Forgot previous employment

Submitting the eQuip tomorrow and need to:

  1. File the current year’s taxes (I got an extension through 10/2019, but then moved and didn’t get a chance to complete) - I plan to do this in the next 24 hours before submission.
  2. Complete 13A for last 10 years employment

My primary concern is that I have a pretty bad memory and can’t recall the many different jobs I had when I was younger. Last night, I took a stab at 13A and was able to retrace the last 5 years – primarily from searching my email for offer letters and payroll notifications. But the first half of the last decade is really a blur. I am sure that much (if not more than half) of that time I was freelancing in IT/digital and self-employed.

So, what do I do if I can’t remember? I pulled my credit reports to see what employment was listed (not more than 2-3 employers) and some of those were outside of the decade date range anyway. Where else can I look for this information? I don’t even have my tax docs from that far back.

I was thinking that I can call the IRS and ask them to email me a summary tomorrow to see if I can identify additional employers that way?

Oh… one other question: I dated a foreign national very briefly (Belgian of Serbian birth) and listed him as a foreign contact. I was in physical contact with him for less than a total of 10 days across all visits to Europe. Do I really need to list him?

  1. Build a spreadsheet with your employment history and necessary contact info. Keep it saved and add to it as you recall history and work new jobs. Do the best you can with reconstruction. I assume you’re filling out SF86 if you need 10 years of employment history.

  2. The FNRA asks for “close and continuing contact” with any foreign national. If you feel your physical dalliance meets that definition, then list it. The FNRA is quite subjective - only you know if your contact with a foreign national is “close and continuing.”

Be honest and do your best to get it right on the eQIP the first time you do it. It will save you headaches later.

I don’t think that the IRS emails transcripts anymore. You can go to an office and leave with transcripts in your hand though. If you do this, make sure that the transcripts contain the information that you need. You will also need a contact for any time that you were self-employed. Someone who can verify that you were self-employed at the time.

The spreadsheet is a great idea. If you ad to after you send in your forms, you can take it to any interview and say, “Before we start, I need to update some information” and pass them the spreadsheet.

Remember, they see people who forget things all of the time. As long as you don’t look like you are trying to hide information you should be OK. However, if you forgot to list a job consulting for the Russian consulate, it’s not going to look good in any case.

Report your foreign contact. If was clearly “close and continuing” at the time and traveling with around Europe with a Serbian is going to need to be looked into. You don’t really know who or what he was, what he did before you met or what he has done since.

How important is being totally accurate on an sf85 in regards to employment? Some jobs are only a month or two from a couple years ago…They are not on the resume and are not relevant. How would the investigators know?

What do you mean jobs are not relevant ?!
Just answer the question within the required timeframe:
List all of your employment activities, including unemployment and self-employment

It’s in regards to the question the OP asked–not everyone remembers every nook and cranny. What is the answer to our queries? Thank you.

The SF85/86 are Federal forms used for a Federal investigation. It is very important people take the time to be completed and accurate when completing the forms and participating in the process. People are human and do forget things and that is taken into consideration. However, if there is a pattern of non-compliance or disregard for rules - why should that person be granted a clearance? Investigators uncover omissions and outright lies on a daily basis. No one is going to share with you HOW they do this and you do not need to know this.

ALL employments (within the time frame asked in the question) regardless of length need to be listed. It does not matter if the employment is relevant to the job for which you are applying. The SF85/86 forms are not resumes and should not be treated as such.

how can lack of superiosr contact info with hr contact info be reconciled? supervisors come and go and most companies have a non-disclosure policy.

this is a basic level 5 with written inquiries, no clearance.