3 Factors That Impact an International Background Check

When hiring for an open position, an employer will usually complete background checks on candidates. This will provide needed information and verification about their background. A domestic background check will only take a couple of days but an international check will take longer. While these can be done in four or five days, it could take several weeks. There are several factors that will determine how long these international checks take. Here are some of the factors that will impact how long it takes to complete international employment background checks.

Cooperation of the Country

Some countries are very cooperative when it comes to completing background checks on international candidates. Others are notoriously difficult. This is either because of strict privacy laws or they don’t like to release information about their citizens. The most difficult countries from which to retrieve information are those that are corrupt or force you to go through red tape. One of the advantages of using an international background check firm is that they know which countries are easy to deal with and which ones are more difficult. They’ll also know the best ways to retrieve that information as quickly as possible.

Cooperation of the Potential Employee

Depending on the country in which your candidate lives, you might need to retrieve some information directly from them. In some countries, employers will provide a document to the employee verifying their employment. This might be needed to verify their previous experience. The candidate will probably know you’ll ask for this document so they should already have it ready. If it takes a while for them to provide the document, it might be a sign that they aren’t as serious about the position and you might decide to exclude them anyway.

Issues and Concerns

As you might expect, any issues or concerns that arise during the background check will be more difficult to resolve when dealing with foreign employees. While it could take days to resolve problems domestically, it could take weeks to resolve these problems in a foreign country. Whether or not it’s worth it depends on how highly you value the candidate.

An international background check will take longer than a domestic background check regardless of where it’s completed. The timespan that you should expect depends on where the check is coming from. These are three factors that could impact the time it takes to complete international employment background checks.