Influence of Spouse's nationality and my length of citizenship for getting a Secret Clearance?

Asked by tony16 (6

) November 23rd, 2009

1. My spouse is living with me. She is a greencard holder (legal US Permanent Resident) but a citizen of Bangladesh.
2. My parents are not US resident, they are citizens of Bangladesh and residing over there.
3. I am a US Citizen and became a US citizen 2 months back.

I heard a few cases where Top Secret clearance was denied because of a foreign national spouse. But have not heard any case regarding Secret Clearance. I also heard that if I have not been a US Citizen for at least 1 year, the clearance is not given.

I am about to get a job offer that requires Secret Clearance (not Top Secret). Can anyone (preferably an investigator) tell me whether the above conditions will be a problem for me to get a Secret Clearance?

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7 Answers

According to the GAO, the citizenship status of spouses and family members is not considered in applications for basic confidential/security clearance (see table 1, about two-thirds of the way down this document). The same table indicates that for this level of clearance, the length of citizenship of the applicant is not an issue.

Harp (19179

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Edit:: I meant to write “basic confidential/secret clearance”

Harp (19179

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No one official would answer the question. I work for the DoD and I do know that your situation will certainly influence their decision though. It won’t make it impossible to receive the clearence, but it may take longer.

jackm (6212

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