Steps You Can Take to Help Speed Up Your Background Investigation

Most of these can be broken down into simply “read the question carefully, and only list what is required,” but here are some examples:

  1. Even if you let people know you are listing them as a reference (in any section, not just specifically the References section), when you get called for your interview, that is your signal that your case is being actively worked. Reach out to those people again and remind them. A lot of times, people forget, or only have a vague memory of you telling them they were listed that they were a reference.

  2. For foreign nationals, remember, the question says close or CONTINUING contact. So even if you don’t feel particularly close to your friends or relatives who live in another country, but you call them on birthdays and holidays, or chat with them periodically on WhatsApp (even for mundane things like sharing memes), that’s still CONTINUING contact. List them. On the flip side, please do not list every foreign National you have ever spoken to if they do not fit the criteria. I have seen quite a few cases where people list some random person that they bought something from on EBAY once and never spoke to again.

  3. When we ask you who is aware of a situation (drug use, foreign contacts, financial issues, etc), please don’t give us vague answers like, “all of my references,” and assume those people are aware. Really take the time to think about it and provide us with valid contact information for people who can corroborate what you put on the security questionnaire or told us in the interview. People may be aware that you were born in a foreign country, but that doesn’t mean that they are necessarily aware that you had a foreign passport at one point to get to the US.

  4. For residences, we want to know where you were physically located and during what specific dates. Don’t just list your residence of record (your parents house on your drivers license) if you moved all over the place for the military or lived away from home for college.

  5. If you were unemployed, PLEASE do not list some made up job because you think being unemployed is unfavorable. Doing odd jobs around the neighborhood for cash is not a verifiable job, and it takes a considerable amount of work to sift through these listed “self-employments” that do not exist. The investigator will ask you how you financially supported yourself while unemployed, and that is your time to explain about walking your friend’s dog or cutting lawns in the neighborhood for some extra money, but listing “Bob’s Car Wash” as a self employment when that is not a registered business will only slow everything down.

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