Typically only open for a day or two OR until a certain number of applications have been received.  Also, it seems that the last announcement was geared towards those that already had CITP under their belts... at least for the decent duty locations.

Here’s the bad news for you:
Unless you have prior military, you’re unlikely to get any non-entry level spot unless you can get points for being some kind of minority. Even entry level are gonna be a challenge for a white male, no military. Education does just about squat for you.

Forget the FBI unless you have foreign language (Chinese, Arabic), or high level cyber security KSAs. Or know someone.

You can try going the big city cop route and try to get on task forces to make connections and sneak in that way. But frankly advanced degrees can be frowned upon by some departments. They don’t want nerds.

State police are also often highly regarded. But to advance with any state or federal, be ready and willing to move at the drop of a hat.

Best of luck to you, the biggest thing is to get a badge. Any badge. Then worry about getting closer to where you want to be.

The BPA exam isn't that long. I think I was in and out in a little over an hour.

As for the shit show, I was mainly referring to their hiring process.  You can see people talk about it on officer.com but it's not like most opm hiring announcements.  Something with how it's a "direct hire" announcement, so they haven't been competitive to everyone that qualifies. Plenty of people that easily meet the min requirements aren't being given the opportunities to even take the exam.  There also doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to why and it has nothing to do with the order the applications were received before the cut off.  You only get one location to select when you submit the application and it gets reviewed by that office, so if they don't like your resume they won't forward you through the process (at least that's how it's being speculated on the forums).
Where as other agencies allow everyone who is eligible to compete.  There is a lot of frustration being expressed online from people that have applied.

Yeah... forgot about that part.  Being able to choose only one office is all kinds of stupid.

Doesn't take long (depending on location) because many don't want to move. A co-workers kid is heading to Ireland for pre-clearance and he has under 5 years or so on the job.

Okay, so in my case this will be an advantage. I don't have a family to keep me tied down in the United States. I lived and traveled extensively overseas and even got one of my degrees from a foreign university. I'd jump at the chance to move overseas again!

Ah, yeah that isn't very encouraging.

That sounds more like it!

Good info! Thanks!

What does that have to do with this thread? That guy sure likes to hear himself talk. I like how he said in the first video that part of his background check was checking from before he was born. Never seen a SF-86 go back that far.

The stuff that goes on in those agencies
The 2nd one is detailed

That guy is nuts and he has been gone since 1997.  There is corruption in government and private industry alike. In flight WiFi isn't good enough to watch the second video, but if it is all based on this guy's information I'm guessing it is short on facts.

Standard Federal security clearance background check goes back 7 years. A TS level BG goes back 10 years.

I have had several done over the years and unless you have had some serious financial issues in the past, or were actually arrested at some point, it should go pretty easy. Money problems is what disqualifies most people on the security check. The biggest pain in the ass can be remembering all the places you lived for the military guys. They need addresses and neighbors names for every single place...

Generally you have to be a gs-12, I seem to recall harder to fill spots going to people with less time in though, depends on the post. Places like Aruba and Abu Dhabi are easy to fill with hardly any time in and the requirements are non-existent. Canada is pretty easy to get with 5 years in. Anything like Spain, Italy, Ireland, etc is competitive enough that you're not getting there without a lot of time in OR being able to speakthe languages. Super money gig though, housing is paid, tuition for kids is paid, etc. Housing allowance is absolutely fucking ridiculous too. A couple friends got Canada and had enough allowance to live in what I'd consider a mansion with a creek in their yard that they could fish, and plenty of cash to hire an au paire to take care of the kids and a guy to come shovel the snow regularly.
It really is. Quality of life is higher but you're excitement will be the occasional warrant and personal use dope. You're not going to be seizing hundreds of pounds of meth/heroin/coke/fentanyl a year like some swb guys. I work at a decent size port and we see loads pretty much every day if not multiple times a day, plenty of runners on foot, fair share of weird immigration shit, etc. The traffic I'd imagine is better too, over the spring when the Canadians begin their mass migration from mexico back to canada is hell because they're all complete assholes.
I've got pretty good sources on that front and everybody says they'll be hiring regularly for the foreseeable future but it's pretty competitive unless you're EXTREMELY flexible on location while still being fairly competitive. I passed the written test for a direct hire a year ago and still didn't hear anything (probably expired by now). Out of the 3 vacancies for that office they were trying to fill I know one went to a stud BPA that was doing task force work with HSI and had a lot of time in, another position went to another BPA with a similar background, and a third I believe was filled by an OFO guy that was also doing task force work with them with a decent amount of time in. Most of the new guys I see coming in generally were prior OFO/BP/locals with task force experience, prior military, or a combination of all of the above plus a degree.

