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Foreign Property, Foreign Bank Accounts, and Inherited Assets: What You Must Report
In March 2016, a Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals judge granted a clearance to an applicant who owned no home in the United States and two houses in Mexico, worth $160,000 and $26,000. Three years later another judge denied a clearance over a single $70,000 debt owed to a f… more
‘Bound by Affection, Influence, or Obligation’: Decoding the Close-and-Continuing Test
The phrase "bonds of affection" does not appear in the SF-86's foreign contacts question. It sits on page 40, in the marital-status block, attached to a different test. Section 19, on page 60, asks about people with whom you are "bound by affection, influence, common interests, a… more
The Exact Reporting Threshold for a Foreign Contact Under SEAD 3
Security Executive Agent Directive 3 runs eleven pages. Not one of them gives you a deadline for reporting a foreign contact. The "five business days" figure on nearly every clearance blog is real, but it attaches to travel itinerary deviations, not to people. If you have been co… more
Can You List a Relative as an SF-86 Reference or Verifier?
Section 11 of the Standard Form 86 carries one blunt instruction about who may vouch for where you have lived: do not list "your spouse, cohabitant or other relatives as the verifier for periods of residence." Five sections later the form bars relatives again, in different words,… more
What to Do When You Cannot Remember a Verifier for an Old Address on the SF-86
The SF-86 asks for a residence verifier only when an address falls inside the last 3 years. That one clause, tucked into Section 11, dissolves most of the worry behind this question. If the old address you cannot find a witness for is further back than that, the form tells you to… more