Official high security vetting in the UK

[Jen85]

Not sure if anyone would have any info on this one but thought I would put it out there just in case. My partner who is the applicant for immigration had to have high security clearance or vetting for his job and he is covered under the Official Secrets Act never to devulge any information he found out while on the job. Initially we thought this would be an advantage with his immigration application but we were told by an immigration consultant early on in the process that this might actually slow things down. Does anyone have any knowledge of this type of situation and why it could slow things down? Any thoughts or ideas? We didn't actually mention this in his application but I would assume that with the background checks for the immigration, they may very well have found out about it.

 

[doctorkb]

I could understand that.

It's possible that because it was for the UK, it won't affect anything, with the fact that we share their Head of State.

However, any other country, I could understand that being an issue as it implies that the individual has knowledge of foreign secrets and could pose a security risk to Canada -- the individual (in theory) could commit treason if called to choose between home country and adopted country...

 

[Jen85]

Hmmm, didn't think about that...but you might be right. Here I was hoping they would just see that he is an all round good guy and totally trustworthy or he wouldn't have qualified for the security clearance in the first place. But he did work in an area having to do with atomic weapons (didn't work directly with anything there just in the vicinity of)...maybe Canada thinks he is going to create some weapon of mass destruction when he actually just wants to go fishing and enjoy a quiet and peaceful life! I guess we better settle in for more waiting then. :'(

 

[Baloo]

Not sure if anyone would have any info on this one but thought I would put it out there just in case. My partner who is the applicant for immigration had to have high security clearance or vetting for his job and he is covered under the Official Secrets Act never to devulge any information he found out while on the job. Initially we thought this would be an advantage with his immigration application but we were told by an immigration consultant early on in the process that this might actually slow things down. Does anyone have any knowledge of this type of situation and why it could slow things down? Any thoughts or ideas? We didn't actually mention this in his application but I would assume that with the background checks for the immigration, they may very well have found out about it.

Many people have to sign the OSA as part of their job, it is more common than you might think.
General clearance wont help or hinder IMO, all the standard checks will still be performed - but that may not be the case with higher clearance categories.