ITIN for Colombians
The seven agents the IRS lists in Colombia
Most guides written for a country are the same guide with the country swapped in. This one starts with the thing that is actually different: the IRS keeps a separate agent listing per country, and Colombia has one. Read on 12 August 2026 it carried seven entries.
- Wilson Jesus Martinez Rocha, Barranquilla
- Diego Jimenez Posada d/b/a Diego Alejandro Jimenez Posada, Bello
- Colombian Business Corp.*, Bogota
- Openbiz LLC d/b/a Openbiz.io, Bogota DC
- Quickstart LLC d/b/a Andrés Bermeo, Bogota
- Expat Ventures LLC, Sabaneta
- Expat Ventures LLC d/b/a Puente Global Tax LLC, Sabaneta
Five city labels, and one firm appearing twice. The IRS prints both Bogota and Bogota DC and does not say whether it means one place or two, so we have not decided that for it. This is what was published on that date, nothing more: check the IRS listing for Colombia before you contact anybody. Being on the list is not a recommendation from us and we rank nobody on it.
What the asterisk decides
One entry in that list carries an asterisk and six do not, and the IRS prints the key to it in a footnote most readers never scroll to:
Acceptance agents are marked on the list with an asterisk.
That sentence is easy to misread, so read it twice: it does not mean every listed agent carries an asterisk. It means the asterisk marks one of the two kinds the IRS publishes, and the published capability tables say what each kind does. The unmarked entries authenticate your supporting documents and return them to you immediately, then mail the application package on. The marked ones review and mail the supporting documents. Both are on the IRS's list and both are legitimate routes. Only one of them keeps your passport in Colombia.
One bound the IRS prints alongside the authentication power, and it is the one that catches families: the unmarked entries authenticate supporting documents except foreign military ID cards, and except any documents for dependants that are not passports and birth certificates. A parent arriving with a child's school or medical records is outside what that agent can authenticate.
This is the single most useful line on the page, so it is worth stating flatly: an asterisk does not mean better. A reader who assumes it does picks the one entry that puts their passport in the post. The mechanism in full sits in the acceptance agents guide. Fees are the agent's own: the IRS says only that fees for service may vary.
Colombia is not on the treaty list
Form W-7 has a reason box for people claiming a tax treaty benefit, and it is a common reason to think you need one. The IRS's A to Z list of United States income tax treaties is alphabetical, and this is the block Colombia would sit in:
C Canada Chile China Cyprus Czech Republic D Denmark
Chile, then Cyprus. That is a statement about a published list on a date and nothing further. It is not a claim about international law, and it is not a conclusion about which reason box is yours: which one applies depends on why you need the number, and that is a short conversation rather than a paragraph. Venezuela, next door, is named on that same list, which is exactly why a page per country beats a page with the country swapped: see the Venezuelan route.
Four published ways in, and what each does with your documents
The W-7 instructions publish four: by mail, by private delivery service, in person, and through an acceptance agent. The differences that matter from Bogota are about your documents, not about paperwork speed.
- An agent that authenticates. Documents verified and handed back immediately, application package mailed on without them, inside the exception above. Six of the seven Colombian entries are the unmarked kind.
- In person, at a designated IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center. Designated is the load-bearing word. Those offices verify original documentation and certified copies and return them immediately, but the IRS also publishes that service is by appointment only, on 844-545-5640, and that TACs which do not offer the authentication service will mail your original documents, Form W-7 and the tax return to Austin instead. Walking into the wrong one produces the exact outcome you went there to avoid. The IRS keeps the list of designated offices at IRS.gov/W7DocumentVerification.
- By mail. To Internal Revenue Service, ITIN Operation, P.O. Box 149342, Austin, TX 78714-9342, originals included.
- By private delivery service, which is a different address. Internal Revenue Service, ITIN Operation, Mail Stop 6090-AUSC, 3651 S. Interregional, Hwy 35, Austin, TX 78741-0000. A courier cannot deliver to a post office box, so the two routes are not interchangeable and the IRS prints them separately.
On documents, the headline rule is about the document rather than your nationality: submit an original valid passport, or a certified copy from the issuing agency, and you do not need to submit any other documents from the table of supporting documentation. That bound is the IRS's own wording and it matters, because the passport is not a stand-alone document for certain dependants where no date of entry into the United States is present.
Certified in the IRS's sense means the original issuing agency provided it and certified it as an exact copy, with an official stamped seal. The same passage adds the line that is most useful from Colombia: you may be able to request a certified copy of documents at an embassy or consulate. The documents guide works through the rest.
The Colombian side of the ledger
Everything above is about the American side, and the reason is not an oversight. First Class Citizen publish nothing about the Colombian side of the ledger, and general knowledge is not a source. Inventing it here would put a guess about your own country in front of you with their name on it.
What holding a US tax number does to anything you file at home is a real question. It is answered by someone looking at your actual position, not by a paragraph written for everybody. Our method, and its limits, are set out in how we verify.
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FAQ
Who can authenticate my passport in Colombia?
What does the asterisk on the IRS list mean?
How long does it take?
Is Colombia on the US tax treaty list?
Do I have to send my passport to the United States?
Does a Colombian passport work on its own?
Can the whole thing run from Colombia?
Sources
The published pages this guide draws on, each read on the date shown.
One number, and your passport never leaves Colombia
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