold up or block the case. The obligation lasts until the immigrant naturalizes or is credited with about 10 years (40 qualifying quarters) of work under Social Security.

If Your Income Isn’t Enough

You can add a household member’s income to your own, or bring in a joint sponsor: any U.S. citizen or permanent resident, related or not, who meets the income requirement independently and files a separate I-864. A joint sponsor cannot fix a domicile problem, though. The petitioner must have a U.S. address regardless of who provides the income, and the petitioner still files their own I-864.⁷

What It Costs

Government fees for a family-based immigrant visa case:

Form I-130 petition: $625 online, $675 on paper
Immigrant visa application (DS-260): $325 per person
Affidavit of Support review: $120
USCIS Immigrant Fee: $235, paid after visa approval and before travel

The I-129F fiancé(e) petition costs $675, and Form I-485 for adjustment after marriage has its own separate fee.⁸

Third-party costs add up too: the mandatory medical exam in Bogotá typically runs several hundred dollars before vaccinations, certified English translations of Colombian civil documents generally cost $20 to $150 per page, and you’ll pay for passport photos. A straightforward family case commonly totals $1,500 to $2,500 or more before any attorney fees.

Documents the Beneficiary Needs From Colombia

Both sides gather paperwork, but the Colombia-specific requirements are where cases most often stumble. Missing documents at the interview cause delays of several weeks.

Valid Colombian passport
Birth certificate from the Colombian civil registry
Police certificate: Colombians 18 and older must obtain the Certificado de Antecedentes Judiciales from the Colombian National Police website (policia.gov.co)
Marriage and divorce records: for any prior marriage, Colombia requires proof the divorce was registered with civil authorities, meaning an annotated birth or marriage certificate in addition to the original divorce decree
Passport-style photos meeting U.S. visa specifications
Military records, if applicable

Any Colombian document not in English needs a certified translation. The U.S. Embassy in Bogotá also requires originals at the interview even if copies were submitted earlier to USCIS or the National Visa Center.⁹

The petitioner will need proof of U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status, federal tax returns for the most recent year with W-2s or 1099s, a current employment letter, proof of a U.S. address (mortgage, lease, utilities, or bank statements), and relationship evidence (marriage or birth certificates, photos, communication records, travel records, and joint financial documents).

The Process, Step by Step

File the Petition With USCIS

The U.S.-based petitioner files Form I-130 for a relative or Form I-129F for a fiancé(e). The I-130 is cheaper online. This step establishes the qualifying relationship. Median processing runs about 12.9 months for an I-130 immediate relative case and 7.5 months for an I-129F.⁴

National Visa Center Processing

Once USCIS approves the petition, the case moves to the National Visa Center. The NVC collects fees ($325 visa application and $120 Affidavit of Support review for immigrant visa cases), gathers the Affidavit of Support and civil documents from both parties through the Consular Electronic Application Center portal, and reviews everything for completeness. When the case is documentarily complete, the NVC schedules the interview in Bogotá.¹⁰

Medical Exam in Bogotá

Before the interview, the beneficiary sees a physician authorized by the U.S. Embassy. Book the exam as soon as the interview date arrives, because results are valid only six months, and expired results mean redoing the exam at your cost. The visit covers medical history, a physical, a chest X-ray, and a blood test for syphilis. Children under 15 usually skip the X-ray and blood work.¹¹ The panel physician can typically administer any missing required vaccinations on the spot, which adds to the bill.

The Interview at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá

A consular officer reviews the file, asks about the relationship, and decides whether to approve. A few Bogotá-specific things to plan for. Attorneys are not permitted in the waiting room or interview; the applicant goes in alone. An applicant who does not speak English or Spanish fluently can bring one interpreter. Fees can be paid in U.S. dollars or the peso equivalent, and the embassy accepts international Visa and MasterCard credit cards but not Colombian debit cards. Bring every original document. Showing up without the complete set adds weeks.⁹

Consular officers are trained to detect fraudulent relationships. In spousal and fiancé(e) cases, expect questions about how you met, your relationship timeline, details of each other’s daily lives, and why you chose to immigrate rather than settle in Colombia. Consistent answers backed by photos, travel records, and communication logs carry more weight than rehearsed scripts.

After the Visa Is Approved

For immigrant visas, the beneficiary pays the $235 USCIS Immigrant Fee online before traveling. K-1 holders are exempt. The stamped visa in the passport has an expiration date, and the beneficiary must enter the United States before that date.¹²

If the marriage was less than two years old on the day permanent resident status was granted, the green card is conditional and valid for only two years. That applies to both immigrant visa and K-1 cases. During the 90 days before the conditional card expires, the couple jointly files Form I-751 to remove conditions and obtain a standard ten-year green card. Missing that deadline can cost the immigrant their resident status.¹³

A K-1 holder who marries within 90 days then files Form I-485 to adjust status, along with a new Affidavit of Support from the U.S. citizen spouse. Work authorization and advance parole can be filed alongside the adjustment. Until adjustment is approved, legal status depends entirely on having married the petitioner within the 90-day window.³

What Happens If a Visa Is Overstayed

Anyone who enters on a temporary or K-1 visa and stays past the authorized period builds unlawful presence. More than 180 days triggers a three-year bar on re-entry after departure, provided the person left voluntarily before removal proceedings began. A year or more triggers a ten-year bar regardless of how the departure happened.¹⁴

The bars fire on departure, not on the overstay itself, which creates a trap: staying is unlawful, but leaving after a long overstay locks the person out for years. Waivers exist in narrow circumstances and require showing extreme hardship to a qualifying U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative. The safer approach is never to let the visa expire without extending it, adjusting status, or leaving on time.

1
U.S. Department of State. Family Immigration
2
U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin for November 2025
3
U.S. Department of State. Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fiancé(e) (K-1)
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Historic Processing Times
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Affidavit of Support
6
U.S. Department of State. Step 4: Complete Affidavit of Support
7
U.S. Department of State. I-864 Affidavit of Support (FAQs)
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule
9
U.S. Department of State. U.S. Embassy Bogota, Colombia – BGT
10
U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services
11
U.S. Department of State. Medical Examinations FAQs
12
USEmbassy.gov. USCIS Immigrant Fee
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Removing Conditions on Permanent Residence Based on Marriage
14
U.S. Department of State. Ineligibility Based on Previous Removal and Unlawful Presence in the United States – INA 212(a)(9)