I never no am not suppose to use my foreign passport to travel being new to clearance jobs after I obtained my Secret clearance. Now I have a new job that want to upgrade me to TS. I want to state the truth by be declaring it on SF86 - Any implication? It is an honest mistake - really never know.
Your advice please.
This is a little difficult to decipher . . . You used your foreign passport for travel? While you were cleared?
If I understand what you are saying, I think you will have a problem. Tough to buy as “just a mistake”.
I think they’re saying they didn’t know they weren’t supposed to use the passport when they got their secret?
Did you declare your passport in your previous sf86?
I thought you had to renounce, or willing to renounce, your foreign citizenship in order to obtain a clearance? Part of the process, or at least that’s what I did, is destroying or surrendering the foreign passport to the FSO.
Well - thank you all for your response.
This information is easily found if one looks:
@Janetty Know this: If you declare you used your Foreign Passport on your SF-86, the system will auto-generate an Incident Report, which is a career killer and will take you years to remove it.
Does your Foreign Passport contain stamps?
@EdFarmerIII it really is just a mistake. Same thing happened to me.
1- I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to use it to enter my country of birth
2- It never occurred to me this would carry any negative consequences, because it’s completely legal
1 - You should have known. It’s your responsibly to know.
2 - It’s completely legal for you to travel but with a clearance, you are required to notify your FSO before hand and depending you where you are going you could be required to receive counter intelligence or other additional training before leaving the country.
These are your responsibilities.
@Janetty . . . If you used your foreign passport, you need to report it. Being found out later is an absolute career killer because you will have added lying on your SF86 to bill.
I don’t agree with you @EdFarmerIII. Saying “You should have known” does little in my opinion, because this situation is not a generally intuitive notion and falls under “unknown unknowns”. In fact agencies are realizing this now and asking FSOs to return foreign passports to folks.
I for one was working for a commercial client for a number of years at the time and did not have an FSO to report this to, so even if I had somehow known about this guideline, I wouldn’t have been able to report it.
Putting in an Incident Report without providing the option to redeem oneself is a little excessive.
I do agree that lying on the SF-86 is an absolute No-Go. There is no upside to lying on the SF-86.
They are asking FSOs to return foreign passports AND requiring that those receiving them be informed of the requirement that they not be used. It’s VERY intuitive to me that the agency that granted you a clearance would wish to have the ability to track your international movements. Once you check in with another country using a foreign passport the U.S. has not way of knowing, real time or later, when you leave or where you go. So, let’s say that you check into Canada on a foreign passport, you are now capable of flying to Italy and then on to Iran and back without being followed by your security holder. Does that sound like a good situation?
There is ALWAYS someone to report to. I’m sorry that you don’t understand the responsibilities that come with a clearance but it makes little difference.
If you think it’s not a problem then maybe you won’t have any trouble at all.
@EdFarmerIII most of us aren’t able to think like professional criminals on that one. And since not using the foreign passport is a requirement, that’s fine, but my problem is with FSOs or organizations not letting their employees know this. Some do, some don’t.
It’s surprising to me that drugs, alcohol addiction, ARREST WARRANTS, other suspicious activities are more or less pardonable, certainly disclosing them doesn’t generate an Incident Report of high severity. But as soon as it involves a foreign passport, it’s treated like you murdered someone. Basically vilifying naturalized citizens–and I personally know a number in the same boat.
Simply foolish . . . ALL of those things, when reported by a clearance holder are serious issues but THEY ALL OCCUR INSIDE THE COUNTRY AND DO NOT ALLOW ACCESS TO OR BY FORIEGN INTELLIGENCE . . . See the difference? Turning to drugs while cleared is taken very seriously. All you have to do is read the forums here to see that. Gambling, financial issues, domestic abuse . . . People lose their clearance for these issues.
I remember a clearance holder some time ago who had a warrant for his arrest issued by the court, for failure to appear or something along those lines. The individual maintained he had no knowledge of this arrest warrant. Impossible to say if he did or didn’t, but certainly the courts around where I live notify folks promptly and expeditiously of summons and arrest warrants. Nevertheless, he should have known, it’s his responsibility after-all.
There was no incident report, certainly no career implications, no red flags in JPAS which linger for years. The individual cleared it up with the investigator, cleared it up with the courthouse, and that was the end of it.
See the difference?
Ha! Yes . . . I see ALL of the differences . . . You are probably talking about ME!
First, I didn’t hold a clearance when the arrest warrants were issued. They were discovered during an initial investigation not a reinvestigation. Second, I was able to show that I was unaware of the warrants because the court records showed that the summons involved had been sent to wrong address and their was no warrant ever mailed to my correct address. Third, the underlying charges involved things like the failure to clear sidewalks of snow on a rental property that I owned, which was actually the responsibility of the tenant. Not me.
The court vacated the warrants AND the underlying summons’ which were effectively civil issues, not criminal. I didn’t leave the country and was never considered a flight risk.
See the difference?
Thank you. I was surprise with his advice…
You are required to be trained when first cleared, and annually thereafter. Some companies do a much better job than others however the responsibility to self report remains with the individual. Frankly, I am surprised anyone currently has the foreign passport as they just now are getting around to returning them. As for the post above about clearing a warrant not being an issue but traveling on a foreign passport is…of course that is the case. Clearing a warrant means no criminal act, or a court decided it was minor enough to dismiss. Foreign bonds of affection are and should be a major concern.
I travel with several passports as entering and leaving the US requires a US passport, and same with the UK. I also hold CAN as I was born there. Never naturalized or swore an oath anywhere else and that’s very important. Just eligible for and acquired them. At least they are all allies right! And I’m fine stating and proving my allegiances. With that add official and dip for a total of 5. Only issues I have are returning to the US they typically put me in the secondary line when I use the blue passport for personal travel. But there is nothing illegal about it.
We’re talking “legal” vs “allowed” for clearance holders. I don’t believe that clearance holders should be using foreign passports for ANY travel.
If I am wrong, can someone point me to my mistake?
I knew a guy at my former employer with an Israeli passport. His mother lived there and was old and he used it to visit her. I do not know the restrictions there on Americans but it was only for that purpose. His command was fine with that. This was before 9/11. Today if he gets Middle East assignents you definitely do not want an Israeli stamp in your passport!
The use of a passport is dictated by the country of issuance. You MUST use their passport to enter and leave most countries. If I was to enter the UK on a US passport they would have a lot of questions for me.
The bad news is as we all know that you lose USG protection. If I am in the UK and have an incident, the US Consulate is not there for me. That can be very bad when you have certain employers. In that case it is not a matter of your loyalty to the US, but the fact you are owned by another nation. No soup for you!
Showing your passport in a nation like Israel, to prove your citizenship in order to receive treatment as a citizen, is different from traveling on your passport.
Yes . . . The issuing country has a say over how you use your local passport but the US government has the say over how you travel while holding a clearance. They want to be able to know where you are and where you are going.
Are you really going to use 20 year old travel to support the use of passports today? Twenty years ago, I could carry a case of shampoo in my carryon bag with having anything questioned but my sanity.