Temporarily living in Canada - clearance threat?

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

Hi everyone!

Here’s the situation: I am a US citizen (born here), 24 years old, with a strong interest in getting a federal intelligence job in the future. My fiance, born in Egypt, lives in Canada with Permanent Residence (PR) status, and is ~2 years from becoming a citizen. He has a great job in Toronto (project manager at a construction company), and we were considering temporarily living there after we get married before moving back to Cincinnati, where we would settle down, and my fiance would work toward US citizenship. If I live and work in Canada for approximately a year, will this impede my ability to get security clearance in the future? Are there any ways to do this in a way that wouldn’t threaten my career? I’ve been scrutinizing the “foreign influence,” “foreign preference,” and “outside activities” disqualifiers, but I would seriously appreciate some advice on our specific situation. Thank you!

2

Canada residence wouldn’t necessarily be a deal breaker, you should be fine.

3

You’re going to make your SF86 more complicated and you’re likely to make your investigation a little more complicated but assuming that you don’t do anything there that you shouldn’t, this shouldn’t prevent you from getting cleared in most cases.

Just keep an eye on what you do while you’re there . . . Canada just legalized pot nationally. Don’t do it . . .

4

A husband with Egyptian citizenship isn’t a deal breaker either, but you can expect the need to scope his ties and family as well. I have seen an SCI denied a person with a foreign born spouse. But they both actually cleared.

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