SC clearance granted in 10 (ten!) days. How can this be possible?

[Amiga500]

Mine was done that quickly. But then my Dad was a policeman and prison officer.

[psychocandy]

Mine took about 3-4 weeks a few months ago. Have been SC before though.

[malvolio]

This is what I don't understand, I was expecting it to take a few months, I can't find any reports of anybody on the internet saying it was done so quickly.

The SLA for SC clearance is 30 days. I've had one occasion where I was cleared in 7, although that was exceptional circumstances.

The Vetting people are often hitting the service level. Snag is there's a whole other layer of bureaucracy at the client end that holds things up
I've also had the clearance paperwork sit in the site SSO's desk for three or four weeks until they "got around" to processing it, after some prompting from my management who needed me to be able to move around freely,

There are no rules. Only petty officials.

[fool]

My SC took about a month, but by the time I left that gig (last March) it was down to about 10 days. Not really that big of a deal really.

[SeededLoaf]

I didn't think the NSV helpline gave out clearance status unless you're the sponsor.

That must be a Guinness world record.

[Clearedreallyquickly]

This is what I don't understand, I was expecting it to take a few months, I can't find any reports of anybody on the internet saying it was done so quickly.

[fatJock]

Mine took about four weeks but some colleagues on the same programme waited months, anything up to six. Ten days does seem quick though.

[Clearedreallyquickly]

I might be misremembering, but I think application complete means just that - not that it's been accepted or granted just that they've got the info to process.

I think you're correct in what you're saying, but I phoned the helpline today, and the operator on the phone said I had valid SC clearance, which had been done on the 2nd December, which is valid for 5 years, and when I asked her if that meant it was granted, she said yes.

It just seems too good to be true. Might phone back tomorrow and double check.

[stek]

I might be misremembering, but I think application complete means just that - not that it's been accepted or granted just that they've got the info to process.

Mine took 11 months BTW, left role two weeks after, and now it's expired anyway without any use whatsoever...

[Clearedreallyquickly]

I submitted my SC clearance application on the 22nd November, and on the 2nd December, I looked on the NSV portal, and it said that my application status was completed. I was expecting it to take at least a couple of months. I phoned my sponsor today to see if they'd heard anything, but they hadn't, so I phoned the NSV helpline, and they told me that my clearance had been processed on the 2nd, and I had valid SC clearance, which was valid for 5 years. I even asked her if that meant it had been granted and she said yes. She also told me that it gets sent out by 2nd class post, so that would be why my sponsor wouldn't have heard anything yet.

I just can't understand why it's been processed so quickly, and I'm sat here 2nd guessing myself that something must be wrong. I don't have a criminal record of any kind, and no serious debt problems, apart from some credit card debt, which I paid off earlier this year, and none of it was ever in arrears, payments never missed etc. Apart from the debt (about 20k) I have a really good credit record.

Has anybody heard of an SC clearance going through so quickly? Does the fact that they told me I had valid SC clearance mean I'm just being paranoid, and can stop worrying, or is it possible they might not have had all the information relating to my application? I just can't understand how its been granted in 10 days? I half expected it to get refused due to my son's record, and I've been worrying like hell about it, now I have a worrying wait of up to 10 days to wait for my sponsor to receive my cert by snail mail!

Any thoughts would be welcome, thanks.