Greetings all reader and helper!!!
I am going through a process of getting an upgrade clearance (currently possess a DOD Secret that was granted laster 02/2019). I accidentally interpreted a question wrong in section “Section 20B - Foreign Business, Professional Activities, and Foreign Government Contacts”, the question was "Sponsorship of a Foreign National
Have you in the last seven (7) years sponsored any foreign national to come to the U.S. as a student, for work,or for permanent residence?
I checked “Yes” instead of “No”, although i did not sponsor anyone as a “student”, i technically sponsored my wife’s family (her parents and brother) who are foreign national but not as a “student” . Wife is a U.S citizen, her family all is now legal permanent residents.
Will that “harm” my application or chance to get approved for the applied clearance?
I’ve reached out to FSO, i just submitted it to them last week Monday, just a week from now, and i have not done the Fingerprint, so hopefully without the fingerprint they still have my application and have not released the application to the government if i understand the process correctly where Fingerprint must be done prior submit the application to them. Waiting for the response!
And since i was just granted a Secret last year, will that speed up the process a little quicker?
The question is asking if you sponsored them and they were here as students OR for work OR for permanent residence. I guessing maybe the permanent residence part may apply depending on the process they went through.
I’d say in this case it is better to say ‘yes’ than to say ‘no.’ I also think that sponsoring family members is quite different than sponsoring someone with whom you don’t have any close ties… that raises a lot of questions.
They may be able to re-use some of the investigation from the secret clearance if it was not too long ago, but that probably depends on many factors.
" As a student" for work and permanent…that was where I got the confusion from. I think it meant if I sponsored someone as a student for the purposes of working and becoming a permanent. What do you think? Where I sponsored family members for a reunion over work and permanent
No, it’s asking if you have sponsored a foreign nation to come to the US and then provides three different options such as a student OR for work OR for permanent residence.
Every applicant “misunderstands the question.” A lot of people should not get the job they are applying for based on lack of reading comprehension. Comprehension is the unwritten measure of suitability.
Suitability is just one of many factors that contribute to a success of an individual. There are other factors like integrity, capability and ability that play important roles for one to be great in what he does. In addition, words have different meaning depending on scenarios, so a word can be interpreted differently from a different perspective as well. Therefore, most jobs require “you” to have the ability to work well with a “team”. Hence, how this group was created.
I don’t know about you but I’ve investigated many PHD’s in the STEM fields with obvious technical genius and contributions to national security…but very low reading comprehension levels. It is a frustrating reality over and over again.
Obviously, I understood the question and answered “Yes”. This post merely for insurance purposes, I just wanted to make sure what I thought is what people would have thought. Thanks again all for the contribution.
