My case has been long stuck in adjudication (1.5 years), each time I called my FSO, they always fed back saying it’s under ‘adjudication’.
Last week, I got interim denial notice, and my status changed from ‘Pending Secret’ to ‘Pending Eligibility’. Is this normal? I thought ‘Pending Secret’ is more advanced (closer to final decision) than ‘Pending Eligibility’, if that’s true, my case now goes backwards, LOL.
So I’m thinking if I need to hire a lawyer and check my files, find potential trouble spots, and add documents (explanations, documents, evidence, etc.) to help mitigate the issues during the investigation.
So I consulted some lawyers, some told me that you can’t do anything before you get SOR (statement of reasons), so I’m basically wasting money if I work with lawyers now; others told me to take actions ASAP to affect the investigation process such that it may end with an approval instead of SOR.
Does anyone here has experience or knowledge which one is right/true? Working with lawyers is expensive and not easy (you have to chase them some time), I need to know if it’s helpful to spend money on lawyers now. Also feel free to provide your insights on hiring and working with clearance lawyers, it seems I have to do it now or later.
Your case has been at the adjudication stage for 1.5 years, or is that total time since you started the process? There isn’t much you can do while in adjudication, except to wait. You can try contacting your senators and ask them to contact the adjudication facility on your behalf. That can sometimes speed up the process.
It’s the time in adjudication (according to what I heard from my FSO). The total time of the case is now almost 3 yrs.
I did write letter to on of our senators couple weeks ago, and last Friday I got my interim denied. That’s the only update/change I had since I got interviewed at the beginning of 2018. I don’t know if the change (denial of interim) was caused by the senator checking or not, but I didn’t get any feedback from the senator.
So you tend to agree that nothing can be done at the moment, including trying to add additional document to explain/mitigate?
I cant be sure here, and I certainly don’t have all the info, but generally the decision on an interim is made long before the case goes to adjudication. Usually someone (not sure who) takes a look at the file (not sure at what point) and decides whether or not to grant an interim clearance while the rest of the investigation continues… and then goes to adjudication. If you got the interim, you’re working this whole time; if not, well, you wait.
Could they have gone back and taken a second look to see if you qualified for an interim?
Anyway denial of an interim is not denial of a clearance.
I’m thinking to submit something like petition while my case is under adjudication (or investigation, not sure which one should be now that they denied my interim). Just want to check if it is doable or anyone had done such thing before.
I don’t think you can submit anything unless someone like an investigator or adjudicator asks for it.Someone has to contact you first and request information from you. You can go on the DCSA website and submit a FOIA request to get a copy of your own investigation if it is completed. That would be a place to start to see what may be going on.
