Out-of-country verification scenario

Hypothetical situation

An organization company security officer (CSO) has determined that a new employee, John Smith, needs to work on a series of government of Canada contracts that requires access to protected and secret level information and assets. The CSO wants to send the CSP an application for a reliability status (5 years verifiable history) and a security clearance at the Secret level (10 years verifiable history) for John Smith.

The CSO identifies that John Smith has lived outside of Canada during the past 10 years. He notifies John Smith that he needs to provide documentation to account for their activities for each country that he lived in continuously for at least 6 months. He also understands that the CSP will need to be able to assess the period John Smith spent outside of Canada and may need to validate biographical information in relations to the applicant.

In this case, John Smith lived in the United States of America (U.S.A), Belgium and Saudi Arabia over the course of the period in question. John Smith determines that he must obtain documents from each of those countries to account for his activities while he lived there. This includes information relating to employment, finances, education (if applicable) and travel. John Smith also understands that the information he will provide his CSO must be such that it can be verifiable and validated by the CSP.

The CSO knows that John Smith's personnel security screening assessment cannot begin until the CSP receives all required personnel security screening and out-of-country documentation.

To be pro-active, the CSO reviews the CSP's website and determines the following:

1. since John lived in the U.S.A for over 6 months, he needs to Get a Police Certificate—United States. As part of this process, John must also submit fingerprints to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. John must also be in a position to provide proof of employment or studies for the time he resided in the U.S.A
2. in the past 10 years, John studied in Belgium for a period of 1 year. A Belgium police certificate is provided to John but it is written in Flemish. As such, John must have the police certificate translated into either English or French. The police certificate must be translated by a certified translator in Canada who is recognized by the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario or The Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec. John must also be in a position to provide proof of employment or studies for his time spent studying in Belgium.
3. John also taught English in Saudi Arabia for 8 months. He informs his CSO that the Saudi Arabian authorities will not send him a police certificate. As such, the CSO sends a written request along with proof of the refusal from the foreign authorities to the CSP by email: ssidsfpformulaires-.isspssdforms@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca to obtain confirmation of which alternative documents can be submitted for his time spent in Saudi Arabia with John's security screening application. From there, John will seek a copy of the acceptable alternative document from the relevant authority. Note that John must also be in a position to provide contact information and original documentation, if required, so it can be validated at a later time

Applicants must share all out-of-country verification documents with their CSO:

• in the case of translated police certificates, the original certificate and a copy of the translation must be provided by the applicant
• in the case of alternative documents, an applicant must be in a position to provide contact information and original documentation since the CSP may need to validate this information as part of the personnel security screening assessment
• information pertaining to employment verification, finances, education or travel must be verifiable and be able to be validated by the CSP
• in order to prevent too many delays, the CSO may proactively get the applicant to request police certificates for any residence or periods outside of Canada that are of a duration of 6 months or longer.

Upon receipt of the out-of-country verification documents, along with John Smith's application for a reliability status or security clearance at the secret level, the CSP will review and validate the documentation and assess the adequacy and reliability of the originating country's documents.

The CSP will make a determination as to whether the documents are valid and can be used as part of the assessment of the applicant's request. If further documents are needed, or the authenticity of some of the submitted documents is questioned, the CSP will notify the CSO.