FOIA Requests and How to Get Government Records

What Is FOIA

The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is the 1966 law that gives any person the right to ask a federal agency for its records. The agency must release them unless one of nine exemptions applies, and you do not have to say why you want them. Every state has its own public records law that works the same way for state and local government.

FOIA is how reporters, researchers, and ordinary people get the emails, contracts, and data an agency would not publish on its own. It covers executive branch agencies. It does not cover Congress, the federal courts, or the president’s closest advisers.

Which Records Law Applies to You

The first step is knowing whose records you want, because the law depends on who holds them. FOIA reaches only federal agencies. Police reports, city contracts, and school board emails fall under your state’s public records law, and your own immigration or criminal history files have faster routes than a general FOIA request.

Find your situation

Start with the records you want. Each situation names the law and the office that handles it.

I want records a federal agency holds, like emails, contracts, or data

1. Use FOIA. Find the agency and its FOIA office through FOIA.gov's agency search, which also lists each office's median processing times.
2. If the records could be at more than one agency, file with each agency that could hold them.
3. Follow the steps and template below.

I want records about myself from a federal agency

1. Ask under both FOIA and the Privacy Act. The Privacy Act gives you a right to your own records, and agencies process both together.
2. For an immigration file (your A-file), request it from USCIS. Immigration court records come from the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
3. An FBI criminal history check, called an Identity History Summary, is a separate request to the FBI, not a FOIA request.

I want police, city, county, or state records

1. Use your state's public records law. Every state has one, though the names differ: open records act, public information act, right-to-know law.
2. The Reporters Committee's Open Government Guide explains each state's law, deadlines, and appeal route.
3. Many cities and police departments take requests through an online portal. Search your city's name with "public records request."

I want my child's school records

1. Use FERPA, the federal student privacy law. Parents can inspect their child's education records, and the school must respond within 45 days (34 CFR 99.10).
2. For school district policies, budgets, or board emails, use your state's public records law instead.

I need records fast for a story or an emergency

1. Ask for expedited processing in your request. You qualify if delay could threaten someone's life or safety, or if you mainly spread information to the public and there is an urgent need to inform people about government activity.
2. Include a signed statement explaining why. The agency must decide within 10 calendar days ([5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(E)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/552)).

How to File a FOIA Request

A FOIA request is a short letter, and the six steps below take most requests from idea to records. Nothing about it requires a lawyer, and the request is free to file.

From request to records

1. 1 Before you write Find the right agency Pick the agency that made or keeps the records. FOIA.gov lists every FOIA office and its portal.
2. 2 Day 1 Describe the records Name the records, the dates, and the people or offices involved, so staff can find them with a reasonable search.
3. 3 In the request Set your fee limit State your fee category and the most you will pay, and ask for a fee waiver if the records serve the public interest.
4. 4 20 working days Wait for a decision The agency can add 10 working days in unusual circumstances. Ask for a tracking number and an estimated completion date.
5. 5 Within 90 days of a denial Appeal Write to the agency's appeals office. The Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives offers free mediation.
6. 6 After the deadline passes Sue if needed If the agency misses its deadline, you can take it to federal court, and a court can order it to pay your attorney fees.

Source: 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4) and (a)(6); DOJ Office of Information Policy.

The fee rules favor ordinary requesters. People who are not commercial users, news media, or educational institutions get the first two hours of search and the first 100 pages free, and journalists and researchers pay only copying costs past 100 pages (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(A)). An agency that misses its deadline generally cannot charge search fees at all.

Across government, fees cover almost none of the cost. Agencies collected $2.5 million in fees in 2025, about 0.38% of the $661 million they spent running FOIA.

FOIA Request Template

Copy this letter, fill in the brackets, and send it through the agency’s FOIA portal or email. A specific request is faster, because the agency can search for exactly what you name.

The Nine FOIA Exemptions

FOIA has nine exemptions, and two privacy exemptions account for most of what agencies hold back. In 2025, Exemptions 6 and 7(C) made up 61.09% of all exemption citations. An agency must release any part of a record that no exemption covers and explain what it withheld.

Privacy and police techniques drive most withholding, not national security.

The five most-cited FOIA exemptions, share of all citations in fiscal 2025

Category	Value
Exemption 6: personal privacy	36.02%
Exemption 7(C): privacy in law enforcement files	25.07%
Exemption 7(E): law enforcement techniques	23.45%
Exemption 3: secret under another law	7.11%
Exemption 5: internal deliberations	6.03%

Source: DOJ Office of Information Policy, FY 2025 Annual FOIA Report Summary.

Exemption 5 draws the most fights over government accountability even though it is cited less often. It shields drafts and internal advice, which is often where a decision’s reasons live. Congress added a limit in 2016: the deliberative part of Exemption 5 cannot cover records 25 years old or older.

How Long a FOIA Request Takes

Demand for records has climbed for three straight years while the staff who answer requests shrank. Agencies received 14% more requests in fiscal 2025 and had 805 fewer full-time FOIA staff, according to the Justice Department’s annual report.

The backlog grew faster than the requests. A request counts as backlogged once it passes the legal deadline, and by the end of fiscal 2025 that described 339,671 requests. The Department of Homeland Security holds about half of them.

