Advice please foreign love interest with criminal record

I am UK national and live in the UK. I have recently started seeing someone who has clearance and an impeccable record (he is 64) and has clearance. He may be going for higher levels of clearance too… (I am not sure if the details). He lives in Washington D.C and works at the same company as me.

11 years ago I was prosecuted in the UK for theft. My father was dying and I flipped out and took some units from work and sold them on ebay to try and pay for private medical for him. It was my first and only offence. The judge showed clemency and I repaid all the money and was given a suspended sentence and no custodial time, community service, tag or anything… the judge understood what I had done and although didn’t condone it… saw the reasons why.
My question is my partner who I have now been seeing for just three months says he will have to declare me as we have seems each other three times in four months and have now been intimate. Will my record strip him of his clearance? I haven’t told him as I am very embarrassed. I don’t know whether I need to end the relationship even though I love him, because I know having his clearance taken from him would be a major blow and I don’t want to be the cause of that. Any advise very much appreciated as I am very worried and want to do the right thing for him… he is a lovely man. Thank you

Disclaimer: I’m not an adjudicator or an FSO, im pulling this from what I’ve read elsewhere.

He has to report that he’s “involved” with you, just so that they have it on record. It will count against him if he doesn’t.

I don’t think they’re going to care about your criminal history, unless you’re involved with terrorists/radical groups and/or have expressed an interest in overthrowing the us government.

Fortunately, the UK performs intelligence sharing with the US, so it’s definitely better than you to be from the UK in lieu of being from Russia or China. However, at the end of the day, without being the person holding your SO’s file and making the decision, we can’t be 100% sure, though things seem to be tipped towards being favorable.

All of the above information is correct. He must report that he is romantically involved with a foreign national and he should have reported by now. The fact that you have a criminal record in the UK isn’t likely to even come up and at 11 years and with a clean record since, it isn’t likely to be an issue if it does come up.

However, I would strongly suggest that you tell him about it. First, the whole thing is pretty minor but obviously bothers you. Get it out in the open and get over it. Second, if it somehow DOES come up in an investigation, he needs to already be aware if he is challenged with the information.

It’s great that you are this worried about him but I really don’t think that it is any kind of issue at all. Many people are cleared with their own crimes eleven years in the past.

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Thank you SO much @Porgy. Do you think I need to tell my partner? (We have only been together 3 years although I have known him for the last 4 years via work).
I really appreciate the information. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Thank you so much… really appreciate you getting back to me… I will tell him next Thursday when he is going to be over here… I don’t want to tell him over the phone.

Many thanks again.

It’s up to you, I don’t think that it’s something they’d confront him over, and I don’t think it’s a question that would be on his security forms. If you moved in together or got married and you decided to start money laundering on the other hand… they might care about that.

To summarize (sorry, I’m being cheeky):
Things the U.S. Gov’t definitely cares about

  • You/ your SO having links to known terrorist groups
  • Illegal activity by the applicant
  • Significant mental health issues that show no response to treatment (or the applicant did not seek treatment for these issues)
  • The applicant lying or omitting information relevant to the investigation
  • Recent marijuana/drug usage by the applicant
  • Links to unfriendly countries that can be leveraged against by that country’s respective intelligence apparatus
  • Your NSFW ‘My Little Pony’ fan site (I had a coworker brag multiple times about running one. He didn’t understand why we reported him to HR…)

Things the U.S. Gov’t might care about

  • Illegal activity by the applicant’s family (this depends on the extent, severity, and applicant’s involvement in these activities)
  • Applicant’s ties to a friendly country (depends on extent)
  • Marijuana usage a long time ago.

Things the U.S. Gov’t probably doesn’t care about

  • Your SFW ‘My Little Pony’ fan site
  • Your sister’s husband’s uncle’s cousin howling at the moon at 3am every other Friday
  • Taking a cruise to Bermuda
  • Taking a cruise to Puerto Rico, because apparently people think that Puerto Rico is not in the U.S.
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Meant to say we have been dating for 3 months (not 3 years)!! And long distance. Only seen each other 3 times for a total of 11 days if you put all the trips together… but chat via FT etc each day.

For his sake, once it crosses into “real, known, and continuing” contact…he should report it. Have no worries your arrest 11 years prior will cause him a problem unless it is part of what was stated above. If you see the relationship building I would share the info. If it isn’t going anywhere and you know slim to little about his past 11 years prior…well, that is up to you.

Thank you! Much appreciated

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