Background investigations are hard enough as is without having to deal with locating records in foreign countries. The named investigative agency in the article below outsourced its search of Canadian criminal records to a vendor who handles those types of requests. Unfortunately, this faulty background check turned bad, and the data vendor is now being sued by the investigative company.
This high profile instance is just the most recent of many cases. This case involves a reality television star and a murder investigation, which has brought even more media attention to the industry and the type of investigation that was done. This article is definitely worth a read. It brings to light the difficulty in screening applicants and employees who have lived outside of the country.
How can we ever verify that a record from a foreign country is accurate? Canada is one example, but many vendors offer searches in countries that are far less civilized. Where are these searches actually being conducted? Can we ever be sure that someone who lived outside of the United States for a period of time was not convicted of any crimes while abroad?