Security Clearance while living abroad

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

Hi all,

I recently received a great job offer which comes with a secret clearance that the company is sponsoring.

I’ve been living and working from Dominican Republic for a US company from home for the past 5 yrs. I am a dual citizen as i was born here and taken state side as a small child. So i am a Neutralized Citizen. On may of 2018, i was promoted by my current employer to a position that required a public trust security clearance, i was honest on all the paper work as far as my address here, affiliations etc. i flew to puerto rico as it was closest and cheapest to do my finger prints and flew back here. I was given an interim public trust clearance that later became permanent. again, i did NOT once lied or mislead. Now this GREAT offer with another company comes along that requires Secret r/SecurityClearance which i accepted.

background:

I have family here, mostly cousins and aunts. (parents and siblings in the US)

My sister has top secret clearance

when i was processed for the public trust i owned property here in Dominican republic and in the states, i have since sold my property here.

I’ve never worked for a Dominican company or made any type of income here.

I’ve always been paid through direct deposits in the states and i western union or wire transfer to my bank account here.

other than traffic issues like parking tickets from years ago i do not have any type of criminal record here os state side.

My questions are:

What are is the likely hood ill be able to get the secret clearance required?

do i stand a chance at an interim clearance?

will the investigation take allot longer than usual?

2

Naturalized citizen, not neutralized. I hope anyway. I believe it will take a bit longer, may result in a request to renounce dual status citizenship. They need be assured your allegiances are to the US. Owning foreign property or earning foreign income creates loyalty to another country. You said there is no foreign income, and I think you indicated selling the US Property? Or was it the foreign property? Does your sister have the same dual status as you? If so clearly the path exists. But your backgrounds, financial health, recreational drug use may be different. You do not indicate any other bad behavior so I would surmise a slower than usual clearance, which is already slow. But you would clear.

3

Hi, thanks for correcting that, did not catch it.
I have no other bad behavior, never done any type of drugs and aside from traffic tickets long ago i am clean. my sister does have dual citizenship, however unlike me has only been here for a week or two on vacations a few times. I sold properties here in Dominican Republic still have properties in the US.
Financial health is normal i guess. a few late payments but never bankruptcy or even delinquent.

4

Overall payment history is what they look at not FICO. However, FICO is a good barometer of financial health. If you are a 650 FICO or higher you are okay. Particularly if no drugs or arrests. Keep us posted on the process, timelines and approval. This is how we all learn. Good luck!