As far as who to go with I believe both have been summed up pretty well and plenty of people jump to go to one side or the other since they can both be disappointing in their own special ways so I'd advise you settle on where you're gonna be happy living. That said, since I know much more about the OFO side of things keep in mind there is a 25% of base pay hiring incentive for 3 years (locks you in though so be careful), and in AZ that number is bumped to 33%. Paid in a lump sum too. Most people spend it on trucks they can't afford but I do see a lot of the smarter people taking a good chunk out of their student loans with it. Also, while I'm not knowledgeable about it I do know they're either starting or have just started an expedited hiring process that SHOULD get people in after 3 months, although they're hiring so fast now that starting dates are a couple months out. When I got hired I had 2 weeks to report but a coworker's brother got called and was 2 months out til he had to report, so keep that in mind.

I'm not a recruiter but I've been to just about all AZ ports and have worked an airport very briefly when I was deployed for hurricane harvey. I've also worked my fair share of available units within OFO and have a decent amount of time in so if you have any OFO specific questions let me know.

Overtime is double time for CBPO's, not so for BP and another perk for a CBPO is 15% and 20% night differentials for CBPO's whereas BP agents get only 10% I believe.

Really great info, thanks for taking time to share.  I applied for BP in early July and took the test the next week.  Received notice to complete the e-Quip two weeks later.  I had a previous e-Qip print out from 2007 and a lot of info populated from the last I one completed in 2009 (I thought this was curious).  Was contacted 2 days later to make corrections and the very next day received an end of August date for the interview.  I was expecting this process to take a lot longer.  Also dropped an app with CBP.

Great information! Thank you for sharing!

I'm quite flexible on the location (single with no real ties to a single area). I loved experiencing other countries and cultures, and I'd welcome the opportunity to learn a new language in an unfamiliar country.

That's interesting. Asshole Canadian snowbirds.

I'd be willing to move most anywhere for a position that has the potential to be an interesting career.

Yeah, I'd be paying off a good portion of my student loans. I'd be happy if they sent me off to training tomorrow, but 3 months is better than the 8-9 months the recruiter claimed it would take to be hired!

I'll need to think about some specific OFO questions. I would prefer to work with OFO over BP if possible (I have applications out with both).

Just to be perfectly clear, if you want to work overseas you'd better speak the language BEFORE going. They're not sending people to Spain, Italy, etc that don't speak spanish, italian, etc. Abu Dhabi, Canada, Aruba and similar places don't have a language requirement (basically all the hard to fill stuff).

To further clarify, mostly because I feel 99% of the recruiting info is BULLSHIT, you won't find either option "interesting" for long. I might just be salty but everybody I work with (myself included) were super pumped to be arresting people on all kinds of warrants, chasing people running through vehicle lanes, seizing every kind of drug imaginable and other weird shit... BUT it gets old after a few years when it's the same dude on the same types of warrants, you start getting hurt when you run into/trip over shit because OSHA doesn't know CBP exists, and seizing drugs is only fun when it's not 10 minutes before you go home and you end up sleeping through half your week after fucking yourself into that overtime. BP has it's own issues, sitting on an X in the middle of bumfuck nowwhere, arresting the same coyote every week (record I saw was 35 in a couple year), and hiking around in 100 degree heat or freezing cold to catch the dude you just caught last night. This isn't even getting into the all the migrant shit that both sides have to deal with.

Not trying to turn you off of anything but once again, the recruiters lie, people that never worked in a shithole SWB port tell you how awesome OFO/BP is from the comfort of whatever  bullshit northern border/interior post they have. There are plenty of positives but nobody ever mentions the negatives so I just wanted to throw those out there. Double time OT in OFO and 20% mids diff really gets shit paid off pretty quick, not to mention cash awards and if you really pick up a language (likely spanish), you can get up to 5% of your pay in a lump sum right before the holidays too.

There are plenty of non-Italian speakers in CSI Italy.

The only countries that typically have a language requirement are the Spanish speaking ones.

I would be fine with Abu Dhabi or Aruba. I'd love to move back to Europe, but almost anywhere in the world would be interesting! Hell, I'd go to Africa if the opportunity presented itself.

I started looking at CBP OFO before ever seeing any recruitment information or talking to a recruiter. I'm not one of those people who thinks that LE is all about arresting people and high profile drug busts. I figured that since I already had federal LE training (NPS U.S. Park Ranger), I might as well consider a LE position with DHS. The possibility of moving overseas again is definitely pushing me toward OFO.

I was all set to move back to the UK this year to continue working on my research, but I wasn't able to secure external or internal funding for the program; as a result of this, getting a job that could enable me to pay down my student loan debts became my new priority.

I really doubt that OFO or BP need German, so I'd be happy to learn Spanish.

CBP has around fifteen personnel in Germany (between three programs). I think three are fluent or near fluent. German isn't required, even in positions dealing with the public. That being said, it can't hurt to have the skill.

I enjoyed my five years over there... getting geared up to head back to that AOR now.

CBP won't care about an applicant who has dual US/German citizenship, will they?

