Many of our clients here at Commercial Investigations LLC hire people who have been educated or worked overseas. This requires a whole different means of verification -- sourcing to our third-party that has people operating in each and every country. You may wonder why, with Google Translate and email connections, we cannot just send an email to the registrar or human resources, or even the courts and request the information directly. Here is a brief overview.

DIFFERING LAWS AND REGULATIONS
Each country or region has its own set of laws and regulations governing the release of information. While Commercial Investigations LLC is well-versed in the Fair Credit Reporting Act in effect in the United States, the same cannot be said for Personal Data Privacy Act in parts of Asia or the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union. With many interpretations being decided in courts, we choose to defer to the local experts.

THE PHILIPPINES (Education, Employment)
Many of our clients hire medical personnel with histories in the Philippines. These are attractive prospects because they already speak English. Most of what we see are education verifications, which must be done correctly as faking documents in the Philippines is relatively easy. Our verifiers check registries and clearinghouses, and contact the issuing authority to verify the authenticity of the certificate and transcript. They are familiar with diploma mills and ensure the school / university is accredited. Within Metro Manila, the process can be relatively fast; in the provinces, it can take longer. If need be, they send a representative to the school / university.

Employment in the Philippines is very often as short as 10-12 months. This should not by itself be a concern, as contracted employment is very common.

INDIA (Education, Employment)
India holds many of the same attractions as the Philippines. Education verifications tend to take longer in India, as verifiers often do not give particulars on the type of discrepancy. This forces the verifier to research the discrepancy further before passing along. Also, it is not unusual for large universities to take up to six weeks to verify education.

Employment verifications in India can be a real challenge. Companies are required by law to maintain records for seven years, after which records may no longer exist. Just like in the US, large organizations have human resources departments that can quickly provide verification. The verifiers in small and medium companies have many other tasks, and view verification as far less important. One big reason to verify employment in India is that gaps in employment are viewed very, very negatively. Hence, scam companies exist that will gladly, for a fee, provide employment verification for the time in question. The local verifiers are intimately familiar with this, and know to perform an actual on site visit to any employer with whom they are not familiar.

PAKISTAN (Criminal records)
Moving away from education and employment, let’s look at criminal searches. Pakistan allows a lookback of ten years only. Within the Punjab region, the quickest means is a database check. This provides immediate results and is easily scannable, but the records are often not updated. In all other areas of the country, contact with local police or the Citizen Police Liaison Committee is the best way, but those take time.

Stay tuned to CI Times for further information.