Guideline B: Foreign Influence
Decided hearing cases
3,954
Grant rate
54%
2,137 granted · 1,817 denied
Specific issues and their outcomes
Foreign relationship (unspecified)
53% granted · 1,315 granted · 1,143 denied
Parent in a foreign country
52% granted · 1,177 granted · 1,088 denied
Sibling in a foreign country
57% granted · 993 granted · 748 denied
In law in foreign country
52% granted · 526 granted · 493 denied
Spouse dual / foreign citizen
43% granted · 342 granted · 447 denied
Extended family in foreign country
53% granted · 359 granted · 319 denied
Mitigations judges credited most
- Deep U.S. ties1,977
- Severed foreign contact63
- Foreign assets divested31
- U.S. military service22
- Foreign passport surrendered18
Counted only where the judge expressly credited the mitigation, not merely where it was claimed.
What the reference material says about foreign-influence cases
- For current clearance holders, unofficial foreign travel requires an itinerary and approval before the trip, and continuing foreign contacts involving closeness or exchanges of personal information must be reported. These are baseline duties for everyone with access. (SEAD-3, Section F)
- Practitioner sources describe the analysis in this order: the country involved matters most, then the closeness of the foreign tie, then whether U.S. ties clearly outweigh it. (Practitioner sources)
From our verified reference library: paraphrased from the named sources and reviewed before publication. Descriptive background, not legal advice about any case.
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For attorneys and firms →Descriptive statistics from decided public DOHA cases. Not legal advice or a prediction. † marks samples under 20 cases.