The Germans would. They wouldn't give you diplomatic status which affects your job.

Technically the US doesn't recognize dual citizenship, so a clearance could possibly be an issue.

I figured that it would just be better to avoid ever having a US government job in Germany. BTW, do CBP have diplomatic status when overseas?

As for the clearance, I've read different information from various sources on the subject. I think that the last thing that I read about it was from the Department of State a couple of years ago. It seems to depend on the agency, and it basically adds more scrutiny for the individual from what I gather through my reading on the subject.

FWIW, for what I was doing in the Marine Corps in a former life I had to have my mother naturalized.  I don't know about your situation or policy elsewhere though.

It's no issue getting a clearance with dual nationality. At least I know it isn't for German/American and Polish/American.

How far are you in the CBPO process?

I only just applied in July. I was planning to move overseas again, but when that didn't work out I decided to start applying for more government positions. I expanded my applications to LE jobs in DHS last month. I'm set to take the BP and CBPO exams on the 10th and 14th of this month.

I'm further along on another, non-LE GS-9 position with DHS; I applied for that job closer to the beginning of the year. They just now started contacting my references.

Depends on the level of clearance. For a normal secret level, no generally not. But for TS, and especially for TS-SCI with code word clearance levels, yes it could be a problem depending on what you will be working with and where your citizenship is from.

I worked with several people over the years who were told to officially drop the dual citizenship if they wanted to up their security clearance higher than "Secret."

For CBP with an Secret level clearance (thats what most CBPO's have) its prob not a big deal. For most of the three letter agencies with mandatory TS or TS-SCI level? Yea, its going to be an issue.

My mother was born in the UK and naturalized in 1963. Until she died in 2013, it was an issue every time I had to renew my SCI clearance. It was "lets play 20 questions" and "lets make you dig up all the paperwork that you gave us a couple years ago...." every damn time...

Okay, so I was referred and received tentative selection for CBP Officer GS-9. I had previously been rejected for a CBP Officer GS-9 (Direct Hire).

ETA: I was scheduled to take the CBP Officer GS-7 entrance exam next week; should I just cancel it now that I've received the higher GS grade tentative selection?

I really don't know a bunch about it but I have a close relative that is a CBP officer of 18-19 years probably.  (we shared a womb)
He does some really cool stuff.  PLENTY of opportunity to work overseas, and it is an advancement incentive if you do.

And those foreign connections and that SF-86.  Should be cleared about 2031.

I'd go take the test. It is the same for both grades. If they try to schedule you one for the tentative selection you'll have it completed already.

It can't be that bad. I'd imagine that there are many people who have lived, studied and worked overseas, who still manage to get clearances.

I remember reading that GS-9 hires don't take the entrance exam. Oh well, I guess that I might as well take the exam just in case. It might be long, but it sounds really easy.

If it's different hiring announcements you probably don't need to take the test.

@FightingHellfish

Filling out this stuff is hell. I'm basically just being honest and telling them everything...that is way too much information! I guess that we should be glad about our clearance process.

@FightingHellfish

Shit, I just forgot another place that I lived for more than 90 days. It was never my legal mailing address though, and I was only there on a residence permit from another EU country as a researcher. Do I need to tell them about that place too? Yes I will, but this is going to take forever!

Do your best. Call family and friends.  Look at stuff like old social media and documents.  They understand some stuff will be best recollection.

Print the SF-86 form when your done.  Put it in a binder and keep it as a future history reference and you’ll at least always be consistent.

@FightingHellfish

Good advice! I'll make sure to keep hard copies!

I'm doing that now for my contacts with my universities. I'm doing the other information from where I lived over the years, near as I can remember! Work, as a child, is a different story that you can IM me about if you like...I don't know how to disclose illegal child labor on a government form!

Neat. I lost track of this thread. My BP structured interview is next week.  Also, moving forward with the CBP too.

I was accepted for BP and CBPO; the background investigation will take some time! I have another DHS (not LE) position pending, but I'm guessing the same thing...apparently traveling isn't so great for people who want a clearance!

I have a twin brother who is a Customs Officer.
for 17-18 years I thought he was a Customs agent.

PM me with any specific questions and I'll ask him.  He's been in long enough to be close to retirement.

I do know that Border Patrol has a lot of turnover.

I feel like I know who your brother is.  LOL

If he is incredibly good looking, yeah.  IM me your guess, there isn't that many.
He knows my screen name, but to my knowledge he doesn't come here unless I send him a link.
He's got 2 teenagers, and his oldest is in college, no time for ARFCOM.

He can AROCK me now!

I wish you luck on the poly. You'll probably fail for being a terrorist and a spy for a foreign entity.

Screen name checks out.

You don’t have to worry about that. Northern border gigs are “near retirement” and seniority filled positions unless you get lucky. If you go BP you’ll be doing to the line down south.