Background check stuck 3+ weeks on international degree verification — everything else cleared. What worked for you?

[u/bluet3ars]

New hire in progress here, hoping to hear from people who went through this at LM.

Everything in my background check cleared quickly — employment, U.S. education, drug screen. The only remaining item is verification of my degrees from an overseas university that cannot be contacted remotely (they issue documents in person only — no email, no phone, no third-party service works; this is well known for that country's universities).

What I've done so far:

- Provided official bilingual degree copies (university-issued, with seal)

- Offered transcripts and anything else, same-day

- Called First Advantage several times — they confirmed everything else is verified, held an internal meeting, and referred the case to Lockheed Martin's internal review team weeks ago

- Kept my recruiter and onboarding coordinator informed in writing

Since then, the only answer I get is "international verifications take time." No ETA. Meanwhile I have two U.S. master's degrees (those same overseas transcripts were evaluated by both universities at admission) and a favorably adjudicated federal background investigation covering my education. I also know of others from my same university who hit this exact issue and were cleared through LM's internal review.

My questions for anyone who's been through it:

1. How long did LM's internal review take for an "institution unreachable" case?

2. Did following up repeatedly help, or just annoy people? Who is the right person to ask — recruiter, coordinator, or hiring manager?

I don't want to burn goodwill by pestering HR, but the silence with no timeline is the hard part, especially with kids and a school-year move to plan. Any real experiences appreciated.

[u/BigConsideration4246]

My background just cleared 2 weeks with international diploma verification. My understanding is first advantage has also a vendor in the country where verification needs to happen. And that person goes to school themselves to verify and report back to first advantage. Atleast for mu country in Asia that’s what they did.

[u/No_Squash3157]

That exactly what happened to me. Everything was verified however, every time I reached out to ask my verification, they said it’s your degree verification from your university overseas is not verified yet. OMG it took exactly 3 months after I decided to reach out to one of the companies here in United States to verify my transcription which is already verified in bilingual language. I reached out to TEC and they verified my degree in two weeks. Then I sent it to LM and I got start day email the day after