The FOIA backlog is 1.6 times what it was in 2022.

Federal FOIA requests pending past the legal deadline, end of each fiscal year

Category	Value
Fiscal 2022	206720
Fiscal 2023	200843
Fiscal 2024	267056
Fiscal 2025	339671

Source: DOJ Office of Information Policy, Annual FOIA Report Summaries for fiscal 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Most requests still get something. The bar below shows what happened to every request agencies closed in fiscal 2025. The largest single outcome is a partial release, and nearly 3 in 10 ended with the agency saying it found no records, which is why a precise description matters.

9.54%

37.74%

3.17%

29.73%

19.82%

• Released in full (9.54%)
• Released in part (37.74%)
• Denied in full under an exemption (3.17%)
• No records found (29.73%)
• Closed for another reason (19.82%)

Source: DOJ Office of Information Policy, FY 2025 Annual FOIA Report Summary. Other reasons include improper or duplicate requests, withdrawals, and fee disputes.

If Your FOIA Request Is Denied

A denial is a starting point, and the appeal costs nothing. You have at least 90 days to appeal, and the agency must decide the appeal within 20 working days. In practice appeals took 94 days on average in fiscal 2025, and the appeals backlog more than doubled to 11,652.

Before or during an appeal, you can ask the Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives to mediate. It is the federal FOIA ombudsman and does not charge.

If an agency misses its deadline, the law treats you as having used up the agency’s process, so you can file suit in federal district court without waiting for an answer. Courts review the agency’s withholding fresh, and a requester who “substantially prevails,” in the statute’s words, can recover attorney fees (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(E)). Agencies spent $51 million on FOIA litigation in 2025.

FOIA Changes in 2025 and 2026

Staff cuts, new fees, and a fight over whether DOGE’s records are public shaped FOIA over the past year. The list below shows where each stands.

Where the FOIA changes stand

As of October 14, 2026

• FOIA staffing across government Agency action, 14% fewer staff

  Full-time FOIA staff fell from 5,628 in fiscal 2024 to 4,823 in fiscal 2025 while requests hit a record, the Justice Department reported July 1, 2026. (source)

• Health agency FOIA offices Agency action

  April 2025 layoffs at HHS cut the CDC's entire FOIA office and gutted FOIA teams at FDA and NIH, KFF Health News reported. FDA told some of its FOIA staff on May 1, 2025 that they were no longer being fired. (source)

• Whether DOGE must answer FOIA requests In litigation, review granted Oct. 13

  CREW sued in February 2025. The government asked the Supreme Court to stop discovery into whether the U.S. DOGE Service is an agency covered by FOIA. After the justices' October 9 conference, the Court granted the petition on October 13, 2026, so it will hear the case. (source)

• DHS FOIA fees Agency action, since Sept. 1

  Homeland Security told requesters to expect "an increase in charging fees for some record categories" from September 1, 2026, when it answers within the legal deadline. (source)

• State Department FOIA rules Agency action, effective Oct. 21

  A final rule published September 21, 2026 rewrites the department's FOIA and Privacy Act procedures, including how requests are submitted. (source)

Source: DOJ Office of Information Policy; KFF Health News; Supreme Court docket 25-1103; DHS; Federal Register

The DOGE case matters beyond one office, and the Supreme Court agreed on October 13, 2026 to hear it. The government’s petition asks whether a court may order broad discovery against an advisory body in the Executive Office of the President just to decide whether FOIA applies to it. CREW’s brief answers that it sought only targeted information about the office’s structure and powers. Our press freedom explainer covers the other ways reporters are losing access this year.

What FOIA Cannot Do

• FOIA does not reach Congress, the courts, or the president’s immediate staff. Congressional records come through the committees and the Library of Congress, and court records through PACER and the clerk’s office. In Kissinger v. Reporters Committee (1980), the Supreme Court said the president’s closest advisers are not an agency under FOIA.
• FOIA does not make agencies create records. It covers records that exist. An agency does not have to answer questions, analyze data, or write a new report for you.
• FOIA is not a fast tool. For a story due this week, a phone call to the agency’s press office or public records already online will usually beat a request.
• A “no records” answer is not always the end. If you think the search was too narrow, you can appeal the adequacy of the search itself.
• State laws set their own deadlines and rules. Some states give three business days to respond, others set no fixed number of days, and some limit requests to state residents. Check your state’s rules before you file.

What You Can Do

1. File one request this month. Pick a local question you care about, find the agency or city office that holds the records, and send the template above. Keep your tracking number.
2. Appeal every denial you disagree with. It is free, it forces a second look, and appeals are where many withholdings get reversed. Use OGIS mediation if the agency stalls.
3. Search what is already public. Agencies post frequently requested records in their FOIA reading rooms, and FOIA.gov searches across them. Others may have asked your question already.
4. Ask Congress to fund FOIA offices. FOIA staff fell 14% in one year while requests hit a record. Write your representative and senators asking them to fund the offices that answer requests; our guide to writing your members of Congress covers how.
5. Learn your state’s law. Local records often matter more than federal ones. Read your state’s entry in the Open Government Guide so you know its deadline and appeal route.