TS Clearance and international contacts for a BI job

[Chichen]

I was born overseas and have lived overseas for many years before moving to the U.S. As such, I have an extensive list of foreign contacts, mostly in the country of my birth (a friendly country). They are family and friends.

I have lived in the United States for over two decades and have been a citizen for over a decade. I have an absolutely clean background.

I have applied for a BI position with CSRA and will be having my second interview with them soon. I have a few questions about the clearance process (they told me I’d need a tier 5 TS clearance).

1. What bearing would the fact that I was born and have lived abroad for many years have on my prospects for obtaining a clearance? What would be a reasonable estimate in terms of the time it’d take?

2. What kind of investigation do they do overseas? In other words, do they interview each of my foreign contacts with whom I have had a continuing relationship (as defined in SF 86)? I’m afraid if they interview all of the people I list it would take ages.

3. Who does the interviews/investigation overseas? Do they liaise with foreign govt agencies?

The following question is out of curiosity about the process

4. Are the field and subject interviews here in the U.S. for a BI position done by other BI’s from the OPM, or does a different agency conduct them?

Thank you for your help!

[noname01]

yes, i am in the similar position…

does anyone know if they actually contact the foreign contacts…
i am no longer in touch with some of them as i used to before few years ago. Also i did not mention anything to my foreign contacts about applying for positions in US (am very private)…

so how would that all work? does anyone know?

thank you in advance.

[cacukgsis]

See below for The answers.

@Chichen

I was born overseas and have lived overseas for many years before moving to the U.S. As such, I have an extensive list of foreign contacts, mostly in the country of my birth (a friendly country). They are family and friends.

I have lived in the United States for over two decades and have been a citizen for over a decade. I have an absolutely clean background.

I have applied for a BI position with CSRA and will be having my second interview with them soon. I have a few questions about the clearance process (they told me I’d need a tier 5 TS clearance).

1. What bearing would the fact that I was born and have lived abroad for many years have on my prospects for obtaining a clearance? What would be a reasonable estimate in terms of the time it’d take?

— it depends on where you lived but by the sound of it you’ve lived in the US long enough that it shouldn’t be an issue. Regarding foreign contacts, it depends on the country and the amount of influence your contacts can exert over you. Unfortunately there’s no estimate of time given the backlog. If CSRA paid for an expedited case, it can speed things up.

2. What kind of investigation do they do overseas? In other words, do they interview each of my foreign contacts with whom I have had a continuing relationship (as defined in SF 86)? I’m afraid if they interview all of the people I list it would take ages.

—They only conduct overseas investigations if an activity falls within scope and requires coverage. It’s doubtful they will contact any of your foreign contacts.

3. Who does the interviews/investigation overseas? Do they liaise with foreign govt agencies?

—NBIB special agents either get assigned to a location or they go TDY overseas to close cases.

The following question is out of curiosity about the process

4. Are the field and subject interviews here in the U.S. for a BI position done by other BI’s from the OPM, or does a different agency conduct them?

—Again NBIB special agents do the investigations for BI applicants.

Thank you for your help!