International Screening
With a global research infrastructure of resources in the United States and in-country resource partners, BIG provides a full suite of global screening services in the Americas, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Africa and the Middle East.
Our in-house international researchers are fluent in more than 35 languages and are extensively trained in global customs, allowing us to effectively communicate with international clients, applicants and in-country resources. Our researcher teams work around the clock to accommodate the various international time zones.
Our in-country resources are fully vetted with world-class organizations that meet our high standards for quality. These partnerships are managed to ensure personalized service and to account for language and time zone differences.
Some of the global services that we provide include:
Employment History Verifications
Our approach to international research is the same as our domestic approach – to obtain information directly from the source. This means that BIG directly contacts previous employers to conduct global verifications of employment history. We do not rely on third-party databases.
Education History Verifications
Our researchers directly contact schools and educational institutions across the globe to verify the applicant’s education history. All verifications include a search of our proprietary DegreeScan database, which helps identify global “diploma mills” and other educational institutions of questionable accreditation.
Professional License Verifications
Each country’s specific issuing authority is directly contacted to verify the applicant’s credential or license and probe for any disciplinary or administrative actions.
Criminal Checks
Criminal searches are performed in a variety of ways depending on the country and/or jurisdiction. Sources range from police-based searches to official government records repositories, to searches of publicly available data. Official police clearances can also be facilitated.
Sanctions Searches
BIG’s ActionsBase is a proprietary international database of administrative and disciplinary actions levied against potential employees. ActionsBase contains more than three million records, updated daily, from hundreds of international sources.
Qualifications and Directorship Checks
Qualification and directorship checks are performed to identify any professional qualifications or actions associated with an applicant’s name.
Credit Reports
BIG performs credit checks on a country by country basis by accessing information from a multitude of public and private international credit bureaus. While traditional credit reports are not available in many countries, financial checks are performed by searching insolvency or bankruptcy registries and other public judgment information.
Passport Validation
BIG provides a Passport Validation service, whereby we confirm the validity of the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) data on the applicant’s passport.
Identification Verification
BIG performs global identification verifications through the use of international credit bureau information, where available, and by validating government-issued identification documents.
Residency Verification Services
BIG conducts global residency verifications to establish that an applicant’s address is legitimate. Global residency verifications are conducted in a manner appropriate for the country in which the applicant resides.
Verification of Legal Authorization to Work in the United States
BIG participates in the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) E-Verify Program, which allows employers to verify the employment eligibility of new hires by comparing the information provided on the I-9 with DHS and Social Security Administration databases.
Drug Screening
As a full-service third-party administrator (TPA) of occupational health screening services, our global network of medical facilities provides comprehensive drug screening services worldwide. All of our partners adhere to our domestic partner laboratories’ quality standards throughout the collection process to ensure the integrity of samples.
Civil Records Checks
Civil record searches are performed by our network of in-country resources who perform local record searches of available civil matters.
Motor Vehicle Record Checks
Where permitted, BIG directly obtains driving record information on a country-by-country basis. In countries where applicant involvement is necessary, our Applicant Service department can help to obtain the required driving record information.
To support our international research, BIG fully complies with all General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) policies and procedures when conducting background checks in European Union countries. Additionally, we are a self-certified company under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This ensures that the collection, use and retention of any personal information from EU countries or Switzerland adheres to EU and Swiss data protection law requirements. We are also in compliance with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Privacy Framework.