Manually Filled Paper SF-86

Good afternoon,

The company L. tested me in the foreign language I was trying out for, and then sent me the fillable SF-86.

In April I returned to my company liaison the filled-out PDF version of the SF-86 - thirty-something pages in total, with the signature pages signed with a wet signature, scanned and emailed separately. No eQIP was ever involved.

The company L. never made me a formal job offer, nor did we sign any tentative or conditional contract for any employment. They have refused to state for which federal employer the sponsored TS will be, if obtained one day.

It’s now the middle of November. No fingerprinting has taken place yet, nor any interview with an investigator. Is this common?

Also, is filling out a paper SF-86 common at all in 2021? I’ve read elsewhere that the company L. might be filling out the eQIP on the back end and submitting it electronically from my PDF/scanned pages, but I don’t know for sure…

Thank you very much in advance for whatever light you can shed on this, as I’m totally in the dark.

They may be using it as a pre-screen tool, in which case you’ll have to fill it out all over again. I have heard of this, although in my case employers have used their own forms.

A few years back when there was a hack of the personnel security system, some agencies reverted to the paper (or at least pdf) forms, but I think everyone is back to some version of eQIP.

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Some 3 letter agencies do use paper copies scanned. I’ve had to review case papers/equip that were filled out by pen/pencil. It’s crazy but true. It could also be a pre screen tool as well. Ask a few more polite questions and see that they say. That’s a lot of personal information to turn over to someone with no promises.

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Thanks ever so much for your input. I’d be happy to hear even more insights from you when you have time.

The company L. did its own pre-screening with their own forms last October, and when my answers were apparently satisfactory, they kicked off the English test, and then the foreign language exam the job would depend on.
Their own forms had asked about any foreign background, foreign relatives, dual citizenship, etc. - I have all those as a naturalized citizen. So, this in itself was definitely a pre-screen over a year ago.

When I was filling out the paper/PDF SF-86, the instructions on how to go about doing so bore the stationary logo of the ODNI, sooo… You might be correct about the connection to a three-letter agency…

Recently, they gave me an SF-86C to fill out with any three-month updates that’d supplement the main SF-86, as they check in on us to see if anything’s changed. Therefore, this leads me to believe the current SF-86 isn’t a pre-screening tool… Whaddaya think?

Also, how can one get investigated without fingerprinting thus far? Don’t they need to run them through criminal databases to check my history?

Thanks ever so, guys!

I’d have to agree with you there. And yeah, fingerprints are usually done early on, but who knows anymore.

Some investigators are now carrying fingerprint machines and can digitally upload at the time of the interview.

As far as I know there’s only one IC agency that continues to use the paper SF86 (the 2008 version). That agency to processes their own clearance applicants and ODNI applicants. So the potential employer could be ODNI or the IC agency that’s processing the clearance application. I dealt with one case where the applicant was issued a letter of denial a year after submitting his SF86 and FNC forms. The IC agency never initiated an investigation.

Do you happen to know which the IC agency is, from your experience?