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Issue Encyclopedia · Guideline C · Foreign Preference

Possession or Use of a Foreign Passport

What the decided record shows for this issue, computed from public DOHA hearing-level decisions. Descriptive history, not a prediction.

Does possession or use of a foreign passport affect a security clearance?

Possession or Use of a Foreign Passport is an issue decided under Guideline C, Foreign Preference. In the decided DOHA record it appears in 1,025 hearing-level cases, and 49% of the 1,025 decided ended with access granted (501 granted, 524 denied). The mitigating conditions judges credited most often, and example decisions either way, are below.

Basis: 1,025 decided hearing-level cases raising this issue. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.

More questions people ask the record

Decided cases

1,025

hearing-level decisions raising this issue

Granted

49%

501 granted · 524 denied or revoked

Official mitigating conditions cited

The formal mitigating conditions the case profiles identified on this issue, in cases that were granted and in cases that were denied. Each is shown with its paragraph number and a plain name. Read what each condition says.

  • ¶ 11(e) · The benefits of foreign citizenship raise no security concern

    In granted cases
    139
    In denied cases
    42

  • ¶ 11(a) · The foreign citizenship does not conflict with United States interests

    In granted cases
    137
    In denied cases
    24

  • ¶ 11(b) · Dual citizenship from parentage or place of birth alone

    In granted cases
    129
    In denied cases
    18

  • ¶ 11(d) · The foreign citizenship was exercised before becoming a United States citizen

    In granted cases
    128
    In denied cases
    24

  • ¶ 11(c) · A stated willingness to renounce the foreign citizenship

    In granted cases
    30
    In denied cases
    6

  • ¶ 11(g) · The employment or service was authorized under United States law

    In granted cases
    14
    In denied cases
    1

Circumstances credited in granted cases

The specific circumstances the judge expressly credited among the granted cases on this issue where that detail was extracted.
  • surrender of foreign passport · credited in 11 granted cases
  • willingness to renounce foreign citizenship · credited in 8 granted cases
  • willingness to renounce dual citizenship · credited in 3 granted cases
  • passport surrendered · credited in 2 granted cases
  • passport has been destroyed or surrendered · credited in 2 granted cases

Recent decided examples

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00122Granted2026

    Applicant, a U.S.-based professor and naturalized citizen, answered SOR allegations involving foreign contacts, foreign preference, and outside activities. He admitted several foreign board and busine…

  • ISCR Case No. 23-01331Granted2023

    The applicant in this case was a 28-year-old systems analyst employed by a defense contractor since August 2022. She was born in Colombia, became a U.S. citizen in March 2018, and had family members r…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00848Denied2026

    Applicant, a 22 year old roofer for a defense contractor, was born in the United States, lived in Mexico for years, and holds dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship. He admitted using a Mexican passport to…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-01240Denied2026

    Applicant, a 43-year-old translator, sought clearance for work in Iraq. He admitted strong family ties to Iraq, an Iraqi passport renewal after U.S. citizenship, and 19 delinquent debts totaling $109,…

See all 1,025 decisions on this issue

Related issues under Guideline C

How these numbers are measured

Scope: decided hearing-level cases whose per-allegation profile records this issue, matched to the same issue value the search filters use, so a count here and a filtered search always agree. A case raising several issues counts under each one. The mitigating conditions and the credited circumstances below were extracted for a subset of the record, so both are counts of cases rather than rates. Pages exist only for issues with at least 25 decided cases, and † marks any split built on fewer than 20.

Reading the statistics

  • Granted = access granted or continued; Denied = denied or revoked.
  • Grant rate = granted ÷ (granted + denied).
  • † marks figures based on fewer than 20 cases, too few to be reliable.
  • Hovering any rate shows its statistical range (a 95% confidence interval).
  • Figures are descriptive counts over decided, public DOHA ISCR decisions, never predictions or assessments of any pending case.

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