NATO friendly countries? Would Litchenstein be OK? They do not have an army. Or Finland, can you hire a person from the southern hemisphere?

DH has CIA level and we have no issues with our choices, obvious to avoid the hot spot countries, but our Argentina au pair was no problem.

It's probably best that no one explicitly say which "non-obvious" countries are off limits.

Anonymous wrote:We are dealing with this as we look for our first au pair. My husband was grilled over our Japanese exchange student we had a few years ago because she was from Okinawa. Okinawa has their own separatist groups who protest the US presence there (and Japan for that matter) and he had to convince the investigators that the student was not sympathetic to the separatist movement. I see au pairs from China on the list and we can't even consider them.

What countries would you want, but can't do?

We are dealing with this as we look for our first au pair. My husband was grilled over our Japanese exchange student we had a few years ago because she was from Okinawa. Okinawa has their own separatist groups who protest the US presence there (and Japan for that matter) and he had to convince the investigators that the student was not sympathetic to the separatist movement. I see au pairs from China on the list and we can't even consider them.

DH has SCI and we have never been told that we couldn't get from any country that was available via the agencies. If you look at which country the agencies service, you will not find lots of candidates from countries that we have no diplomatic relationship. The vast majority of candidates are from Brazil and Germany, with an additional number from other EU/NATO countries. I've never seen one from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, etc. We were free to to choose Russian, Ukraine and other "iron curtain" countries without limit. Same with SA and all European. Not sure what country you are referring to, but your security manager should speak with someone at DHS and State, as all the countries participating are approved...

Anonymous wrote:Very frustrating. Have others had to deal with this?

Which country were you hoping for?

My husband has CIA level clearance and as long as we stayed away from countries we do not have good foreign relations with we were fine. South America and Europe were fine and an abundance of choices were available to us. It's no biggie.

next year these countries will get amnesty

Interesting. That is exactly what we were discussing - it is so subjective and different areas have different "lists". It appears so archaic and random at some level we are not sure if it is worth unmatching with our pick. Losing $500 is one thing, losing a clearance is of concern though.

I don't take the list too seriously as they change every year. Think about Iraq.

I was interviewed by a clearance investigator and I point blank asked about it. I was told to stick with NATO/friendly countries. We have hosted au pairs from Germany without a problem.

Clearance above TS, issue is they (USG security officer) only tell you after you select to bring someone in from xyz country to live with you. We are not talking obvious countries like china, russia, north korea, cuba, iran, etc.

Strange. I have a top secret clearance and have never heard of this. Who is telling you?

I do disclose on my clearance paperwork and my investigator did take time to understand the program.

Very frustrating. Have others had to deal with this?