U.S. Naturalization / Citizenship background check -- what is involved?
Hello,
I’ve been a U.S. legal resident for over 25 years and have decided to finally get my citizenship. I know that the FBI (and possibly other agencies?) do a background check before you are approved.
My questions are:
1) What exactly do they look for on this background check, besides your criminal record (or lack thereof)?
2) Does the government also access your social network accounts (Facebook, Myspace, Last.fm, etc)?
3) Does the government Google you?
I don’t have anything to hide, I’m just a privacy advocate and I’m wondering how deep into my personal life the government will dig.
PLEASE DON’T: confuse this with the immigration background check that the government does when you apply for a green card. I have that and am looking to become a naturalized citizen.
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5 Answers
I just talked to a lawyer recently about this, First off I don’t think the FBI does any investigating because who ever handles immigration are the ones doing the background check. Also, in your 25 years of being a permanent resident, had you committed a crime that was serious enough they would have deported you for it by now. So besides a standard criminal background check they might look to make sure you paid your taxes. And last, having naughty pictures on the internet isn’t a crime anyways so if they did do a google search I wouldn’t worry too much :P
But I am not a lawyer or anything
“Do you like McDonalds?”
“sure.”
“Do you hate Al Qaeda?”
“yeah…”
“You’re in.”
The background check for naturalization run by the USCIS checks the applicant against three databases:
1) An FBI name check is run that will call up any information that the FBI already has on the person. If any of that information is deemed relevant to the naturalization request, it will be forwarded to the USCIS.
2) An FBI fingerprint check is run against the fingerprint database.
3) An IBIS (Interagency Border Inspection System) check is run to check against a massive database of “names of persons prohibited from entering the United States, criminal suspects, or individuals sought for questioning are provided from a global network of Consular Officers at U.S. embassies and consulates managed by the Department of State.”. This is the database maintained and consulted by the CIA, NSA, FBI, Secret Service, Coast Guard and Interpol.
So essentially, the background check will only bring up information that is already on file as having raised suspicions previously, and will not go looking into personal information to find new dirt.
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Hi I am 39 years old and have been in this country sense i was six, i applied for citizenship 8 years ago and was denien becuase i disclosed an arest that had been exponged 20 years ago. The arest was for drugs. No jail time was involved just the arest and PBJ. Should I apply again for citizenship?
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